21.08.2020
16:38
11.855
Amazing project! Tunnel for new Dresden – Prague railway line confirmed
–
For the planned new construction of a railway line from Dresden to Prague, the regional office of Saxony favors a tunnel up to 26 kilometers long.
Dresden – Deutsche Bahn wants to travel towards Prague at more speed in the future. The regional planning procedure for a new line has now been completed. Saxony sees this as a project of the century.
–
A regional train and an ICE cross the Marienbrücke in Dresden. © Thomas Türpe
The State Office of Saxony favors a tunnel up to 26 kilometers long for the planned new railway line from Dresden to Prague. According to the current state of knowledge, a full tunnel variant can best be brought into line with the requirements of spatial planning, the authority announced on Friday.
A partially open variant with a tunnel and bridge over the valley of the Seidewitz river is also possible. For this variant, however, various measures for nature and noise protection would be required. With all confirmed variants, there is still a need for more detailed research in order to find an optimal tunnel corridor.
The State Office of Saxony handed over the so-called spatial planning assessment for the Saxon section of the new line to DB Netz AG on Friday. This clears the way for further planning.
“I am particularly happy for the residents of the narrow Elbe valley up to the border near Schöna and for their guests. With the new construction of the railway line, the noise pollution from the heavily used existing line will be significantly reduced,” said the minister responsible for regional development Thomas Schmidt (CDU) .
Economics Minister Martin Dulig reminded that the route is an urgent requirement of the federal transport plan.
–
A Trilex train of the Länderbahn runs on the Marienbrücke over the Elbe, in the background the Frauenkirche can be seen. Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria want to expand the rail connections between the three countries. © Robert Michael / dpa-Zentralbild / ZB
The route is intended to remove a bottleneck in rail traffic between Germany and the Czech Republic. With a route outside of the Elbe Valley, travel times would be shortened considerably.
The fastest connection from Dresden to Prague currently takes just under two and a half hours, later it should be an hour. DB Netz AG had submitted a total of seven route variants to the regional directorate, which had to be checked for spatial compatibility.
The project is not only examined for consequences for noise and species protection, but also for its impact on people.
So far there is no information on costs. Germany and the Czech Republic also want to acquire EU funds for this. Experts assume that the line will not be able to be completed until the end of the 2030s at the earliest.
In the Elbe Valley, the project met with approval mainly because the freight traffic there causes a high level of noise.
At the beginning of March, the Federal Ministry of Transport referred to the European explosive nature of the route as part of a high-speed corridor from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) called the project a “project of the century”.
–
