The tram line to Borská pole is a priority for Plzeň

Plzeň - The tram line to the industrial and commercial zone Borská pole, costing between 400 and 700 million crowns, is a priority investment for the city of Plzeň. In this southwestern part, where over 12,000 people work, including 5,000 foreigners, and thousands of students travel to the neighboring West Bohemian University, only critically overloaded buses currently operate. The city will only build the line if it secures European grants amounting to up to 75 percent. Otherwise, it will only establish a trolleybus line for 100 million crowns, for which it also seeks subsidies. This was stated by Mayor Pavel Rödl.
    "I have agreed with the Minister of Transport that he will try to return eight billion crowns to priority six for grants for the development of public transport, but I don't yet know if this grant title will be available next year," he added. The city will request the funds in 2008; the line is already being designed. According to the mayor, there will be issues with land, but it will be a linear construction, and the building could begin as early as 2009.
    The tram line in a shorter variant, which would lead from the "four" terminus in Bory to the university, would cost 360 million crowns. The longer version, which would extend to Škodovka in Borské terasy, would cost 700 million crowns. If it is longer, according to Rödl, its usage would be all-day.
    Plzeň needs at least one billion crowns immediately for the development of public transport. "We also need to put together the line on Karlovarská Street and numerous intersections, which costs another 350 million crowns," said Rödl.
    Another 700 million to one billion crowns would be needed for a new depot for trolleybuses and buses, which currently park in Cukrovarská Street in the city center. "Its capacity is insufficient, the condition of the repair workshops is poor," Rödl said. The empty space is intended for the construction of apartments. The city is waiting for an offer from Škoda Transportation, which will leave its manufacturing hall for locomotives and trams next year. If the price is high, it would have to build the depot in the barracks at Zátiší near Borská pole.
    Borská pole is a problem; the city is trying to strengthen its transport connections. The town hall would welcome hostels in the zone. However, the area is already full; people need to be brought there by public transport, the mayor said.
    Plzeň will ask the EU for more than two billion crowns for investments. In addition to public transport, it plans a sports and recreation center in Štruncovy sady for a quarter of a billion, parking garages, the expansion of Karlovarská Street from the medical faculty to the roundabout, and a grade-separated intersection at Belánka.