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May 18th, 2008
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Ticket to ride

Metro expansion aimed at getting commuters out of cars

By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 7th, 2008 issue

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST
The station at Letňany is the last stop on the extended C line, and will feature a bus terminal and a ?park and ride? lot for cars.
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Three futuristic-looking metro stations set to open Thursday on the C line are designed to entice commuters out of their cars, transport officials say.
The new stations north of town took four years to build and cost taxpayers 15 billion Kč ($927.1 million).
The Střížkov, Prosek and Letňany stations extend the C line, or red line, to almost 23 kilometers (14 miles) across the city. They’re the latest links in a decade-long public transport expansion plan that includes a new “fast train” link to Ruzyně Airport to be built by 2013.
A new terminal for incoming buses and a “park and ride” lot for cars will also open at Letňany, the last stop on its line, making the city center accessible in 20 minutes from the suburbs.
“Our goal is to stop all incoming traffic on the outskirts of Prague and provide a viable means of transport for visitors and commuters,” said Jaromír Voska, technical director of the new metro stations.
But at the same time, the future remains uncertain for more than half of the city’s other public transport expansion plans, according to reports in the Czech media.
Prague Public Transit Company is short 6 billion Kč that it budgeted for other expansion projects, Karel Březina, a member of the public transit authority told Právo newspaper.
New stations have shops and restaurants, as well as state-of-the-art security measures to protect riders.
The Prosek station has a special fire wall, for example, which is designed to descend automatically in case of a fire in the operations section. That means the trains can continue running, Voska said.
“If the fire is too severe, there is even a special cooling mechanism for the wall, which should give firefighters more time to douse the flames without endangering metro services,” Voska said.
Letňany station was built to service the Prague Exhibition Center, which is expected to be a key location if Prague wins its discussed bid for the 2016 Olympics. A new national stadium could also be built close by.
Special wide platforms were built to accommodate possible Olympic crowds. At the moment, however, a blocked exit from the station leads to an empty field. Metro employees jokingly call it “Marmot Station,” since it doesn’t lead anywhere except to a bunch of gopher holes.
“There was a colony of marmots here, and Green Party activists were against the construction,” said Voska.
All systems have fail-safe measures built to keep the trains running on time.
“We cannot allow the trains to stop,” Voska said. “Surface traffic would collapse without the metro, since it carries millions of passengers every day.”
As a final safety precaution, a computerized system can be operated manually with 57 turns of a special handle.
It is not clear how long the construction of the A line expansion to Ruzyně Airport is going to take. Officials in September estimated the cost of the extension at about 40 billion Kč. It could be paid for, in part, by European Union funds, transport officials said.

Ondřej Bouda can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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Reader's comments:

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[09:07 09/05/2008] : All the talk of the A line extension to the airport is, in my opinion, insane.
The route the trains will take won't shave much off the current Metro to Dejvicka/119 method.
The sensible thing to do would be to use the existing train line that runs from Mazarykovo Nadrazi to Ruzyne village and skirts the southern edge of the airport instead - a short tunnel beneath the airport would allow a much neater and cheaper solution to the getting to/from the airport problem.
Charles Neville
Prague
[22:11 09/05/2008] : Somebody has got to learn a lot about politics.....maybe learning to speak and read Czech would be a starter.
Matthew
Prague
[23:46 09/05/2008] : >>a short tunnel beneath the airport would allow a much neater and cheaper solution to the getting to/from the airport problem.

That may be true if you want to get to Masarykovo nadrazi. However, the metro line would be much better for people living to the west of the river, plus for anyone living along the rest of the A line. Masarykovo nadrazi is a pain to get to from those places.
Margot Winston
Prague
[11:33 10/05/2008] : What do you mean Matthew? I've been living here six years and speak decent Czech and my reading skills are pretty good. Guess you must be native level, and feel really good about it.

In fact I was reading iDnes this morning and came across this: http://zpravy.idnes.cz/podivejte-se-jak-by-mohla-vypadat-rychlodraha-z-prahy-do-kladna-p7m-/praha.asp?c=A080509_212007_praha_jte - work should start in 2010 and the first passenger trains should be running on the new tracks three years later (is that a good enough translation for you?).
Charles
Prague
[16:52 13/05/2008] : Both train extension and metro to the airport will be built. It has been finalized recently. The High Speed Train will link both the airport and city of Kladno by 2013.
Metro will run to the airport by 2017, first leg to Motol hospital will be completed in 2014 and construction will get started in 2009.

It may seem strange to make the metro line not go directly to the airport and through number of neighborhoods, but if you look closely the stations are well positions to integrate metro with other forms of transportation. The metro connects number of tram lines and train stations on its way to the airport. Plus stops at the biggest Czech Hospital, Motol. When I looked at the map and saw the stations I had no doubt that the planners did a great job.

Now if you want a direct route downtown from the airport you will be able to take a train, which will include a 6-Km tunnel closer to the center.
TK
Washington D.C.
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