High-speed lines from Prague to Breclav and from Brno to Ostrava should have a more significant economic benefit than the planned costs of their construction. Specifically, the Prague-Brno-Břeclav and Brno-Přerov-Ostrava high-speed lines would be affected. Feasibility studies have shown this, the transport ministry said on Tuesday. According to current estimates, the investments for both planned high-speed railways will cost more than CZK 400 billion.
The central committee has now approved the feasibility study of the transport ministry. Together with the previously adopted feasibility study for the line from Prague to Dresden, the Railway Administration thus has an economic justification for the basic skeleton of the upcoming high-speed line network, the ministry said.
The two studies include, for example, forecasts of future passenger numbers, a proposal for the routing of long-distance trains, technical design options including interconnection to the conventional network, and an economic analysis.
The studies dealt with two separate high-speed lines in the pipeline. For the high-speed line from Prague to Brno, the state chose a variant that connects the Czech and Moravian capitals via the northern corridor around Kutná Hora and Světlá nad Sázavou.
The project foresees a new Pávov terminal near Jihlava and the possibility of a connection to conventional rail. In Brno, the selected option envisages the Vídeňská terminal with a subsequent connection to the Brno railway junction at the new Řeka location.
In the direction of Brno to the south, a new line should also be built, which will run further west. The maximum operating speed on the line should be 320 km/h, the minimum of 200 km/h. The entire railway, including a separate branch from Prague Hostivař via Benešov to Bystřice, should cost around CZK 324 billion.
The second line examined was the high-speed line between Brno, Přerov, and Ostrava. The study chose the proposal for a new line in the section Brodek u Přerova – Prosenice – Ostrava Svinov, with two-sided exits to Hranice na Moravě as the more advantageous.
This option was preferred to building separate terminals in Odry and Trnávka.
According to current estimates, the line between Přerov and Ostrava should cost CZK 82.7 billion and connect to the modernized Brno-Přerov section. The maximum speed on the line should be 320 km/h again.
Trains should start running on the first part of the high-speed lines in 2030. The Railway Administration expects construction to begin in 2025, in the section Praha-Běchovice-Poříčany.