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Old September 11th, 2007, 12:12 AM posted to rec.travel.europe,misc.transport.urban-transit
Gregory Morrow[_32_]
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Default Prague Metro Plans Extension To Airport + New Line


http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2...-expansion.php

City plans metro expansion

Network extension includes a new line and airport link

By Kimberly Ashton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
September 5th, 2007

"Prague officials want to expand the A line of the metro to Ruzyne Airport
in a 40 billion Kc ($2 billion) project that could be paid for, in part, by
European Union funds.
Officials plan to spend 15 billion Kc in city money to start building the A
line extension in 2009 to Petriny, according to Eva Dydová, a spokeswoman at
the Prague Transport Agency.

It could take until 2018 to complete the 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) line all
the way to Ruzyne Airport, said Radovan Steiner, city councilor for
transport.
Between Dejvická and Letiste Praha-Ruzyne, the line will stop at Cervený
Vrch, Veleslavín, Petriny, Motol, Bílá Hora, Dedina and Dlouhá Míle.

"The priority is building the A line to Dlouhá Míle terminal, which is of
key importance for car and bus transport," Steiner said in a council press
release. "Another benefit is the improvement of the traffic situation in
Prague 6, mainly on Evropská street and in the surroundings of Vítezné
námestí, it will become calmer."

Expanding the A line is the city's top priority, according to the city
council.


Including more of Prague 4

But officials are also discussing building a completely new, fourth metro
line."Building both stretches of the metro is very important for the city,"
Steiner says.

Construction of the D line will begin in 2010, according to Dydová.

The first stretch will run about 5 kilometers from Pankrác through
Olbrachtova, Nádrazí Krc, and Zálesí to Nové Dvory and will cost 18.5
billion Kc.
The next stage will extend the line from Nové dvory through Libus to the
terminus at Písnice.
The last phase will take the line from Pankrác to Hlavní nádrazí via Námestí
míru, where it will provide a connection to the A line and Námestí bratrí
Synku.
The entire 11-kilometer line is expected to cost 40 billion Kc, as well,
Steiner said.

The city wants to create a public-private partnership to pay for the line,
Dydová said. With such a system, a private investor would pay to build the
new line then take in the revenues until it's paid off. After that, the city
would own the line.

Under the public-private aspect, the new line would still be covered by the
city's public transportation system, including the metro pass.


A 'classic modern' approach

Prague officials are currently looking at other European metro systems to
see if a traditional subway, which runs deep underground, would be a better
option for the new line than a "light metro," which runs closer to the
surface and can navigate tighter turns.

"According to the preliminary results, we think the best thing would be a
classic modern underground that combines the features of the classic
underground and light underground," Dydová said.

But the city has taken one thing from the analysis so far: "We plan to run
the trains without conductors," she said.

While the city gears up to expand the A line and build the D line, it will
continue work on the C line, where construction began in 2004 to extend the
line from Ládví to Letnany, at a cost of 15.5 billion Kc.

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