New station on Prague's ‘rail highway’ set to open next to Slavia sports complex

A new railway station will go into operation in Prague next to Slavia Stadium slightly ahead of schedule on December 13.

Praha-Eden will be the first of two stations on a newly modernized line between the Vinohrady tunnels and Hostivař. The other station, Praha-Zahradní Město, will open in the future.

The line is intended to relieve congestion in other sections. The Railway Administration (SŽ) considers to project to be the most significant railway construction of the decade, because it will transform a double-track line into the first four-track railway in the Czech Republic.

It will also help free up large areas for further development of the wider center of Prague. Work in the upgrading of the tracks began in June 2018. The original two-track route was straightened and shortened by 232 meters allowing the speed to be increased to 120 km per hour.

“Between main station Hlavní nádraží and Hostivař, a railway highway with an extraordinary capacity for suburban, long-distance and freight transport is really being born,” SŽ General Director Jiří Svoboda said in a press release.

The newly designed tracks will also help reunify the Vršovice area. “Passengers and residents of Prague will appreciate a rather significant increase in transport comfort, the creation of several new transport terminals with many transfer connections and also a solution to the territorial barrier that this route has represented so far. Simply put, thanks to various underpasses and overpasses, Vršovice, for example, will become a much more permeable area,” he added.

The station at Zahradní Město, when finished, will connect train transport with tram and bus lines and become a new transport hub. The Praha-Eden stop near the Slavia football stadium will again offer passengers a transfer to the main bus routes from Jižní Město to Vinohrady. It will also be convenient for out-of-town sports and live music fans going to the Slavia sports complex, formally known as Sinobo Stadium.

Construction work is being carried out by Metrostav. That company’s CEO Jaroslav Heran in August said he was pleased with the progress on the largest current transport project in Prague. “The big challenge for us is not only the pandemic and its effects, but also the fact that we are building such a large project practically without interruption. I am exaggerating when I say that we are canceling the old tracks right after the train passes through them, and we are setting up new ones just before the next one passes,” he said.

The project also includes the modernization of the Praha-Vršovice railway station, which will be transformed into a barrier-free transport hub with a new underpass extending to Nusle.

The construction of the Prague corridor is expected to cost 5.35 billion CZK. The European Union will pay most of the money. The entire corridor is to be completed in October 2021.

Prague will also lose one station in December. After that date, trains will no longer stop at the Praha-Strašnice station, which will be canceled. A park with a promenade and a cycle path will be created on the abandoned track. The place is to become the green backbone of Prague 10. The inspiration was the New York City’s High Line, which was also established on the former railway.

 “Prague 10 will get its cycle route. The tracks of the unused railway line leading from Hostivař through Strašnice to the Vršovice railway station will be replaced. …. The place will thus become a paradise for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters and parents with baby carriages,” the Prague Institute for Planning and Development said. The design of the new promenade is in its early stages.