The underpass beneath the main train station in Brno will begin reconstruction no sooner than 2025.

Brno - The underpass under the main train station in Brno will begin reconstruction no earlier than 2025, with the section under the tram stops taking "a matter of years," said the spokesperson of the city council Filip Poňuchálek to ČTK. The city's leadership has thus postponed the original plans for a relatively quick reconstruction after clearing the space of old stalls mainly selling textiles and footwear to a later time. Furthermore, they are considering that there may ultimately be no stalls in the underpass because new shops and services are planned to be built in the vicinity, with the construction being prepared by a private developer, added the spokesperson.

The space under the railway tracks has been cleared since the beginning of last year, and the stalls under the tram stops disappeared based on a court decision in May of this year. At the end of 2021, the city had a study prepared on the future appearance of the underpass under the tracks.

"Work has begun on the project documentation. Due to high expected costs (over 50 million crowns), changes to the project were commissioned this spring aimed at ventilating and cultivating the spaces. The project documentation is therefore being updated, and the final form has not yet been approved by the city leadership," stated Poňuchálek. In February of this year, when the regional court definitively determined the owner of the stalls under the tram stops, the city announced that it had had the project redrafted and plans to start next year. Now the project is being postponed further.

According to the city's earlier visions, new stalls were to offer refreshments or souvenirs, but now, according to the spokesperson, the city is yielding to a private developer who intends to demolish the former Prior department store and prepare for new construction. "The function of communication is being emphasized, a passage between two important transport terminals and sought-after shopping centers," stated Poňuchálek.

The timeline for the reconstruction of the underpass under the tram stops is even more distant, as it is linked to the redevelopment of the area in front of the station and the entire Benešova Street, which has been discussed as being prepared for many years, but it is still unclear when it will happen. "The designers, together with city representatives, are looking for a way to approach the repairs. The start of work will significantly affect transport accessibility; the main train station and the bus station at Grand are located here, which are heavily used for domestic and international transport. Additionally, the issue of temporarily relocating this station is being addressed, as well as considerations for the development of the reconstruction of the Brno railway hub," said Poňuchálek. He mentioned that the court also addressed the issuance of the zoning decision, which should now be resolved.

The reconstruction of Benešova Street is currently divided into two functionally independent phases in the project. "The first phase is the reconstruction around the bus station towards Malinovskému Square, the second phase includes the area in front of the station including tram platforms and entrances to the underpass in connection with this year's partial reconstruction of Nádražní Street," described Poňuchálek.

The underpass beneath the station and the area in front of the station have historically been regarded by many Brno residents in surveys as one of the ugliest public places in the city, and politicians have described the underpass with old stalls using words like disgusting.