Direct Budapest - Kyiv train

A new direct service linking the Hungarian and Ukrainian capitals has been introduced with the start of the 2025 timetable. Train 10 "Transcarpathia" departs Budapest at 22.40, arriving in Kiev at 19.11, in the opposite direction from there train 9 departs  at 10.16 arriving at Budapest-Keleti station the next morning at 6.00. The photo was taken at this station on 15 Decemer 2024, i. e. after the very first arrival, with the MÁV-START locomotive 480 019. The train is formed by UZ sleepers of the 1-VM loading gauge (for the 1,520 mm gauge network), as the line in question in Hungary still enables their passage. In basic formation the train has six cars, but in reality two cars are added, thus the rake is eight-car.

The existing service consisting of direct carriages (two or three UZ sleepers complying with the RIC loading gauge) on the Kyiv - Budapest - Wien route, coupled to trains 749O/749Sh (as designated in each direction according to the UZ timetable) Kyiv - Chop - Uzhorod and EC 140/149 "Hortobágy" Chop - Wien, continues to operate.