The Drive and the Electrical Appliances in the Budapest Metro 120 Years Ago

摘要

The first electric underground in the continental Europe was inaugurated in 1896 in Budapest, Hungary. Werner Siemens planned an underground line in Berlin, Germany but the city leaders weren't convinced to do it that early. The driving force of the Budapest development was the World Expo of 1896, celebrating the Millennium of the Hungarians at the present day territory. The Hungarian industry was developed enough to build the “hardware” (rails, tunnel and carriages), but the new electric drives arrived from Germany. So the ready-made solution and the unbelievably efficient “project management” allowed the realization of the project in a 20 month time range and the project even managed to stay within budget. The 20 carriages were fabricated by Hungarian companies while the drives by the German Siemens & Halske Co. Only 5 carriages remained from the old relics. In this paper the 120 year old electrical parts and solutions are introduced from details of the original electrical plans and the photos about the main electrical appliances of the 2 carriages to be found in the Budapest Underground Museum. The current collector, the breaker, controller switch box, lighting, signaling and safety devices are discussed in detail. The power supply plant is shown in its ancient and present form, as well. This product is an early example of a smooth industrial cooperation among German - Austro-Hungarian inter-multinational companies, still two decades before World War I. It is also interesting that the structure of tram/train/underground technology was already developed to 100 %. Nowadays we have the same structural elements - of course - made of high(er) tech materials and optimized to their shape and size.