Praha no longer counts on Masaryk's Station, it wants apartments there

Prague - Prague no longer counts on Masaryk Station; instead, it would like to see a new urban center there. The city council today approved changes to the zoning plan that will allow construction on the site of the current railway tracks. The final decision will be made by Prague's representatives, who will address the issue in mid-September. Changes are also expected for the Žižkov Freight Station and Smíchov Station. Councilor Martin Langmajer (ODS) told reporters today.
On the site of the former stations, Langmajer would prefer apartments over dead zones with administrative buildings. According to Langmajer, the historical railway buildings will remain at Masaryk Station, which are protected as heritage sites. There will definitely not be a railway museum, which the National Technical Museum had planned for that location.
The city no longer counts on Masaryk Station for trains. According to Langmajer, all trains will instead go to the Main Station. The main reason, he says, is that the station is a dead end, and therefore locomotives need to be switched. However, some experts consider this unrealistic. Additionally, Masaryk Station was considered as a terminus for the railway from Kladno, which should follow the route of the Buštěhrad Railway.
"We can imagine that in the long term, one large terminal will arise from the two stations close to each other," Anna Kodysová from the Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) said to ČTK today. According to her, there is currently no money for it, and she does not expect any connection in the next five to ten years. However, SŽDC is not a participant in the zoning process; they will join the process only during the construction permit stage, when it must be proven that the solution makes sense and that the state will allocate money for it.
The revitalization of the station will be handled by ING Real Estate Development, and the actual realization will take years, according to Langmajer. A lucrative parcel will be created at "Masaryčka," which the railway intends to acquire by dismantling the derelict track along Na Florenci street. Construction will take place on approximately 20 hectares, with significant investments expected, as per Langmajer.
Masaryk Station should connect with Karlín via Opletalova street, and new buildings are expected to be built there.
In contrast, the redevelopment of Smíchov will not endanger passenger transport. Construction will take place on approximately 25 hectares in the area of the freight station. The same size area is expected to be built on in Žižkov as well. The revitalization of Smíchov Station will be financed by Sekyra Group as part of a joint venture called Smíchov Station Development. Sekyra plans to invest up to 600 million euros (approximately 15 billion crowns) in the construction. In Smíchov, a new urban quarter with commercial or office spaces of 400,000 square meters is expected to be created. Apartments will also be part of the project. Sekyra will also build a new district in the area of the Žižkov freight station, where it plans to invest 500 million euros (12.5 billion CZK).
The city council today also approved other changes to the zoning plan, including the location of a planned metro D line station near the Krč Hospital, the relocation of a tram loop to the metro station and the municipal railway stop in Hostivař, or construction on so-called brownfields in Modřany and Sedlec.
The council is reviewing changes of city-wide significance until the new zoning plan is created, with its concept due to be completed by early October. Most of these changes should begin to be implemented as early as next year.

History
Masaryk Station is the oldest railway station in Prague - the ceremonial arrival of the first train took place on August 20, 1845 (the very first station on the current territory of the city was the terminal for the horse-drawn railway from Lány to Bruska in 1831). The station was built by a consortium of companies led by Vojtěch Lanna and the Klein brothers between 1844 and 1845. The location of the station and the track layout was designed by Jan Perner, and the buildings were designed by architect Antonín Jüngling. The station was established as the terminus for the railway from Olomouc (Vienna) to Prague and was one of the largest railway buildings in Europe at its time. Its significance grew further in 1850 with the opening of the railway to Lovosice, Dresden, and Berlin. The third railway route brought to the station, the so-called Prague Connecting Railway, connected it through today’s Main Station to Smíchov in 1872.

Characteristics
The station is the only dead-end (terminal) passenger station in Prague (the necessity of switching some locomotives). It has four platforms, three with two tracks each and one with a single track. The station was originally divided by Prague's fortifications into an urban area for passenger and freight transport and an extra-urban area for parking vehicles and manipulation, a division that was changed by later reconstructions.

Buildings
The empire-style architecture of the station, with elements of neo-Renaissance and classicism, has more or less been preserved in its unchanged form. The station buildings comprise a two-story departure building with ticket counters and two square towers, a two-story arrival building, a covered platform with cast-iron columns from 1862, and a restaurant added in 1869. Several operational buildings are also part of the station.

Name Changes
The original name of the station was simply Prague, later Prague State Station. From 1919 to 1940, 1945 to 1952, and since 1990, it was named after the first president of Czechoslovakia - Masaryk Station. During the German occupation, it was called Hyberian Station, and from 1953 to 1990, it was referred to as Praha - Střed Station.

Others

• On Tuesday, August 5, Prague's councilors approved changes to the zoning plan that will allow construction on the site of the current tracks. The city reportedly no longer counts on Masaryk Station for trains.
• Due to the station's dead-end nature, difficult handling with train compositions, and the lucrativeness of land in the city center, there have been several discussions in the past about abolishing the station. On the other hand, the station was also discussed as a potential terminus for a future rapid railway from Kladno. According to some statements, the station was to be one of the first in Prague to undergo modernization.
• The station is the busiest station for Prague's urban and suburban train connections - daily, it handles 30,000 Prague residents and Central Bohemians utilizing these connections.
• Currently, the so-called new connection is being built, consisting of a network of viaducts and tunnels under Vítkov Hill (the largest railway construction in Prague in the last 25 years), which will connect the Main and Masaryk stations with the Libeň, Vysočany, and Holešovice stations.