A railway upgrade project is improving connections through Central Bohemia and the South-West Czech Republic, bringing better quality rail transport and time savings.
- 09 September 2014
The infrastructure improvements are set to transform the lives of families and workers close to the capital city. The project focuses on the railway line between the town of Beroun in the Prague metropolitan area, and Zbiroh in the neighbourhood of Plzeň.
Improved standards
As well as linking up Prague, Central Bohemia and the south west of the country, and providing better transport access onwards to Germany, the new infrastructure brings the railway into line with the highest EU standards and all the benefits these bring. In addition to the quality and time improvements, the project brings greater capacity and interoperability to the line, and better rail transport safety.
Faster, stronger and more efficient
The Beroun – Zbiroh railway is part of the EU priority transport network, the co-called TEN-T programme. Work on this route means line speeds will increase to up to 155 kilometres per hour. A new superstructure has been installed for the main rails, along with modern telecommunication and signalling equipment. Moreover, it is estimated that EUR 10.93 million are likely to be saved every year through time savings thanks to the project, which was finalised in 2012.
Modernised infrastructue
The Beroun – Zbiroh railway is one of four projects designed to modernise infrastructure from Prague to the German border, and further afield to Nürnberg. The four projects, although linked, are financially and practically independent of each other.
Overall the line will travel from Prague to Plzeň, but splitting the design into four projects makes work faster and cuts the impact of construction on the surrounding areas. Funding and permit approval were streamlined by breaking efforts down into four manageable projects.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “Optimisation of the Beroun – Zbiroh line” is EUR 254 913 342, of which the EU’s European Regional Development Fund is contributing EUR 149 975 263 from the Operational Programme “Transport” for the 2007 to 2013 programming period under the priority “Upgrading and development of the TEN-T railway network”.