Construction season on the railway is in full swing,but impacts on traffic will be smaller this year28/4/2023|Press releasesThis year's strongly pro-investment budget amounting to CZK 70 billion enables the implementation of essential and long-awaited railway projects. The construction plan was presented today by transport minister Martin Kupka and director general of Správa železnic Jiří Svoboda. Exactly one half of the 38 projects planned for this year have already been started. The reconstruction of lines and station buildings will require traffic restrictions, but their impact will be smaller than last year. "Travelling by train is a sustainable mode of transport and its popularity has been growing in the Czech Republic. It is therefore necessary to continue the high pace of lines modernisation and improve their condition and capacity. All the more so when Správa železnic can draw the highest volume of funds of all transport sectors this year," said transport minister Martin Kupka. The funds allocated are primarily directed to the implementation of 38 major construction projects. Nineteen of them have already been launched or tendered for implementation. A total of 174 kilometres of lines are under construction. Construction work started on one of the sections of the line to the airport between the stations Praha-Bubny and Praha-Výstaviště. The reconstruction of platforms in Lovosice and the station building in Karviná is in full swing as well. Správa železnic has already selected the contractor for the replacement of the first crossing on the corridor with an overpass in Olomouc-Holice. Tenders are running for the construction of barrier-free access to the platform in Kolín, reconstruction of the Karlštejn – Beroun section, the first part of the modernisation of the Praha-Smíchov station, the double-tracking of the Branický Bridge, and the reconstruction of the Havířov station and the connecting section to the Havířov střed stop. We are also looking for a contractor for several ETCS installations. More than 750 kilometres of lines are equipped with this this system. "We want to launch tenders for other major projects during this year. Regarding the airport line project, it will be the modernisation of the Prague Masarykovo nádraží station. The second part of the reconstruction of the Prague Smíchov station and the construction of a new footbridge over the railway tracks are subject to the second part," said Jiří Svoboda, director general of Správa železnic. Work is about to start on the connection between Brno and Havlíčkův Brod in the sections Přibyslav – Pohled and Vlkov u Tišnova – Křižanov. On the same line lies the Brno-Královo Pole station, which has been long awaiting modernisation of platforms and construction of a new station building. Other projects that require major funding also include the reconstruction of the sections Lipník nad Bečvou – Drahotuše and Kyjice – Chomutov. Regarding safety, it is important to replace the five-track level crossing at Studénka station with an underpass. Where the biggest construction sites will be "At the end of last year we managed to resume train operations on several modernised lines. Another important date will be 1 July this year when long-distance trains between Prague and Brno will return to their usual route via Česká Třebová. This will significantly shorten travel time not only between these cities but also to the capitals of Slovakia, Austria and Hungary," said transport minister Martin Kupka. This change will be made possible thanks to the completion of the modernisation of the line between Brandýs and Ústí nad Orlicí where a monthly closure of always one track will take place until the end of June. On corridor lines the ongoing reconstruction of Pardubice main railway station will also cause slight restrictions. Throughout the year only one track will be available in the direction from Lanžhot to Kútě in Slovakia. Due to the construction of the railway bridge on the D55 motorway, there will always be only one track available in the sections between Starý Město u Uherského Hradiště and Napajedly from 15 May until 27 October. As part of the Václav Havel Airport line, train operation between the stations Prague-Bubny and Prague-Dejvice will be suspended until the end of next year. From 1 July traffic between Kladno and Kladno-Dubi will be stopped for more than a year. Traffic over the Branický Bridge, located in the section between the Radotín and Krč railway stations, will probably be stopped in Prague from mid-October. The connection of the new bridge over river Labe and the activation of the signalling equipment at the Pardubice station will have a significant impact on the railway transport between the East Bohemian cities. From 9 October to 9 December trains will not be able to run between the Pardubice main station and Rosice railway station. Billions of Czech crowns for buildings and repairs of other lines Passengers will this year begin to use the station buildings that have undergone extensive reconstruction in the past period. These include parts of the interiors of the Fanta building at Prague's main railway station and other listed buildings in České Budějovice and at the main railway station in Pilsen. Work is in full swing on the high-rise building in Pardubice and Teplice in Bohemia. Správa železnic will spend a total of CZK 2.5 billion on this chapter. A number of major repairs are also planned; Správa železnic has CZK 18.6 billion available for these and for regular maintenance. With a cost of more than CZK 200 million, the most significant works are those between Zruč nad Sázavou and Červený Janovice in the Kutná Hora region. Repairs are also planned for the line sections Blatno u Jesenice – Petrohrad in the Lounsko region, Kunovice – Veselí nad Moravou, Hýskov – Roztoky u Křivoklát and Nová Pec – Horní Planá in the Šumava mountains region. The catenary repair between Stará Boleslav and Dřísy is also significant. To maintain the necessary parameters of corridor lines, work will be carried out within the so-called cyclic maintenance in the sections Praha-Holešovice – Vraňany, Praha-Běchovice – Poříčany and Třebovice v Čechách – Hoštejn. More regular train service Passenger trains showed better regularity in the first quarter of this year than last year. A total of 92.2% of the connections reached their destination on time or with a delay of up to five minutes. In the same period last year, the figure was 90.4%. The number of delayed connections was significantly reduced from 67 411 to 55 135, an improvement of more than 18%. The average length of delays fell from 14.9 to 13.7 minutes. Even better is the year-on-year comparison of the total length of delays caused by Správa železnic. While in the first quarter of last year it was 671 855 minutes, this year it was 384 735 minutes. This means a decrease of 42.7%.