Budapest Keleti is definitely one of most beautiful stations I've ever seen. It have an amazing mix really old and state of the art rolling stock all at the same time. Offers really easy connections to other local transports like trams, buses and the metro. All affordable rates and most importantly better maintenance that most western European main stations
I took the MÁV train to Mukacheve a year ago. The border control in Hungary on the platform was quite chaotic, and we changed to different MÁV cars. This train then continued to Chop and Mukacheve. There the train arrives on a separate platform and you need to walk to the rest of the station. I coudn't book the Mukacheve-Lviv ticket at the MÁV international counter, so I had to do it in Mukacheve. Fortunately, they had an international/tourist counter there with a nice lady that spoke English well. Now use the combined Regiojet/UZ service from Krakow to Lviv, but trains can be booked out weeks ahead as there many people going between Ukraine and the EU and no flights due to the war.
Thanks for your report, i took the Mukacheve to Budapest train on my way back from Ukraine and because of a 1 hour delay at the border, our train was terminated at Zahony and we were forced to take other trains to Budapest.
MÁV is quite an interesting story for me. They're underfunded, mismaganged, terribly inconsistent in both quality and reliability, but I just can't help but love them.
Actually, the 2nd Class compartment cars are way more dense - yes still 6 seats per compartment as in first class, but the compartments are actually way narrower, the legroom is way worse.. In the 2nd class car there are 11 compartments, wheras in first class only 9.
I don't think they are narrower at least not noticeable, but yes i see how that there are more in second so the legroom will deffo be worse, thanks for sharing!
Really enjoyed your video, liked and subscribed :) I like all three companies (MÁV-Start, ÖBB, n RegioJet) on this route. They are all a bit different in their own ways. Safe travels!
You should have mentioned that the Ukrainian sleepers changed bogies from 1520mm to 1435mm gauge at Chop. Don't get Adam Something going on MAV's IC coaches - his rants about their poor fit and finish are epic.
Ah yeah the gauge change is such a oversight 😔 yeah Hungarian railways is far from perfect, but it's quite fun for a rail enthusiast perspective, still plenty of old loco workings
Haha, yeah, true. Maybe I could have been a bit clearer. What I meant was that I think it's cheap or reasonable from a Hungarian perspective, but I could be wrong due to my biased Danish view.
@@Simon-Andersen It's indeed not too bad. I mean, DSB is also very affordable with the orange tickets, for example. But I've had British people tell me Portuguese train prices are affordable when in actuality, for the time it takes and comfort of the journey, it's not ideal when compared with Spain, for example. Yet, in Europe, the king of cheap rail for me remains Latvia.
Great that you reviewed a daytime loco-hauled train with a proper dining car. Well done to MAV. In 2022, my wife and I from Australia enjoyed the 'Nightjets' but on one train, the toilets were not working in almost all sleeping compartments. One other journey was in a four berth couchette where as usual storage space for larger suitcases is non existent. This meant I had to act like Harry Houdini to crawl out of my berth at night when I wanted to go to the loo (toilet). On the plus side, the supplements using first class Global Eurailpasses were OK but others have complained more recently about the big rise in Nightjet fares (and supplements!) Maybe OBB will listen if patronage falls off a cliff? Keep up the high standard of reviewing.
Thank you! I agree with much of what you have said about the Nightjet, much of which is also mentioned in my review i did a few weeks ago. I hope changes are coming because curerntly the price to quality ratio is not there on the Nigthjet anymore. Lots of good daytime options like what MAV displayed here all over europe tho :D
@@Simon-Andersen The Nightjets may not be fully serviced at outstations such as La Spezia or Venezia: hence the toilets blocked problem. OBB needs to fix this. As an aside, for someone who is not a native English speaker, your English is excellent: this contributes to the enjoyment of your videos.
One quick note: The light switches on these DWA Amz carriages have 3 positions, with one being right between the on and off positions. It's an insignificant thing, that took me seceral trips on these to realise.
