Train with migrants leaves Budapest for Austrian border

A train carrying between 200 and 300 migrants left Budapest’s main international train station on Thursday and headed toward the Austrian border, after authorities reopened the station, an AFP reporter said.

The train was due to split, with three carriages due to travel to Szonbathely and the rest to Sopron, both near Hungary’s western border with Austria.

The part going to Sopron was packed with people standing in the corridors. It was unclear whether the trains would arrive at their intended destinations.

On Tuesday Hungarian authorities stopped migrants taking trains to Austria and Germany after thousands travelled to these countries.

The next day, it closed Budapest’s Keleti station to migrants, leaving some 2,000 people stranded and leading to a tense standoff with demonstrations and scuffles.

Then early Thursday the station was fully re-opened and hundreds of people stormed inside, cramming into trains. Hungarian Railways said however that there would be no trains going to western Europe.