The visitor arriving in Debrecen by train is greeted by the Railway Station. Debrecen’s main railway line has a long history, dating back to 1837 when a certain Debrecen resident, Móricz Szitány, asked for permission to set up a railway corporation. His idea was that the carriages would be pulled by horses. Of course nothing came of this.

The Pest-Debrecen railway line must have been among the bravest ideas in the era of reforms, for even the great Hungarian Ferenc Deák had his doubts concerning its feasibility. As he said in 1839: “I believe that there are hardly any honourable members, including myself, who would not look upon the realisation of the Pest-Debrecen railway line as merely a dream.” But by then the ice had been broken: a banker from Vienna obtained the rights to build the railway between Pest and Vác. In 1848 the first Hungarian train on its first journey covered a distance of 36 kilometres. However, the second railway line led towards Debrecen, and in 1847 the railway service came into being between Pest and Szolnok. This railway line has historical significance: when in January 1849 the government and the inhabitants of Pest had to flee the capital, they were only able to head east, towards Debrecen, and they got as far as Szolnok using the railway.

By 1857 the railway line and the old railway station had been built. In 1858 the section between Debrecen and Nyíregyháza was opened, followed by the section between Debrecen and Miskolc a year later, and with the development of secondary railway lines the town became a railway junction by the turn of the century. The old railway station had been demolished and in its place an impressive new station was built in 1900. The carpet bombing of 1944 caused irreparable damage, and in 1961 today’s Railway Station building was constructed according to the plans of László Kelemen. Two frescos by Endre Domanovszki decorate the two walls of the main hall.

Forrás: www.debrecen.hu