They're extremely nice, but I'm obsessed with Soviet RIC cars, and the Ukrainian ones are mainly original but refitted with air conditioning. Comfort wise they're definitely up there with the best, but they do ride a bit poorly at speed
No space for them on the map im afraid, also a few ones between zahony and budapest left out. But it might have been good to mention elsewhere in the video :-)
Simon speaking of the carriages at the back 2 years ago that would have been four to 10 of them basically Ukrainian Railways had a policy of increased frequency away from the front lines of eastern Ukraine in some cases there would have been coaches coming in from the Donbass/Kherson region where the front line is. Basically combining the two Refugee trains into a single train to Vienna if able to do so. 120 years ago this train would have been operated by KkStb which itself actually held control of the Hungarian State railways MAV Wien Budapest Krasne Brody/Tarnopol Kyiv. Gauge change from 1.435m to 1.520m tracks ends up occurring at the two stations where Austria bordered Russia Tarnopol/Brody.
I have never used a Railjet between Budapest and Wien but have used both MAV and RegioJet, both being really good although I do love a good dining car so MAV might just get the nod from me.
Haven't tried Regiojet, but I prefere the MÁV cars over Railjet. Much more comfortable seats. And sometimes I also prefere travelling in a compartment, which isn't offered on the Railjets.
I travelled on 31st July on Budapest Nyugati -> Wien Hbf with Regiojet And it was really pleasent, cheap, comfy. The bar menu was also VERY cheap. Like a croissant with ham, cheese cost like 1.2€, a piece of cheesecake 0.5€, which for my Polish brain is incomprehensible and seems impossible - Especially on a train. My best train experience by far. @@Simon-Andersen
I post variation not chronologically, so as long as nothing major has changed, you'll see videos that are older, because i cannot be in every country every month filming these.
@@Simon-Andersen I see :D I hope you make more vids about central/south Europe rail. You could also check out the Szeged tram-train if you are around here. I am happy to help with getting around if you have any questions.
@@ronfan6379 No I only got on the train from Vienna to Budapest. I visited Ukraine later on a separate trip but I went to the carpathian mountains on that trip
it's nice but a bit misleading. I was expecting you try the Ukrainian carriages as I've rarely seen the carriages filmed from the inside. The MAV ones more often.
could you also talk about how much disabled people pay for tickets? As well as record train announcements from inside the train? The train announcement lover in me wants to hear❤️❤️
@@ВиталийБойко-з5й No it doesn't, the sign on the outside displays the entire train route EC140 Chop -Vienna, but the carriage does actually get added in Záhony. www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=%D0%A3%D0%97&kategorie=%D0%A3%D0%97:%D0%A8&cislo=140&rok=2024
As I was watching you going into the Ukrainian car I'm like "Oh no, oh no.." Ukrainian train attendants will kick you out and actually yell at you for going into this car without a ticket. This car should have been locked, but I guess the MAV workers forgot to lock it.
Almost spot on, Paul. It's when I change the 'On Time' text to 'Delay' that I sometimes type a bit too fast and end up with swapping 2 letters. I don't know why, but when I re-watch the video for stuff like this, I just never spot it before uploading.
How is it possible to use ukrainian carriages on hungarian and austrian rails? As far as I know, the rail gauge is wider in the former USSR contries, these carriages would not fit on these rails.
I am aware that officially there is nothing prohibiting it, however unfortunately i was approached multipule times by officials and told not to take pictures or video at various stations, so i thought it was best to stay clear of trouble :-)
Es würde der Verständlichkeit dienen, wenn du ein wenig langsamer sprichts. Du "verschluckst" zu viele Silben. Native speakers are much better understood.
Actually, MÁV and ÖBB does not really compete with each other. They run both the Railjets and EuroCity trains jointly.
exactly
Vagonweb really is one of the best sources for anything train-related!
Honestly considering its traffic, Kelenföld may could the most important or 2nd most important train station in the country.
Also after the metro got there, it can actually be used as a city station for many more people!
Budapest Keleti is definitely one of most beautiful stations I've ever seen. It have an amazing mix really old and state of the art rolling stock all at the same time. Offers really easy connections to other local transports like trams, buses and the metro. All affordable rates and most importantly better maintenance that most western European main stations
I took the MÁV train to Mukacheve a year ago.
The border control in Hungary on the platform was quite chaotic, and we changed to different MÁV cars.
