From Saturday, visitors will be welcomed to the Metro Exhibition Room at Deák Ferenc Square station on metro line M2, where relics of Budapest’s metro are preserved in a special exhibition space set up in the former dispatcher centre, a previously closed-off area, the Budapest Transport Privately Held Corporation (BKV) announced on Tuesday.
According to the announcement, the BKV’s new exhibition area can be accessed from the platform of the Deák Ferenc Square station of metro line M2. The exhibition room is open periodically and can be visited after registration, in groups.
The space that houses the Metro Exhibition Room served as the dispatcher centre, from where the traffic was controlled, of metro line M2 between 1970 and 2003. Throughout the history of Budapest metro, more than half a century, there have been numerous changes: the renovation of line 2 took place in the 2000s, which involved the dismantling and replacement of a lot of equipment and tools. The old items ended up in the out-of-use dispatcher centre, thus the Metro Exhibition Room was created, the statement said.
At the exhibition, the general public can see original metro uniforms, a cut-off driver’s cab, the original Cyrillic-lettered license of one of the first metro drivers, the control panel with Cyrillic lettering, operator desks, and many other relics evoking the past, getting to know the operation and history of the metro.
With the preservation of these relics, the BKV not only pays tribute to the work of its predecessors but also
presents a peculiar world to generations that are growing up in the era of information technology.
Furthermore, as the successor of such old transportation companies as BKVT, Beszkárt, or FAÜ, it considers the preservation of the material and intellectual heritage of public transportation in Budapest an important social task, the statement highlighted.
Thanks to the company’s value-preserving activities, the Underground Railway Museum was opened in 1975, followed by the Urban Public Transport Museum in Szentendre in 1992, and the result of the BKV’s value preservation efforts is also the extremely popular nostalgic fleet consisting of refurbished trams, buses, and trolleybuses, the statement added.
The Metro Exhibition Room on the platform level of metro line M2 can only accommodate a limited number of visitors due to the size constraints of the former dispatcher centre, so registration for guided tours is required in advance. Information about the dates of transportation history tours can be found on the BKV’s website. The dates in March and April are free of charge.
The Metro Exhibition Room is not accessible for strollers and wheelchairs. The exhibition is recommended for visitors aged 14 and above.
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Sources: Hungarian Conservative/BKK
