N. Kósa Judit - Szablyár Péter: Underground Pest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2002)
A tunnel for cables under the Danube
Enfolded by hills with precipitate, broken rocks and ravines, the Buda side of the Danube gives many a hint that hidden below its surface there is a world of great complexity, but nothing of the sort can easily be assumed about Pest, the side built over with row upon row of office and apartment blocks. Appearances are misleading, as so often they are. Although natural cavities cannot possibly have been formed here, the earth beneath the tide lands of the Danube, heavily built over all the way to the chain of hills encircling the "outskirts’' of Pest, hides an exciting, man-made subterranean world. When the area was built over, such geographical conditions as the quality of the soil and the subsoil waters or the possible consequences of human intervention could not be left out of consideration. And if they were, untold consequences involving expensive reparations were to follow. Despite the fact that this subterranean world is part and parcel of the vibrant everyday life of the metropolis, it remains mostly hidden, shrouded in a veil of mystery. Let us set out, then, to explore this nether world. We will descend, near Lágymányos Bridge on the Buda side, into the cable tunnel underneath the Danube to re-emerge on the Pest side. Follow me. A tunnel for cables under the Danube For strategic security reasons, the public had not been told of the runnel connecting Buda to Pest beneath the bed of the Danube south of the Southern Railway Bridge until 1991. The cables, which provide the city on the two banks of the Danube with electricity, were laid on the bridges of the Danube as electrification took off at the beginning of the 20th century. Carrying, among other lines, the cables starting from the Kelenföld Power Plant, which was built in 1914, the Southern Railway Bridge played a major part in the process. For strategic considerations with the approach of World War 11, it was decided that a cable tunnel be constructed beneath the riverbed. The decision was supported by the fact that the shock and tension load on the cable caused frequent power failures and cracks in the lead sheathing. Passed in 1935, the decision was followed in 1938 by test drilling and the preparation of designs for the tunnel also began the following year. The authorisation issued by the mayor's office of the municipality included the stipulation that experience in building tunnels gained earlier by the Budapest Waterworks Company was to be relied on during construction. 5
