The Czech Republic is one of the Member States that had obtained European financing for the highest number of rail projects selected under the first call for proposals of the CEF2 2021-2027.
12 projects will receive a European co-financing of EUR 430.34 million. According to the list of the selected projects, the rail infrastructure manager SZ will receive a maximum European financial contribution of EUR 401.8 million for eight rail projects. The administration said it has obtained CZK 7.9 billion (EUR 319.5 million) for its selected projects. The average rate of involvement of European resources is 82.4% of the eligible costs for construction projects, and 50% for project preparation activities. For ETCS installation, a unit subsidy is allocated per kilometer of installation of this system. Projects to modernise the railway infrastructure were particularly preferred, and technological projects to install ETCS on the TEN-T lines were also successful.
EUR 101.34 million is the largest European financing SZ obtained for a project and covers the modernisation of Prague-Bubny – Prague-Výstaviště railway line. The project consists of track upgrade at Praha-Bubny station, and the construction of a rail connection to the new railway stop at Praha-Výstaviště as part of the railway project between Prague and Václav Havel Airport.
The EC also selected the modernisation of Čelákovice– Mstětice section on the Prague – Lysá nad Labem suburban line and provided EUR 82.69 million. The project includes upgrade works on a 5.8 km of double track which is the busiest section lines linking Prague and Lysá. This spring, SZ has awarded the consortium of Eurovia, Subterra, GJW Praha and Elektrizace železnic Praha a EUR 87.85 million contract to modernise the section and works are schwduled to start in 2023.
EUR 40.75 million is the European co-financing for the optimisation of 1.3 km Děčín Východ – Děčín-Prostřední Žleb section situated on the pre-identified section Dresden – Praha/Kolín of the Orient/East-Med Core Network Corridor and it is also part of the Orient/East-Med and North Sea-Baltic rail freight corridors. The contract was signed in 2021 with a Strabag Rail – led consortium.
SZ obtained a EUR 13.6 million co-financing for the installation of ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 on Kralupy nad Vltavou – Hrobce including remote control of interlocking, signalling, heavy current and other related technologies. EUR 10.67 million will also support the installation of the ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 on the 36.3 km Praha-Uhříněves – Praha – Lysá nad Labem line, in the area of Prague railway node.
A EUR 49 million CEF financing will contribute to perform upgrade works on the Plzen Main Station – Plzen Koterov rail section situated in the Plzeň Junction as part of the Plzen – Ceske Budejovice – Vienna cross-border connection.
SZ also obtained EUR 84.6 million to upgrade Vsetín station located on the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor and is part of the Hranice (na Moravě) – Žilina cross-border link.
EUR 19.1 million will support the elaboration of the studies for the Dresden – Prague high-speed rail, along the section between Prague, Lovosice and Ústí nad Labem to the border with Germany. The project covers preparatory studies for the construction of a 72.8 km high-speed railway line which in the future will link Dresden and Prague. The financial support concerns the documentation for the zoning decision for the Prague-Balabenka – Lovosice and Ústí nad Labem sections, the cross-border tunnel along the state border with Germany. Part of the project is the design preparation of the high-speed terminals in Roudnice nad Labem and Ústí nad Labem. The cross-border tunnel is being prepared in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn.
SZ also applied for a EUR 821 thousand financing (CZK 20.3 million) for rail projects covering the digital management segment to increase infrastructure capacity and integration, including the cross-border connections, through RailNetEurope. This involves the acquisition of a software and hardware enabling the coordination and exchange of data for the allocation of track capacity to individual carriers. The railway infrastructure manager will apply for additional funds from the CEF programme in the currently open call for infrastructure for civil – military dual use and in the second CEF call, which will be announced this fall for infrastructure and technology projects, including high-speed project preparation.
České dráhy (ČD) will benefit a EUR 15.6 million financing for a project covering the ETCS deployment OBUs baseline 3 on 115 vehicles operating on the Baltic – Adriatic, Rhine – Danube and
Orient/East – Med TEN-T corridors.
Under the CEF2, ČD Cargo obtained a EUR 6.58 million financing for the deployment of the ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 on 122 electric locomotives of five different types. After the project implementation, the locomotives will run on in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Austria, and Poland along Baltic – Adriatic Orient/East – Med and Rhine – Danube Core Network Corridors.
In addition, with a EUR 2.4 million support, Metrans will install the Baseline 3 compliant ERTMS on the fleet composed of 47 rail freight vehicles.
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