SŽDC Ordered a Feasibility Study for Prague - Brno High-Speed Connection

12.04.2018

”Launching works on the feasibility study for a key domestic high-speed line section is another milestone in preparation and future implementation of the Rapid Service concept. We will continue with the already elaborated section from the capital city to Dresden”, says Mr. Radek Čech, Director of SŽDC Strategy Section and adds: ”This is a construction of a quite new high-speed line from Prague through Brno  to Vranovice where it will be connected to the modernised conventional railway to Břeclav. Not only assets of the line as such will be assessed; evaluation of assets and serviceability improvement in several regions will be considered as well. This concerns the Central Bohemia Region, Vysočina Region, South Moravia Region, Zlín Region South Moravia Region and last but not least Moravia-Silesia Region as considerable capacity will be freed on current railway lines“.

Works as such are divided into two connected phases. During the first phase, two principal variants of the new line construction will be assessed – the so-called northern corridor through Havlíčkův Brod and the southern corridor through Benešov. An integral part of the study will deal with fixing the transport concept; investment and financial requirements will be also taken into consideration as well as terrain clearance by form of a territorial collision basic evaluation. Devising the transport potential will include the impact of line speeds in levels of 250, 300 and 350 kph with clearly defined journey times and taking local intermediate localities into account.

During the second stage, nine operational and technical variants at maximum will be selected to indicate economic effectiveness, having as objective to optimise the selected variants, to devise and subsequently analyse the solution stages. In the final phase, the number of variants finally in consideration will be reduced based on economic assessment and those with the worst evaluation will be excluded. Six of them will be fully finalised. This number corresponds to the required extend of the study as ordered.

For purposes of economic assessment, a variant without a project will also be prepared, taking into account the current state of the infrastructure, i.e. operation and maintenance of the present conventional railway infrastructure on the axis Prague – Brno – Břeclav.

Beside the position and route of the high-speed line as such, the study will concentrate on leading the line to main railway junctions in Prague and Brno. In the capital, it starts in the area of Praha-Vršovice or Praha-Libeň respectively and takes into account the needs for higher capacity of the whole Prague railway junction. In case of Brno, a technical solution for both variants will be elaborated (”River“ vs ”Petrov“) and a variant with no project will also be considered, i.e. in the current position. The required variants will be specified based on current dealings on the future position of the junction and the main station as such.

The schedule of works for elaborating the feasibility study is divided into 13 partial performances, whereas the first meeting with the supplier shall be called and organised within one month since the works’ launch at the latest. During the whole elaboration, SŽDC will be supervising and correcting the course of activities within work meetings which will take place once per month at minimum. The final version of the study must be received in two months before the set term to deal with all remarks. The tender for the study was won by the company SUDOP Praha for a sum of CZK 6.9 million; pursuant to the contract, it is obliged to submit it in September 2020 at the latest.

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