The Buda Castle Hill Funicular is seen with the view of the city in Budapest, Hungary, on March 2, 2020. The Buda Castle Hill Funicular, a tourist attraction of Budapest, turned 150 years old on Monday. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)
BUDAPEST, March 2 (Xinhua) -- The Buda Castle Hill Funicular, a tourist attraction of Budapest, turned 150 years old on Monday.
A commemorative plaque was unveiled on the occasion at the lower station of the funicular, marking the debut of its services on March 2, 1870.
"The Buda Castle Hill Funicular was born at a time of great development and progress for the city," said Deputy Mayor of Budapest David Dorosz at the unveiling ceremony.
"The people of Budapest can look back 150 years in time with pride at an era, in which the capital of Hungary was among the first to bring the highest quality technology to the continent," Dorosz said.
In the beginning, the funicular served public transport goals and was powered by steam. In 1944, it was hit by a bomb and was sentenced to demolition, according to the deputy mayor.
In 1986, the Budapest city transport company BKV rebuilt the funicular, which received an electric drive and became a tourist attraction in addition to playing a role in public transport.
The specialty of the Budapest funicular is that its three wagons are located one above the other, so that it can carry 24 passengers, eight in each wagon, at a time.