This train then continued to Chop and Mukacheve.
There the train arrives on a separate platform and you need to walk to the rest of the station.
I coudn't book the Mukacheve-Lviv ticket at the MÁV international counter, so I had to do it in Mukacheve. Fortunately, they had an international/tourist counter there with a nice lady that spoke English well.
Now use the combined Regiojet/UZ service from Krakow to Lviv, but trains can be booked out weeks ahead as there many people going between Ukraine and the EU and no flights due to the war.
Thanks for your report, i took the Mukacheve to Budapest train on my way back from Ukraine and because of a 1 hour delay at the border, our train was terminated at Zahony and we were forced to take other trains to Budapest.
MÁV is quite an interesting story for me. They're underfunded, mismaganged, terribly inconsistent in both quality and reliability, but I just can't help but love them.
I think they do a pretty good job considering how underfunded n sabotaged they r alllll the time. But I totally get what you mean. Safe travels!
try the Romanian railways and you will have a new definition for "underfunded, mismanaged, terribly inconsistent in both quality and reliability"
Actually, the 2nd Class compartment cars are way more dense - yes still 6 seats per compartment as in first class, but the compartments are actually way narrower, the legroom is way worse.. In the 2nd class car there are 11 compartments, wheras in first class only 9.
Not that big difference.
I don't think they are narrower at least not noticeable, but yes i see how that there are more in second so the legroom will deffo be worse, thanks for sharing!
Vagonweb is excellent ❤
As a hungarian, the food prices are very reasonable... costs are about the same as a normal café shop in the city, or even cheaper
Thanks for the insight, good to know its also reasonable for Hungarians!
Jeg elsker du Simon ❤🎉🎉🎉🎉
Really enjoyed your video, liked and subscribed :) I like all three companies (MÁV-Start, ÖBB, n RegioJet) on this route. They are all a bit different in their own ways. Safe travels!
Thank you! Its always nice to have plenty of choices!
You should have mentioned that the Ukrainian sleepers changed bogies from 1520mm to 1435mm gauge at Chop.
Don't get Adam Something going on MAV's IC coaches - his rants about their poor fit and finish are epic.
Ah yeah the gauge change is such a oversight 😔 yeah Hungarian railways is far from perfect, but it's quite fun for a rail enthusiast perspective, still plenty of old loco workings
@@Simon-AndersenYou should visit rural Hungarian railway lines with Bzmot trains still in operation
Ah yes, IC+ cars. When both doors can be opened at a station, allowing your kid to disembark into oncoming rail traffic.
@@epegorcs6258 And the historical artifacts lulling them...
@@epegorcs6258Only when being hauled by a V63 locomotive, because they don’t have door opening control fitted.
As a frequent traveller I prefer the MAV sets because of the restaurant car - cheap, good, comfortable. Forget the Railjet Restaurant!
10:00 "from my perspective as a Danish person, it's really cheap"
Isn't that the case for most things in life? 😅
Haha, yeah, true. Maybe I could have been a bit clearer. What I meant was that I think it's cheap or reasonable from a Hungarian perspective, but I could be wrong due to my biased Danish view.
@@Simon-Andersen It's indeed not too bad.
I mean, DSB is also very affordable with the orange tickets, for example.
But I've had British people tell me Portuguese train prices are affordable when in actuality, for the time it takes and comfort of the journey, it's not ideal when compared with Spain, for example.
Yet, in Europe, the king of cheap rail for me remains Latvia.
Great that you reviewed a daytime loco-hauled train with a proper dining car. Well done to MAV.
In 2022, my wife and I from Australia enjoyed the 'Nightjets' but on one train, the toilets were not working in almost all sleeping compartments.
One other journey was in a four berth couchette where as usual storage space for larger suitcases is non existent. This meant I had to act like Harry Houdini to crawl out of my berth at night when I wanted to go to the loo (toilet).
On the plus side, the supplements using first class Global Eurailpasses were OK but others have complained more recently about the big rise in Nightjet fares (and supplements!) Maybe OBB will listen if patronage falls off a cliff?
Keep up the high standard of reviewing.
