BME Department of Control for Transportation and Vehicle Systems

Head of Department: Dr. Tamás Bécsi, Associate Professor

Address: H-1111 Budapest, Stoczek u. 2., St. building, 1st floor, Room 110.

E-mail: kjit@mail.bme.hu

Phone: +36-1-463-1013

Fax: +36-1-463-3087

History of the Department

The origin of the current department dates back to 1951, when the Department of Physics was founded at the Transportation Technical University in Szeged. The name of the department was changed to the Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering in 1952. At this time the department was moved to Szolnok. From 1954 to 1957 it was named the “Department of Electricity”.

In 1956 the former Transportation Technical University was incorporated into the building, and added as its third faculty. In 1957 the department moved to Budapest and was located in the central building of the University. After 21 years it was moved to Kinizsi street. In this period the Transportation Technical University adopted the name “Department of Transportation Electrics”.

In 1967 the Building and Transportation Engineering Technical University (ÉKME) and the Technical University of Budapest (BME) were merged, and from this date the Department continued to work as the Department of Transportation Electrics and Automation, which operated within the organisation of the Faculty of Transportation. In January 1984 the department was moved back to the campus of BME. By this time, computing, control, and automation were dominant forces in education and in projects. This evolution was reflected in the faculties’ new name: Department of Control and Transport Automation.

From 1971, the department created and operated the computing centre of the Faculty of Transportation. Over time, the IT labs of the faculty evolved from this group, and a strong co-operation between the IT lab and the department is still alive. In 2006 BSc and MSc programes were introduced at the faculty, and in turn the department  also was restructured. In the summer of 2012, the department moved to its current location,Stoczek Utca (street). Since 2013 the Faculty underwent a major transformation: the name of the faculty was changed to the “Faculty of Transportation and Vehicle Engineering”, and the department was also renamed to the “Department of Control for Transportation and Vehicle Systems”, which reflects our current educational and research competence.

Heads of the Department:

Dr. László Halmágyi (1951-1953.)
Nándor Biacs (1953-1966.)
Dr. Tibor Kelemen (1966 -1991.)
Dr. Károly Kurutz (1991-1994.)
Dr. József Bokor (1994 – 2012. )
Dr. Péter Gáspár (2013 – 2025)
Dr. Tamás Bécsi (2025 – )

The Community of the Department of Transport Automation

The staff of our department have traditionally formed a strong, close-knit community. We always felt it was important to share experiences not only in teaching and research but also in our private lives.

In the early 1970s, we were still located on Kinizsi Street. The department bought a ping-pong table, and in the afternoons we played on it with great joy, mostly playing doubles or “round-the-table” matches. Its popularity was evident as colleagues from the Department of Motor Vehicles frequently joined in.

At the end of the street in Közraktár Park, chess matches took place on the concrete benches during lunch breaks and after work. Occasionally, a highly skilled student (and even some employees from the neighboring Olajterv company) would join the games.

Our shared weekends began with Tibor Kelemen’s invitation to Pilismarót. Then, still in the seventies, Attila Ágoston invited us to surf on the Danube, giving several of us a good dunking (pictures are in the gallery). That was also when Sanyi Sárközi taught Sanyi Hőgye how to drive in his newly purchased Moskvitch car. We were in mortal danger multiple times, but this only strengthened our solidarity.

This was followed by a two-day trip to Lake Balaton: first to Szentjakabfa (at Karcsi Gyenes’s farm), and the next day to Ábrahámhegy (at József Gál’s holiday home).

At the end of one semester, we visited Sanyi Sárközi’s wooden cabin on the banks of the Danube (in the floodplain of Nagymaros). Sanyi prepared excellent grilled meats to accompany the splendid wines.

In the eighties, the parties continued for several years at Sanyi Hőgye’s estate in Pilisszentlászló. Whether it was winter or summer, we happily devoured Sanyi’s fantastic oven-baked dishes, which he prepared for us with great love and expertise alongside his wife and Marika Kordásné. Sometimes we played football on the frosty meadow, while other times a military live-fire exercise endangered our hike (we only noticed the warning sign when we were already walking out of the area).

In 1990, Sándor Sasvári invited us for a traditional oven-baked lunch at his vineyard near Bokor. The majority of the department’s staff arrived by a rented bus, ensuring there was no obstacle to tasting the local wines.

Then came the restaurant era. For more than a decade, we held our gatherings in famous and atmospheric restaurants around Budapest, organized by Karcsi Gyenes.

The costs were covered by our supporting partners (with a little friendly prodding). An average of fifty people attended these events, including department staff, representatives of our external partners, and our PhD students.

During the series of restaurant gatherings, we went to Andris Hőgye’s place in Pilisszentlászló on one occasion, where Sanyi Hőgye’s grandson prepared a fantastic meal.

In 2016, Gabi Rácz invited us to his estate in Pécsely for an unforgettable feast.

Our laboratories

Header photo: Fortepan / László Lajtai