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 Prague
(
Czech
Praha), the capital of the Czech Republic, has 1.2 million
inhabitants and is situated on both sides of the Moldau (Vltava) river.
The relatively
new metro system follows the common Eastern European model with three
basic lines forming a triangle in the city centre and tunnels very deep
below street level.
The first
section of
line C
(north-south,
18.1 km) was opened between
Sokolovsk?
(now
Florenc
) and
Kacerov
in 1974. This line continued to
Háje
in the
south in 1980 and crossed the Vltava river to
Holešovice
in 1984. Most stations have a central platform, but not
Hlavní
nádrazi
(Central Rail Station) and
Vyšehrad
(situated
inside the motorway bridge crossing the Nusle valley). Construction
of a 3.9 km line C extension from
Nadrazí Holesovice
to
Ládví
began in Sept. 2000 and was completed in
June 2004. The line crosses under the Vltava river and there is one
intermediate station at
Kobylisy
.
The western
branch of
line A
(east-west, 10.9
km) (
Nám. Míru-Dejvická
) opened in 1978 and until
1990 it reached its final station
Skalka.
Hradcanská
and
Staromestská
were restored in 1997/98. In May 2006,
line A was extended by one station (1 km) from
Skalka
to
Depo
Hostivar
, taking advantage of the tracks leading to the Hostivar
depot in that location. The new terminus is served by every other train.
The newest
is
line B
(25.8 km). The city section
between
Florenc
and
Smíchovské nádrazí
opened in 1985, a first extension to the south-western suburbs in
Nové
Butovice
opened in 1988. The line grew to the north-east (
Ceskomoravská
)
in 1990, and finally in 1994 to the south-western terminus at
Zlicín.
This section is not very deep and some station use daylight. Between
Hurka
and
Luziny
there is an artificial science-fiction-like
bridge tunnel (see picture below). The easternmost section to
Cerny
Most
opened with 3 stations on 9 Nov 1998 (
Vysocanská, Rajská
zahrada, Cerný Most
). On 15 Oct. 1999 an intermediate station
was opened to the public,
Hloubetín.
One more station,
Kolbenova
(planned as CKD) was built between
Vysocanská
and
Hloubetín,
it finally opened on 8 June 2001.
Photos ©
R. Schwandl (UrbanRail.Net) (
More
photos
)
The Prague
Metro system is 54.8 km long with 54 stations and operates from 5:00
to 24:00 with trains every 4-10 minutes (2.5 min. peak hours).
Due to
heavy flooding in mid-August 2002, the Prague Metro was closed for several
months along the central section (deep stations). Service was maintained
on all outer branches.
 Trains
Here you can see the same trains running in Budapest, Moscow and
all other ex-Soviet metro cities (5-car trains of 81-71 series in service
on Lines A & B). Prague can be proud of having the best acoustic
station announcement in Europe. New trains (M1 series) are being delivered
for Line C, where also some modernised trains (81-71M) are in service.
In Oct. 2001, the former local rolling stock manufacturer CKD was taken
over by Siemens and under the new name SKV it will produce the remaining
units.
Stations
Most stations on Line A and Line B are very deep and of the three
tunnel type with long escalators leading to a central distribution tunnel.
Line C doesn't run very deep though. Network maps can be bought in one
of 6 transport offices. Stations are clean and well ventilated.
Transport
Museum
The Prague Transport Museum (Patockova 4, April-Oct. Saturday, Sunday
and holiday 9-17h) exhibits mainly old trams and buses, but now it also
offers a good survey of the history of the Prague Metro.
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