Budapest Metro in the context of "Millennium Underground Railway"

Budapest is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is Hungary's primate city with 1.7 million inhabitants and its greater metro area has a population of about 3.3 million, representing one-third of the country's population and producing above 40% of the country's economic output. Budapest is the political, economic, and cultural center of the country, among the ten largest cities in the European Union and the second largest urban area in Central and Eastern Europe. Budapest stands on the River Danube and is strategically located at the center of the Pannonian Basin, lying on ancient trade routes linking the hills of Transdanubia with the Great Plain.

Budapest is a global city, consistently ranked among the 50 most important cities in the world, belongs to the narrow group of cities with a GDP over US$100 billion, named a global cultural capital as having high-quality human capital, and is among the 35 most liveable cities in the world. The city is home to over 30 universities with more than 150,000 students, most of them attending large public research universities that are highly ranked worldwide in their fields, such as Eötvös Loránd University in natural sciences, Budapest University of Technology in engineering and technology, MATE in life sciences, and Semmelweis University in medicine. Budapest also hosts various international organizations, including several UN agencies, the WHO Budapest Centre, IOM regional centre, the EU headquarters of EIT and CEPOL, as well as the first foreign office of China Investment Agency. Budapest opened the first underground transit line on the European continent in 1896, which is still in use as M1 Millennium Underground, and today the fixed-track metro and tram network forms the backbone of Budapest's public transport system and transports 2.2 million people daily, making it a significant urban transit system.

This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, undergrounds, tubes, mass rapid transit (MRT), metrô or U-Bahn. As of 6 October 2025, 205 cities in 65 countries operate 920 metro lines.

The London Underground first opened as an underground railway in 1863 and its first electrified underground line, the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890, making it the world's first deep-level electric metro system. The Budapest Millennium Underground Railway, which opened in 1896, was the world's first electric underground railway specifically designed for urban transportation and is still in operation today. The Beijing Subway is both the world's longest metro network at 879 kilometres (546 mi) and the busiest with the highest annual ridership reaching approximately 2.83 billion passenger trips. The Beijing Subway has the greatest number of stations, with 424. As of 2024, the country with the most metro systems is China, with 54 in operation, including 11 of the 12 longest networks in the world.

The tram network of Budapest is part of the mass transit system of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary. Tram lines serve as the second-most important backbone of the transit system after the bus network, carrying almost 100 million more passengers annually than the Budapest Metro. In operation since 1866, the Budapest tram network is among the world's largest tram networks by route length—operating on 174 kilometres (108 mi) of total route—and is the busiest in the world.

As of 2023, the tram network is made up of 35 regular lines (26 main lines and 9 supplemental lines) and the Budapest Cog-wheel Railway (signed as route 60). The system is operated by Budapesti Közlekedési Zrt. under the supervision of the municipal Budapesti Közlekedési Központ. Since 2016, the system uses the world's longest 9-sectioned articulated tram vehicle, the CAF Urbos 3/9, on route 1.

Kossuth Lajos Square (Hungarian: Kossuth Lajos tér, pronounced [ˈkoʃut ˈlɒjoʃ ˈteːr]), also known as Kossuth Square (Kossuth tér [ˈkoʃut ˈteːr]), is a city square situated in the Lipótváros neighbourhood of Budapest, Hungary, on the bank of the Danube. Its most notable landmark is the Hungarian Parliament Building (Országház). There is a station of the M2 (East-West) line of the Budapest Metro on the square as well as a stop for the scenic Tram No. 2.

This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, undergrounds, tubes, mass rapid transit (MRT), metrô or U-Bahn. As of 6 October 2025, 205 cities in 65 countries operate 919 metro lines.

The London Underground first opened as an underground railway in 1863 and its first electrified underground line, the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890, making it the world's first deep-level electric metro system. The Budapest Millennium Underground Railway, which opened in 1896, was the world's first electric underground railway specifically designed for urban transportation and is still in operation today. The Beijing Subway is both the world's longest metro network at 879 kilometres (546 mi) and the busiest with the highest annual ridership reaching approximately 2.83 billion passenger trips. The Beijing Subway has the greatest number of stations, with 424. As of 2024, the country with the most metro systems is China, with 54 in operation, including 11 of the 12 longest networks in the world.

Line M3 (Officially: North-South Line, Metro M3, and unofficially: Blue Line) is the third and longest line of the Budapest Metro. It runs in a general north-south direction parallel to the Danube on the Pest side, roughly following Váci út south from Újpest to the city center, then following the route of Üllői út southeast to Kőbánya-Kispest. Its daily ridership is estimated at 500,000. Like metro line M1, it does not serve Buda.

The Glasgow Subway is an underground light metro system in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the Metropolitan Railway in London (1863) and the Budapest Metro (1896). It is also one of the very few railways in the world with a track running gauge of 4 ft (1,219 mm). Originally a cable railway, the subway was later electrified, but the double-track circular line has never been expanded. The line was originally known as the Glasgow District Subway, and was thus the first mass transit system to be known as a "subway"; it was later renamed Glasgow Subway Railway. In 1936 it was renamed the Glasgow Underground. Despite this rebranding, many Glaswegians continued to refer to the network as "the Subway". In 2003, the name "Subway" was officially readopted by its operator, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).

The system is not the oldest underground railway in Glasgow: that distinction belongs to a three-mile (five-kilometre) section of the Glasgow City and District Railway opened in 1886, now part of the North Clyde Line of the suburban railway network, which runs in a tunnel under the city centre between High Street and west of Charing Cross. Another major section of underground suburban railway line in Glasgow is the Argyle Line, which was formerly part of the Glasgow Central Railway.