The construction of the new Museum of Transport in the area of the Northern Locomotive Workshop on Kőbányai Road is expected to start next year. In the first phase, the renovation of the smaller buildings will begin, and then in 2023, construction work on the central building, the Diesel Hall of the Northern Locomotive Workshop, will also begin. The facility will be remodeled according to the plans of the world-famous Diller Scofidio + Renfro architectural firm in New York and its Hungarian partner, M-Teampannon, led by Ybl-award winning Tamás Noll. The museum will open in 2026, said Dávid Vitézy, director general of the Museum of Transport, at the opening.

The main building of the Northern Locomotive Workshop on Kőbányai Road, where the new Museum of Transport will be established (Photo: Balázs Both / pestbuda.hu)

Gergely Gulyás, the Minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, opened the temporary exhibition titled Once there was the Északi... The Story Continues. The exhibition, which can be visited until the end of October, presents the past of the famous locomotive workshop, the diesel locomotives repaired here and other transport curiosities related to the Kőbánya industrial area and Népliget.

The plans of the new Museum of Transport will also be presented at the Once there was the Északi… The Story Continues exhibition (Photo: Balázs Both / pestbuda.hu)

Work began in and around the hall, reminiscent of a century-and-a-half-century industrial past, in 1867, with the appearance of the first railway workshops; this area was the first industrial quarter of Pest, with its factories and plants it can be considered one of the cradles of domestic industrialization - it was said at the opening. The Hungarian-Belgian Mechanical Engineering Company and the Hungarian-Swiss Railway Factory operated in the area of the Kőbányai Road factory as early as 1868, and went bankrupt in two years. Therefore, on August 1, 1870, the Hungarian state purchased the area, at which time the Machine and Car Factory of the Hungarian Royal State Railways was established, then later the Northern Main Workshop, and then the Northern Locomotive Workshop. Between the two world wars, more than 2,000 people worked at the workshop.  

 

Diesel locomotives were repaired in the Northern Locomotive Workshop until 2009, the archive photo shows the monumental dimensions of the hall well (Source: Museum of Transport) 

The exhibition also presents transport curiosities related to the Kőbánya industrial area and Népliget (Photo: Balázs Both / pestbuda.hu)

Of course, the famous diesel locomotives can also be seen at the exhibition (Photo: Balázs Both / pestbuda.hu)

During World War II, the factory area was bombed, and most of the buildings were destroyed. During the restoration, the Diesel Hall was built in 1962, and today it is a listed building due to its ambitious architectural solutions. These features, such as the V-shaped columns supporting the façade, will also be preserved during the design of the new museum.

With the construction of the new Museum of Transport, a new cultural district can be created, the “main entrance” of which is the museum itself and the adjacent Eiffel Workshop. During the investment, new green areas and footpaths will be created, and the area will be connected to Népliget. The Aspiration Cultural Center will be renovated and according to the current plans, a part of the former Józsefváros railway station will be connected to the area.

Not only the museum will be built in the area, but also a new cultural center will be established, with green areas and walking paths (Photo: Balázs Both/ pestbuda.hu)   

Cover Photo: The new temporary exhibition of the Museum of Transport has opened in the Diesel Hall of the Northern Locomotive Workshop (Photo: Balázs Both / pestbuda.hu)