Thank you! I agree with much of what you have said about the Nightjet, much of which is also mentioned in my review i did a few weeks ago. I hope changes are coming because curerntly the price to quality ratio is not there on the Nigthjet anymore. Lots of good daytime options like what MAV displayed here all over europe tho :D
@@Simon-Andersen The Nightjets may not be fully serviced at outstations such as La Spezia or Venezia: hence the toilets blocked problem. OBB needs to fix this.
As an aside, for someone who is not a native English speaker, your English is excellent: this contributes to the enjoyment of your videos.
One quick note: The light switches on these DWA Amz carriages have 3 positions, with one being right between the on and off positions. It's an insignificant thing, that took me seceral trips on these to realise.
At first sight these ukranian sleeper cars look more comfortable than the old NightJet carriages. And definitely more cozy!
They're extremely nice, but I'm obsessed with Soviet RIC cars, and the Ukrainian ones are mainly original but refitted with air conditioning. Comfort wise they're definitely up there with the best, but they do ride a bit poorly at speed
Wow I did not know you could access the Ukrainian coaches. Might take this sometime then
Be careful, this might have just been luck. They usually lock sleeper carriages.
I think i got lucky, or maybe they open it so passengers can go to the dining car.
You forgot (or were exploring the carriages when it happened), that the EuroCity does stop at the town of Tatabány, between Kelenföld and Győr
and Mosonmagyaróvár, between Győr and Hegyeshalom
No space for them on the map im afraid, also a few ones between zahony and budapest left out. But it might have been good to mention elsewhere in the video :-)
Random cibbont kísérik a jardok - Ezek a mieink.
Simon speaking of the carriages at the back 2 years ago that would have been four to 10 of them basically Ukrainian Railways had a policy of increased frequency away from the front lines of eastern Ukraine in some cases there would have been coaches coming in from the Donbass/Kherson region where the front line is. Basically combining the two Refugee trains into a single train to Vienna if able to do so. 120 years ago this train would have been operated by KkStb which itself actually held control of the Hungarian State railways MAV Wien Budapest Krasne Brody/Tarnopol Kyiv. Gauge change from 1.435m to 1.520m tracks ends up occurring at the two stations where Austria bordered Russia Tarnopol/Brody.
Thanks for sharing, that's very interesting !
Interesting that the front locomotive is essentially painted in British Rail Blue even the emblem appears to be a variant of the iconic BR one
I have never used a Railjet between Budapest and Wien but have used both MAV and RegioJet, both being really good although I do love a good dining car so MAV might just get the nod from me.
I remember riding on Ukrainian sleepers from Kyiv to my grandma at Mykolaiv.
🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 Ukraine mentioned!
Haven't tried Regiojet, but I prefere the MÁV cars over Railjet.
Much more comfortable seats. And sometimes I also prefere travelling in a compartment, which isn't offered on the Railjets.
Wait until you see the new RailJets that Siemens n ÖBB threw together….you’ll love MÁV trains even more.
They're not planned for Budapest
RegioJet also has compartments on some of their trains, could be worth trying them out!
I travelled on 31st July on Budapest Nyugati -> Wien Hbf with Regiojet
And it was really pleasent, cheap, comfy. The bar menu was also VERY cheap. Like a croissant with ham, cheese cost like 1.2€, a piece of cheesecake 0.5€, which for my Polish brain is incomprehensible and seems impossible - Especially on a train. My best train experience by far.
@@Simon-Andersen
A spring video at the end of summer?
I post variation not chronologically, so as long as nothing major has changed, you'll see videos that are older, because i cannot be in every country every month filming these.
@@Simon-Andersen I see :D
I hope you make more vids about central/south Europe rail.
You could also check out the Szeged tram-train if you are around here. I am happy to help with getting around if you have any questions.
Nice video!
Do all trains in Europe expect people to hang their bikes from the ceiling? or is that just a stereotype?
Varies, in Denmark we dont have any trains with bikes stored like that
What do you use to keep your camera stable outside of the train near the beginning?
I just have my Osmo stick strapped to my hand with a wristband
@@Simon-Andersen I'm impressed! I figured you had a monopod or tripod or something! Many thanks
Super Video.. What year was it that you traveled this route by TRAIN?
