Brno will have the appearance of the future city rapid tramway drawn

Brno - Brno will have another study prepared concerning projects related to the relocation of the train station. Engineers should draw up the exact route of the proposed urban rapid transit and calculate the costs for its construction. This was stated to journalists today by Deputy Mayor Martin Ander. The rapid transit reconciles previously irreconcilable projects - the relocation of the train station and its reconstruction in the center. The new train station will be built about a kilometer south of the existing one, but it will be connected to the current one by the rapid transit. Regional train connections will thus continue to stop in the center of Brno.
    The plan to procure a so-called technical-economic study of the rapid transit was approved by city councilors. "We would like to have it ready by the beginning of next year," said Ander. The document should, for example, answer the question of whether the construction of the rapid transit will increase the costs of the reconstruction project of the Brno railway. "I am personally convinced that the total costs of modernizing the hub will not increase due to the implementation of the rapid transit," said Ander. According to him, the project can omit some other railway constructions thanks to the rapid transit, such as a railway bridge that was supposed to go through the second floor of the protected historical building of the Masná burza in the area of Brno Communications.
    The rapid transit is to run from the old to the new station along a new urban boulevard. It will run above ground. People could thus exit from the train at the stop, which is to be in the middle of the boulevard, to the first floor of buildings on both sides of the street. Another stop is to be at the existing station, the next near Radlas Street, and another in Komárov.
    According to Ander, the new study is necessary as a basis for further permitting of the rapid transit construction - land-use decisions and environmental impact assessments. According to Mayor Roman Onderka, however, the rapid transit will be discussed as a separate project so that its preparation does not jeopardize the financing of the already approved Brno railway reconstruction project.
    The reconstruction of the rail hub is expected to cost about 20 billion crowns. The start date for construction is not known. It has been postponed several times in the past.