Germany to Build Large Railway Tunnel to Czech Republic
German state railways have announced plans to build the country's longest railway tunnel through the Ore Mountains along the German-Czech border to the Czech Republic. This was reported by DPA with reference to Deutsche Bahn.
The 30-kilometre-long railway tunnel from the German city of Heidenau to the Czech city of Usti nad Labem is expected to significantly reduce travel time between Prague and Dresden.
Deutsche Bahn noted that other options were considered, but the company concluded that a single long tunnel would be the best solution for economic, environmental and technical reasons.
The new construction project is considered a European infrastructure priority. The existing railway lines that run through the Elbe River Valley are approaching their capacity limit and are also periodically flooded.
However, it could be 20 years before the first trains pass through the tunnel, as Deutsche Bahn's current plans are to start construction of the tunnel around 2032, with construction work expected to take around 12 years.
The journey between Prague and Dresden, which currently takes about 2.5 hours, will be reduced to one hour thanks to the new route. The railway line will also reduce travel times for passengers travelling from Berlin or Hamburg to Vienna, Bratislava or Budapest.
It is also part of a wider European rail corridor from German ports on the North Sea and Baltic to Istanbul and Athens.
According to Martin Walden, Deutsche Bahn's representative in Saxony, the project will also increase freight traffic on the critical connection between Germany and other Central European countries.
As a reminder, the world's longest railway tunnel was closed for several months in Switzerland in the summer due to an accident. It is 57 km long and connects the north and south of the country. A freight train crashed in the tunnel - 16 cars derailed and got stuck inside. No one was injured, but the material damage is serious - about eight kilometres of rails will have to be replaced.
As The Gaze previously reported, Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras has launched an initiative to create a railway connection between Greece, Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania to connect with Ukraine.