"A vonat nem ott van, hanem itt."

Translation: The train is not there, but here.

[david.altmayer]

Should "The train is not there, but rather here" be correct?

[airminer]

Yes, it should.

[vvsey]

"But rather" or "but instead", both are good at describing the situation.
I wonder about the etymology of the word "hanem". It may be just a coincidence that it can be split into "ha" ( = if ) and "nem" ( = not ). The usage is not to be confused with "ha nem"

It is worthwhile noting that the "hanem" part always contradicts a previous negated statement.

Not (one statement) but instead (a different statement).

[Harly5210]

"Sino" in Spanish also has similar components, "si" (if) and no (no/not) and has the same meaning

[vvsey]

Nice, thanks! I keep finding these small similarities between Spanish and Hungarian myself. "Como no" - "hogyne", "me gusta" - "nekem tetszik", etc. Similar logic.
I think Hungarian might have picked up a lot of structure from Latin, as well.

[JackyDW]

I think these "The X is not [preposition], but (rather) [opposite preposition]" sentence are very effective for these prepostions.

[DynamiteCandy]

Why don't we add a "van" after "itt"?

[vvsey]

Because it is unnecessary to repeat the verb, just like in the English sentence. You can do it but there is no need.

[LobsangC]

The train is not there, but over here. -I thought this, mayhaps be a smoother translation. Lo and behold -It was accepted!
'I must be very proud of myself' -lol. At any rate: Вот и Voila! Prego.

[ValriaKlik]

I take the "check" by mistake