Video is filmed in March 2024
@@Simon-Andersen Okay, did you also drive from Kiev via Liew to Chop?
@@ronfan6379 No I only got on the train from Vienna to Budapest. I visited Ukraine later on a separate trip but I went to the carpathian mountains on that trip
I love how he still didn't fix the spelling of "Delay" at the end 😂
It will probably keep happening as it happens when i change an On Time template to a Delay one and type too fast xd
it's nice but a bit misleading.
I was expecting you try the Ukrainian carriages as I've rarely seen the carriages filmed from the inside.
The MAV ones more often.
could you also talk about how much disabled people pay for tickets? As well as record train announcements from inside the train? The train announcement lover in me wants to hear❤️❤️
I'll try and keep in mind for future videos!
Quick question regarding the Ukrainian coaches and rail lines are they Russian gauge and do they change the wheel axles or Standard gauge ?
They change gauge at Chop, should have added in the video!
412 carriage also comes from Ukraine, actually
@@ВиталийБойко-з5й No it doesn't, the sign on the outside displays the entire train route EC140 Chop -Vienna, but the carriage does actually get added in Záhony. www.vagonweb.cz/razeni/vlak.php?zeme=%D0%A3%D0%97&kategorie=%D0%A3%D0%97:%D0%A8&cislo=140&rok=2024
@@Simon-Andersen oof, right, it's done like that due to being a connecting through car group
I was actually going from Kyiv to Vienna
With the same route
Hope you enjoyed the trip :D
@@Simon-Andersen it was really hot when we crossed the hungarian border
České dráhy is also going to viena
But not from Budapest, they go via Bratislava most of the time :-)
@@Simon-Andersen yeah
Mav have romanian coaches buildet in arad😊
As I was watching you going into the Ukrainian car I'm like "Oh no, oh no.." Ukrainian train attendants will kick you out and actually yell at you for going into this car without a ticket. This car should have been locked, but I guess the MAV workers forgot to lock it.
0:11 if British railways bought the db br 182
Delay? 11:05
It's a recurring thing I've seen in multiple videos now. I think it's a typo in his overlay template 😉
Almost spot on, Paul. It's when I change the 'On Time' text to 'Delay' that I sometimes type a bit too fast and end up with swapping 2 letters. I don't know why, but when I re-watch the video for stuff like this, I just never spot it before uploading.
Kyiv - Berlin 🙏🙏 Video ???
No such train! Bud I'd love to make one on Kyiv - Warsaw which is an easy way of getting to Berlin
@@Simon-Andersen ok
How is it possible to use ukrainian carriages on hungarian and austrian rails? As far as I know, the rail gauge is wider in the former USSR contries, these carriages would not fit on these rails.
The size of the carriage is built to Western standards, and the bogies are replaced in Chop with ones that fit Hungarian or Ukrainian gauge.
You absolutely free to make pics on Ukrainian trains even now while war
Maybe he has talked to the wrong official
I am aware that officially there is nothing prohibiting it, however unfortunately i was approached multipule times by officials and told not to take pictures or video at various stations, so i thought it was best to stay clear of trouble :-)
UAZ - Ammendorfer ?
WLABm not quire a classic ammendorf, these are smaller to fit with UIC standards in western Europe
Görlitz
Former government sold the cargo to Austria thatswhile the income of personal train tickets not enough to work well the route network.
I thought Ukraine has Russian trackwith ?
train changes guage in Chop
I entered only because of the Ukrainian carriages
Hope you found it intresting
❤🤍💚💯💯💯❤🤍❤
Its all smart gage tracks all uropean country y not run train in Broadgauge traks 🙂🌎🎉🎸🎸🌍🌍🎶🎶🎶👋👋🌍🎉🎉🎉🎉🌍🌍🙂🙂
The train changes guage in chop
Es würde der Verständlichkeit dienen, wenn du ein wenig langsamer sprichts. Du "verschluckst" zu viele Silben. Native speakers are much better understood.
I have zero problems with understanding Simon.
Anything compared to Danish prices is cheap, lol.
No, sorry, Switzerland is the worst. 😃
Prefer mav coaches 😉