Czech Ministry of Transport has announced that Deutsche Bahn will design the Krušné railway tunnel under the Prague – Dresden high speed rail. During a meeting held on May 17, between Czech Minister of Transport, Dan Ťok, and Saxon Transport Minister, Martin Dulig, it was signed an agreement which states that German side will be responsible for the Erzgebirge-Krušné Hory base tunnel.
According to the Prague – Dresden HSR feasibility study, the tunnel project envisages the construction of a 26-km twin-tube tunnel traversing the German/Czech border. On German side, the tunnel will have a length of 15 km, while in Czech Republic, 11.4 km.
Under the new Dresden – Prague railway connection, the new alignment will deviate from the existing railway on Dresden – Ústi nad Labem – Prague axis in Heidenau (south of Dresden), entering the 1-km long Heidenau tunnel and then crossing Seidewitz viaduct (1.040 m). The Heidenau–Großsedlitz tunnel needs to be constructed for the new railway line. This tunnel with twin tubes at about 29 m between the tubes consists of two sections with a length of 1 km each.
The project will increase traffic capacity and will reduce travel time from 2 hours to 52 minutes cutting the distance between Dresden and Prague by 56 km. The new line will be given over to high-speed passenger trains that will be able to increase their speed from a maximum of 230 km/h on the German side, to 350 km/h once south of Ústí nad Labem.
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