At the beginning of 2019, the results of the feasibility study for the new route Prague – Beroun will be published, SŽDC, the railway infrastructure manager of Czech Republic, announced. The technical and transport solution is mostly completed and currently part of transport prognosis and economical assessment is in preparations.
The document assesses individual alternatives for the new line between these two cities, especially from the economic effectiveness point of view.
For the new line, which will be designed for mixed transport with a maximum speed up to 200 km/h, three alternatives are analyzed.
The “C” alternative proposes a long tunnel between the Prague quarter Smíchov and Beroun, under the “B” one, a shorter tunnel in the line section Praha-Radotín – Beroun is proposed. The “F” alternative envisages tunnels with a total length of up to 5 km long in the line section Praha-Radotín – Řevnice.
“The new line will reduce journey times between Prague and Plzeň considerably, current capacity will be freed for still increasing regional transport, the noise burden in most densely populated areas will decrease and a possible implementation of the F alternative will considerably reduce journey times for the route Prague – Příbram as well,” Radek Čech, Director of the SŽDC Strategy Section said.
According to SŽDC, the project has its disadvantages such as considerable investment costs, especially in case of alternatives B and C where only the tunnel between Prague and Beroun from alternative C would represent a financial sum exceeding CZK 50 billion (almost EUR 2 billion). For alternatives B and F, all trains would remain on a part of the current line which would mean a higher burden noise.
The optimization of the current line along Berounka River which will be launched next year and take several more years cannot assure sufficient transport capacity that would satisfy all requirements of entities ordering passenger transport as well as freight transport carriers in the long term. The extent of transport will be restricted considerably especially due to the noise burden. Moreover, classical trainsets will not be able to assure required journey times of 60 minutes between Prague and Plzeň. The situation is more complicated by attitude of cities situated between Beroun and Hořovice where the public does not agree with the high-speed corridor currently led on the surface. At the beginning of 2019, the results of the feasibility study for the new route Prague – Beroun will be published, SŽDC, the railway infrastructure manager of Czech Republic, announced. The technical and transport solution is mostly completed and currently part of transport prognosis and economical assessment is in preparations.
The document assesses individual alternatives for the new line between these two cities, especially from the economic effectiveness point of view.
For the new line, which will be designed for mixed transport with a maximum speed up to 200 km/h, three alternatives are analyzed.
The “C” alternative proposes a long tunnel between the Prague quarter Smíchov and Beroun, under the “B” one, a shorter tunnel in the line section Praha-Radotín – Beroun is proposed. The “F” alternative envisages tunnels with a total length of up to 5 km long in the line section Praha-Radotín – Řevnice.
“The new line will reduce journey times between Prague and Plzeň considerably, current capacity will be freed for still increasing regional transport, the noise burden in most densely populated areas will decrease and a possible implementation of the F alternative will considerably reduce journey times for the route Prague – Příbram as well,” Radek Čech, Director of the SŽDC Strategy Section said.
According to SŽDC, the project has its disadvantages such as considerable investment costs, especially in case of alternatives B and C where only the tunnel between Prague and Beroun from alternative C would represent a financial sum exceeding CZK 50 billion (almost EUR 2 billion). For alternatives B and F, all trains would remain on a part of the current line which would mean a higher burden noise.
The optimization of the current line along Berounka River which will be launched next year and take several more years cannot assure sufficient transport capacity that would satisfy all requirements of entities ordering passenger transport as well as freight transport carriers in the long term. The extent of transport will be restricted considerably especially due to the noise burden. Moreover, classical trainsets will not be able to assure required journey times of 60 minutes between Prague and Plzeň. The situation is more complicated by attitude of cities situated between Beroun and Hořovice where the public does not agree with the high-speed corridor currently led on the surface.
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