This paper is about solving a railway infrastructure bottleneck around Budapest, which currently slows down cargo trains the most. The solution includes a direct passenger link via Budapest Airport and a short high speed line, which would decrease the travel times of long distance trains, and which allows to increase the frequencies of Budapest suburban trains. All the new services are planned by fitting to the integrated periodic timetable based infrastructure development strategy. The new infrastructure parts are at the beginning of the planning phase. The first part is about the capacity of the current railway network and about demands of freight transportation. It analyses the demands, and points out the bottlenecks of the network, i.e. where the capacity is not enough. It locates the bottleneck which is responsible for decreasing the circulation speed of cargo trains the most. The second part is about passenger transportation demands in the region of Budapest. The current problems are: poor transportation links to Budapest airport; poor usage of railway lines for urban transportation; impossibility of making more frequent train services on suburban lines. It defines the lacks of railway infrastructure, which make it impossible to fulfil those demands. The third part describes the previously planned solutions for the presented problems, then points out why those solutions were not efficient enough. Taking into account the lessons learned, the most efficient solution will be shown in the last part. This solution is capable of solving all the previously described problems. It contains a third track between Kelenföld and Ferencváros stations (crossing the Danube in Budapest); two new stations in important hubs in the south of Budapest (Közvágóhíd, Népliget); and a new partially high speed line between Budapest and Monor, connecting the terminals of Budapest airport. These solutions are planned by using integrated periodic timetables.

ITF; railway infrastructure development; freight trains; rail capacity; suburban railway; urban railway