The Railway Administration of the Czech Republic, Správa železnic, has selected a consortium of Sudop Prague, Egis Rail, Mott MacDonald Czech Republic and Mott MacDonald to design the connection of the future 12 km high-speed line in Prague Main Station.
The line will connect to the already planned high-speed line Polabí (VRT Polabí) between Běchovice and Poříčany. Thanks to the new connection, trains will be able to enter the Prague junction and serve the existing railway station.
The consortium will design the track in a dense urban area, while the emphasis is on minimising the effects of traffic on the surroundings and also on integration into the existing urban planning of the capital city.
As part of the contract, the winners will have to identify an optimal solution sensitive to the local conditions and local characteristics of the city districts concerned. The consortium will have to work in close cooperation with city districts and private investors, so that the resulting design supports the further development of individual locations.
The new 12 km-long track will be used exclusively by passenger traffic and will be connected to the existing railway network in Běchovice and Vršovice. The project also includes the completion of the Prague-Zahradní Město railway station and connection to the high-speed line. Trains on the track will run at a maximum speed of 200 km/h, when passing through a built-up area, the speed will be further reduced to a level that is in line with normal train traffic in the city.
In addition, the project also involves modifications to existing tracks for which the consortium will prepare the technical design of the fourth track between the Praha-Běchovice and Praha-Libeň stations and the implementation of the so-called Jahodnické spojka, the connection of the tracks from Prague-Malešice to Běchovice and Libne. This will provide additional capacity for freight traffic.
The construction of the high-speed line in Prague will significantly increase the transport capacity for the entire rail network in the capital’s metropolitan area.
The railway infrastructure manager says that construction is expected to begin at the end of 2028.
VRT Polabí is the main component of the future high-speed network in the Czech Republic and is part of two fast connection routes: Prague – Brno – Ostrava and Prague – Hradec Králové – Poland. It will also serve as an exit for almost all long-distance trains heading east from Prague and using the railway corridor on the Prague – Pardubice section. The 29 km Prague-Běchovice – Poříčany will allow trains to run at a maximum speed of 320 km/h in 2032, when it is expected to enter passenger services. The construction of this line is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Správa železnic signed in June a contract for technical design of the Šakvice – Rakvice high-speed rail section that will extend the already designed section South Moravia high-speed line (Jižní Morava HSL) by 10 km. the contract was awarded to a consortium of Valbek, Valbek Slovakia, Mott MacDonald Czechia, Mott MacDonald Ltd and Egis Rail which will prepare a technical design of the line, which should blend in with the surrounding landscape as much as possible.
South Moravia high-speed line which will start from Modřice, was originally supposed to connect to the existing corridor Brno – Břeclav near Šakvice. The ongoing design works have shown that the design from the feasibility study would restrict future traffic on the line, thus the new connection at Rakvice will be off-grade, double-track and will allow trains to use a speed of 230 km/h. The relocation of the exit was recommended and approved as well by the Central Commission of the Ministry of Transport.
These two sections will be part of the future high-speed line between Brno and Břeclav that will cut travel time by 10 minutes compared to the existing route. The construction is planned to begin in 2027 and when completed, the trains will be able to run at 320 km/h.
In June, Správa železnic also announced a tender for preparation of documentation for zoning decision for the Moravian Gate l high-speed connection (VRT Moravská brána) which will be extended from Prosenice to Brodek u Přerova. 12 km of the new high-speed line will improve the traffic on the Praha – Ostrava corridor and the transport service of the regional metropolis Olomouc. The contract also includes a geographic information system (GIS) for the public, an engineering-geological survey, or the preparation of documentation for environmental impact assessment (EIA). The future line from Prosenice to Brodek u Přerova is based on the approved feasibility study (Brno –) Přerov – Ostrava from 2021. The construction of this connection with the planned route of the high-speed line will bring several benefits to the Haná metropolis in the form of shorter journey times between individual towns or a positive impulse for housing development.
Regarding Czech high-speed rail plans, Správa železnic is preparing the technical design for more than 300 km of such lines, some of them expected to be completed by the end of this year. Design work also continues for Prague East HSL (Praha východ VRT) and Roudnice nad Labem HSL (Roudnice nad Labem VRT) high-speed railway terminals, while a tender has been launched for the third terminal in Jihlava.
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