SŽDC excluded Helika from the tender for the study on the Brno train station

Brno - The Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) excluded the company Helika from the tender for the feasibility study of the reconstruction of the Brno railway junction. They did not provide information about a change in the board member and did not submit his criminal record extract. They did submit an objection against their exclusion, which however was rejected by SŽDC. SŽDC is now waiting for the thirty-day deadline to pass, during which unsuccessful applicants can submit their appeal to the Office for the Protection of Competition. The deadline will expire at the beginning of May, said SŽDC spokesperson Marek Illiaš to ČTK.
    Robert Weiss, the commercial director of Helika, told ČTK that the company would not comment for now on whether they will turn to the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS).
    If Helika, which belongs to the German group Obermayer, does not submit an appeal to ÚOHS, the study should be completed by mid-next year before the autumn Brno referendum, in which the residents of the city will express whether they want the station to be moved or kept under Petrov. However, if Helika submits an appeal, it is likely that the preparation of the study will be significantly delayed. Helika offered a price that was reportedly a million lower than SUDOP, which allegedly finished second. SŽDC has estimated the value of the contract at 18 million.
    Three applicants participated in the tender. Illiáš did not disclose who offered the second lowest price. According to information on the official Facebook profile of the Brno+ association, which lobbies through the former Deputy Mayor Robert Kotzian (ODS) for the relocation of the Brno station, it is the company SUDOP along with two other collaborators AF City Plan and Moravia Consult. SUDOP is also the designer who prepared the study for the construction of the station in the relocated position where today’s lower station is located.
    The feasibility study should definitively resolve the dispute over the location of the new Brno station. In addition to the displaced variant, there is also the station under Petrov, roughly in the area of the so-called Little America. Studies that have been developed so far have shown that the station can be retained in the center. Previous coalitions advocated relocating the station, while the current city leadership does not lean towards any variant and is waiting for a study that will assess all possible aspects of building the station in both options.
    Last week, the Czech Chamber of Architects also organized the first open discussion on the reconstruction of the railway junction. Its chairman Ivo Plicka stated that the city should first clarify whether it is capable of transforming the South Center into a viable city in the case of a relocated station. The architects who spoke at the discussion tend to favor keeping the station in the center.