SŽDC Presents a Plan for Reconstruction and Revitalization of Railway Stations over the Next Five Years

29.08.2017

For the first year of the railway station administration, SŽDC had spent more than CZK 215 million on repairs, construction adjustments or project preparation. There are 149 fully completed constructions for nearly CZK 110 million, another dozens of larger or smaller repairs are running at the moment.

"We have succeeded in bringing the station's transfer to state property and thus opening the way for greater investments in neglected buildings. I'm glad that the works started right after the transfer happened and the first results are already visible. Anyone, who regularly travels by train, however, confirms that so much still remains to be done in this area. Nevertheless, there will be a rapid increase in the number of modernized railway stations within the upcoming years”, says Mr. Dan Ťok, Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic.

This year, there are planned repairs worth almost CZK 600 million. Another amount of CZK 45 million is meant to launch more extensive reconstructions of the seven railway stations in Břeclav, Kuřim, Hradec Králové, Turnov, Lipník nad Bečvou, Přerov and Sokolov. SŽDC will spend CZK 74 million on a project preparation for almost 70 stations. "In the upcoming years, the amount for larger construction projects will continue to increase. There are undergoing modernization preparations of the Prague Central Station, the station in České Budějovice and the main station in Plzeň and Pardubice“, says Mr. Pavel Surý, Director General of SŽDC.

This year's first investment project and also partial repair works will have been completed next year. “This year, the main part of the amount will be meant for the project preparation of circa fifty actions which will be a basis for the implementation of constructions in future years. An amount of approximately half a billion crowns is scheduled for the next year to start or continue with the implementation of investment projects”, adds Mr. Tomáš Drmola, Deputy DG for Assets Management.

But even this year, major reconstructions of station buildings will be launched, for instance, in Bílina, Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, Křižanov, Šternberk and Huštěnovice as well as the long-awaited reconstruction of the Kolín station.

During the next year 2019, the list of investment events will grow by another fifty. Regular stations, where a modernization is required due to their construction technical condition as well as stations which are important from a passenger perspective should be a part of it. These will be large stations with a significant number of passengers, such as the Prague Main Station or the railway stations in Beroun, České Budějovice, Plzeň, Jihlava, Chodov or the station Prague Smíchov. SŽDC expects that an average of 50 projects will be prepared annually for greater revitalization in the years 2019 and 2022 which will require around CZK 900 million a year.

"Our plans are best seen from the numbers themselves. If we compare this year, when we partially repair approximately 172 stations and start a major upgrading of seven passenger buildings, the number of investment constructions will increase from 7 to 27 in the following year. In five years in total, we will partially repair nearly 400 stations and completely revitalize 160 of them", names Mr. Tomáš Drmola.

"The preparation of the plans is very important. We can start to work systematically and prepare the constructions. However, we must count with the possible risks that can change our ideas. We see certain limitations in the evaluation of economic efficiency of the projects. I'm afraid that we will not avoid necessary reductions of over-sized objects“, explains the Deputy DG Drmola. Another important factor is the attractiveness of smaller railway stations and a difficult search for the use of not only commercial spaces. ”We also have to deal with possible delays in the preparation of projects and market capacity opportunities of the project work suppliers who have experiences on track constructions“, he adds.

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