Budapest Castle Hill Funicular

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Looking down the line, with the Széchenyi Chain Bridge in the background

Looking up the line, showing the distinctive foot bridges

The Budapest Castle Hill Funicular or Budavári Sikló is a funicular railway in the city of Budapest, in Hungary. It links the Adam Clark Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge at river level to Buda Castle above.

The line was opened on March 2, 1870, and has been in municipal ownership since 1920. It was destroyed in the Second World War and reopened on June 4, 1986. A feature of the line are the two pedestrian foot bridges which cross above it. These were present when the line opened, were removed in 1900 when the castle's garden was extended, and rebuilt to the original design in 1983.^[1]

[edit] The history of the railway

The building of the line started in the July of 1868, the the first test run was on 1869 October 23. The Sikló has operated for the public since 1870 March 2. This funicular rail was the second in Europe, only in in the city of Marseille had similar transportational vehicle.

During the Second World War the cars and the terminals were destroyed by bombs.