Dutch architects have begun working on the project for the new Brno railway station

Brno - The Dutch studio Benthem Crouwel Architects has started working on the project for the new Brno railway station, which is planned to be built in the future at the site of the current lower station. Together with the Czech studio A8000, they are expected to complete the work within a year. The result is to be an architectural study in which the authors will propose how the space in front of and behind the station should look, including planned buildings and the surroundings of the station, announced in a press release by the spokesperson of the Office of the Architect of the City of Brno, Šárka Reichmannová. The study will serve as a basis for further stages of project documentation.

Unlike the current station, the new station will not be within walking distance from the historical center, and according to a five-year-old feasibility study, traveling to it will take longer from most areas of the city than it does today. However, it is expected to help railway transport, as the new station will have a larger capacity than the current one and will eliminate the problematic placement of platforms in a zigzag. The idea also includes the removal of the railway yard, which is currently needed for trains to pass from Horní Heršpice through the main station to Židenice. The large area of the railway yard on the historical viaduct south of the station is to serve as a promenade.

The architects are also to sign a contract with the Railway Administration for the study of the station building. Both studies are to be coordinated and continuously consulted with the city, the city architect, and the Railway Administration. In addition to the studies, another physical model of the entire locality, namely the area known as the southern center, is to be created.

This area, in addition to the new station, includes new streets, new blocks of buildings, public spaces, and newly organized public transport including new tram lines. It will also include a new bus station and a transfer terminal between different modes of transport.

According to the press release, the first train is scheduled to arrive at the new station in 2034. What this information is based on is not clear, and ČTK is investigating it. Earlier this March, the first timeline for the start of the reconstruction of the node was mentioned in public, with Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) citing the year 2028. This was followed by the general director of the Railway Administration, Jiří Svoboda, stating that construction is expected to take ten years. However, there is still no solution in the documents that would satisfy freight carriers in terms of sufficient capacity at the station, where passenger and freight transport will meet, unlike the current situation.

The first step towards modernizing the Brno railway node was also to be the reconstruction of the Židenice station, which is barrier-free and located quite far from the tram stop. According to earlier plans, construction was supposed to start next year, but it will not, and the project is currently more modest than originally planned.

According to a feasibility study from 2017, the modernization of the Brno node with the relocation of the station is expected to cost 50 billion crowns. Given inflation and the rising costs of materials and labor, it can be assumed that construction will be more expensive. The construction of new infrastructure for public transport was then estimated at nearly 2.5 billion crowns.