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The funicular would replace the heavy turnover of tourist buses to the hill, he said. It could be operated profitably, and the city would spend the profit on nature preservation, he added. 

Construction of the funicular would cost HUF 1.5 billion, and it could generate revenue as much as HUF 1 bln year, Budapest chief landscape architect Sándor Bardóczi said. He noted that the funicular to the Budapest castle is also operated at a profit.

The funicular would have a capacity of about 900 people per hour, the volume necessary to replace the current stream of tourist buses, Bardóczi said.

Construction would start in two years and would take another two years to complete, he added.

The funicular will start from a 100 m-long tunnel in the Taban neighborhood and run all the way to the Citadella, at the top of the hill, which towers over the banks of the Danube at a relative height of 130 m.

The project is backed by the mayor of Budapest and the mayor of the capitalʼs District I, project company SIKLÓ-BERUHÁZÓ recently said. The company added that it is in the process of extending the construction permits for the project and updating a contract with the Budapest municipal council signed back in 2009. The government declared its support for the project in a resolution dated July 10.