Ambitious Repairs Wil Be Carried Out at Brno Main Station
18.05.2017
Yearlong preparations stress the demandingness of this year’s works at the main station in Brno with costs exceeding CZK 170 million. On 3 June, SŽDC will start the next phase of necessary repairs at the second most busy railway station in the Czech Republic. Railway transport restrictions will last till 10 September. Repairs of the so-called Prague Viaduct, Platform No 4 and respective tracks to be carried out this year will be followed next year by repairs of switches at the station and the bridge over Křídlovická Street and Hybešova Street. The biggest loading test will be a key modernisation of safety and signalling equipment in 2019 which will not do without a yearlong transport restriction.
Same as during previous years, repairs at Brno Main Station concentrate this year into summer months when lesser passenger frequency is expected due to holidays. ”A necessary condition for starting repairs this year is ensuring substitute disembarking and boarding trains for passengers in the premises of the so-called Lower Station where alternate routes especially for long-distance transport will lead. Besides the current platform at Track 1, we are now building another one at Track 2“, says Mr. Miroslav Konečný, Director of SŽDC Regional Directorate in Brno. The infrastructure manager will assure a crossing with lockable barriers over both tracks and lighting of platforms and adjoining space. A background for passengers in form of ticket windows in the passenger building and station radio is also important. In the canopy’s vicinity, passengers will have toilets at disposal as well. ”SŽDC will spend approximately CZK 12 million to ensure substitute premises and another platform”, adds Mr. Konečný.
Repairs of the so-called Prague Viaduct
”Works in the viaduct as such will start right on the first day of closure, i.e. 3 June. The bridge is in a bad technical shape and we cannot postpone its repairs any more. I must stress that the objective of these repairs is not an improvement of its parameters but extending its viability“, explains Director Konečný. During Phase 1 in 2016, static securing of the bridge took place; this year, the catenary will be dismantled, cables and the signal head will be removed and the required cable route will be put into operation. Tracks and gravel will also be removed up to the level of current insulation. At the same time, railing, ledges and parts of the head wall will be dismantled. After essential savings of the exposed arches’ upper part, the inferior concrete with waterproof insulation will be laid and it will be again covered in gravel. Then it will be possible to lay tracks and begin assemblage of the catenary and laying new cable routes. Total costs of repairing the bridge over Vlhká Street will amount to CZK 55 million.
After Platform No 2 and 3, Platform No 4 will be repaired as well
SŽDC has a clear objective to decrease the period of restrictions for passengers; that is why it concentrates a maximum of construction works into three months. ”Together with repairs of the so-called Prague Viaduct, we will repair i.a. Platform No 4, the adjoining Track No 6 and the service crossing. Works will concentrate on summer holidays, they will start on 1 July and will end at the end of August, requiring CZK 68 million“, says Mr. Konečný.
Within adaptations mentioned above, the boarding edge will be completely demolished and a quite new one will be built. Due to the curve with low radius, the boarding edge will be situated at a height of 300 mm and at a distance of 1,650 – 1,725 mm from the track axis. The current asphalt-concrete surface of the platform will be replaced by concrete pavement with a guiding line and other signal and warning stripes for sightless passengers. The canopy’s shape will be preserved. Steel and cast-iron structures will be dismantled, complying parts will be modified and the other ones will be replaced by replicas. The newly adapted platform will be completed by a new orientation and electronic information system, lighting, station radio and equipment.
Repairs of tracks between Brno Main Station and Židenice
Between 19 July and 10 September, an exchange of sleepers and rails on two tracks between the main station and the Židenice branch line will take place. It will also include ballast cleaning, ballasting, direction and height track modifications and track welding into a continuous rail. During this November, tracks will be partly packed again. Total costs equal CZK 35 million.
The most ambitious repairs will take place in Brno in the years 2018 and 2019, requiring almost CZK 2.5 billion
Repairs of the railway station are necessary both from a transport and a technical point of view and cannot be postponed any more, even in case of decision on the future position of Brno Main Station to be taken this autumn. ”Repairs are meant to maintain operability of this railway junction which is currently on the edge of its technical potential. The railway station capacity is now quite exhausted during peaks. Repairs in the following years must assure continuous operation up to the construction of a new railway station“, stresses Director Miroslav Konečný.
A complete reconstruction of the station signalling and safety equipment and its future control from a single utility workplace undoubtedly requires the biggest amount of investments. As the current signalling and safety equipment will be still functional during reconstruction, it must be newly placed in the constructed technological building. Besides safety, reconstruction of power feeding, tracks and switches at Břeclav station head must be dealt with as well as trackage modifications at the station and in adjoining sections. A tender for the construction’s project supplier is currently under way. Total expected investment costs amount approximately to CZK 1.785 billion. According to the infrastructure manager, the implementation as such should start next spring and last till December 2019. A closure is also assumed for the whole duration of 2019.
During the same period, reconstruction of bridges over Křídlovická a Hybešova Street will take place. A project is being elaborated for these two investments amounting to CZK 443 million. Another important operation will be a reconstruction of switches at the central station head of the Brno railway station. 21 switches will be exchanged altogether, railway substructure and partly superstructure and the catenary will be modernised. Costs are estimated approximately to CZK 331 million.
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