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- )