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March 18th, 2010

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Main train station facelift unveiled

Changes have yet to improve reputation of shabby Hlavní nádraží

By Curtis M. Wong
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
December 10th, 2008 issue

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST

A new track, modernized platforms and electronic announcement boards are part of much-needed renovations to bring the station up to European standards.

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST

Many first-time travelers who arrive in Prague find themselves in the middle of one of the capital’s seediest locales: Hlavní nádraží, the city’s main train station. A maze of grimly lit corridors that attracts drug addicts, prostitutes and the homeless, the station is a far cry from the opulent grandeur of Amsterdam’s Centraal Station or the state-of-the-art expansiveness of Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof, which opened in 2006.

However, officials are hoping to improve the station’s dubious reputation with a multiyear facelift that includes both logistic and aesthetic improvements. One of the ongoing renovation’s first stages — a complete overhaul of the station’s seven platforms — has just been unveiled.

Complete railway service to the station, which services some 100,000 passengers on its busiest days, is to be fully restored Dec. 14, with new connections running between the main station and Vysočany, Libeň and Holešovice stations.

Authorities say they could not be more pleased with the final results. Included as part of the 1.6 billion Kč ($79.2 million) renovation are new digitized placards, already a standard in most train stations across Europe, which display train arrival and departure information.

Each platform was also fitted with new escalators and benches for passengers, as well as new lighting. Officials say they hope to cut back on vandalism and petty crime such as pickpocketing with an upgraded surveillance system monitoring each platform.

Other features of the platform overhaul include new restrooms with shower facilities on the lower level. Perhaps as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to make the city more manageable for disabled travelers, new elevators have been installed on each of the platforms.

According to Pavel Halla, spokesman for the Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC), which was responsible for the project, the refurbishment of the platforms was long overdue, and has brought the station up to European Union standards, behind which it had previously lagged.

“The station is more than 100 years old, and all railways and platforms needed to be reconstructed,” Halla said. “The platforms are now much more modern and in compliance with all EU standards.”

Petr Pošta, a spokesman for national railway company České dráhy, said the company was satisfied with the renovated platforms and noted passengers have already commented on the improvements.

“The whole situation is much more practical for passengers,” Pošta said. “Everything is a lot more modern than it used to be. Having up-to-date platforms is very important for travelers, so we’re extremely pleased with the final results.”

Despite these improvements, the renovation is still a work-in-progress, a point that authorities acknowledge. Though the platforms have been completed and several new retailers, including a bookshop and clothing outlet, have recently opened in the main hall, the rest of the building is in disarray.

Passengers are rerouted through badly lit corridors and makeshift passageways as the improvements continue. Judging by the number of suspicious-looking individuals lingering by the ticket counters, the station’s reputation as a crossroads for the city’s drug and sex trades remains intact. Littered with vagabonds, the small park directly outside still holds true to its infamous nickname of “Sherwood Forest.”

Chugging along

Halla and Pošta note improvements have been gradual, but substantial. “Every day, it’s an improvement,” said Halla, who arrives at the main station daily from his home in Plzeň. “I think most customers and train operators are satisfied.”

Halla dismissed a persistent rumor that a second level, to be built below ground, would be added to the main station in an effort to absorb domestic railway traffic currently routed through Masarykovo nádraží, which has controversially been slated for a new commercial and residential development.

Doing so, he said, would require funding of up to 50 billion Kč. “That’s purely science fiction,” he said.

The main building’s renovation, which was estimated to cost 660 million Kč, began in 2006 and was reportedly expected to wrap up in 2009. Halla cited scheduling conflicts between Czech Railways and Grandi Stazioni Česká republika, which is handling the building’s refurbishment, as being responsible for delaying the end of renovations through 2011 or 2012.

Though confirming that the renovations wouldn’t be finished until 2012, Grandi Stazioni spokesman Martin Hamšik refuted Halla’s claim, stating that the overhaul would actually be completed two years ahead of the original schedule.

“We were allotted seven years in our original contract, and we’re planning to finish it in five,” Hamšik said, noting that two-thirds of the visible entrance hall would be completed by March 2009.

“We had to divide the renovation into several phases in order to keep the station operating. There was never any agreement like that,” he said.

Curtis M. Wong can be reached at cwong@praguepost.com

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