1 July 1868 is considered the date of the establishment of the Hungarian state railway system, when the Hungarian state bought the railway company from the bankrupt Hungarian Northern Railway (MÉV). The MÉV station in Józsefváros, which served for 16 years as the main station of the Hungarian Royal State Railways (MÁV), founded on 31 October 1869, was also taken over by the state.
Even after the foundation of the MÁV, the idea of building a central station at today’s Blaha Lujza Square was considered, but the economic crisis (1873-1877) took the issue off the agenda. After the opening of the Connecting Railway Bridge in 1877, by the early 1880s, the increased freight and passenger traffic made the railway station in Józsefváros cramped, so MÁV decided to build a new, large-scale, modern railway station.
The design of the new station was carried out by MÁV’s own experts, the building was designed by Gyula Rochlitz and the large iron structure of the train shed by János Feketeházy.
Construction works started in November 1881, but due to high ground water, the foundations had to be reinforced with more than 3,000 larch piles, each 15m long. The difficulties meant that the station was opened – after considerable delay – on 16 August 1884.
The imposing main building is built in an eclectic style, with an allegorical sculpture group atop its 43-metre-high façade. It was created by Gyula Bezerédi. The façade also features statues of James Watt and George Stephenson, as well as a group of 4 figures.
An engineering masterpiece of its time was the 42-metre span, almost 180 metres long, iron-framed roof, which is shaped approximately as a catenary. A novelty when the station was built was the electric lighting, provided by 70 arc lamps and 644 incandescent lamps made by the Ganz factory.
A particularly impressive room in the station was the ticket office, decorated with frescoes by Mór Than and Károly Lotz.
The station was initially called the Központi (Central) Railway Station, and in 1892 it was renamed to Keleti (Eastern) Railway Station, which is still in use today.
During the Second World War the station was severely damaged, part of it burnt out, and it took years to restore it. In 1968-70, during the construction of the M2 metro line, the Baross Square underpass was connected to the platform hall, and domestic ticket offices were moved to the underpass level. The number of tracks in the train shed was reduced from five to four.
Between 2002-2004, the central main facade and the train shed of the Keleti station were renovated, and between 2006-2008 the Lotz Hall was restored. On 1 May 2023, the modern and accessible Keleti Passenger Centre was opened on the underpass level.
Despite the improvements and renovations, many parts of the Keleti station are still in a very dilapidated state.
