On Thursday, the reconstruction of the Negrelli Viaduct in Karlín will begin

Prague - The modernization of the railway line to Kladno, which includes the construction of a branch to Václav Havel Airport, will officially kick off with the start of repairs to the Negrelli Viaduct in Prague's Karlín district on Thursday. The repairs in Karlín will last over three years and will mean restrictions for passengers from this year's July 4 until September 2019. Tenants in the arches of the viaduct have lost their spaces, where cafes, shops, or offices could move in after the reconstruction.

Preparatory work on the bridge has been ongoing since May. According to spokesman for the Railway Administration (SŽDC) Marek Illiaš, the reconstruction will restrict traffic on the line starting from July 4. Trains from Kladno will terminate at Prague-Bubny station instead of Masarykovo nádraží, where a temporary stop Vltavská will be created a short distance from the eponymous metro station. Trains coming from Kralupy nad Vltavou will bypass the bridge through Holešovice. Until the end of this year, there will be outages, followed by permanent schedule changes until the end of the work.

The extensive reconstruction of the bridge from the mid-19th century is estimated to cost 1.44 billion crowns and is scheduled to last until July 2020 according to the current timetable. Trains will return to the bridge as early as September 2019.

The repair is part of the planned modernization of the line to Kladno with a branch to Prague Airport, which is often referred to as a rapid transit line. Scheduled repairs will involve, in addition to the replacement of the railway superstructure and substructure, the dismantling of two bridge arches on Štvanice, which were damaged by floods in 2002 and whose condition is deemed emergency by SŽDC.

During the preparation for the reconstruction, tenants who had warehouses or garages in the arches of the bridge lost their spaces. For the same reason, the well-known brewery U Fandy had to close. After reconstruction, the arches could house galleries, bistros, cafés, or offices. This is planned in a project by architects from the Center for Central European Architecture (CCEA), which is currently being processed by the City Planning and Development Institute (IPR).

"All parties are open to the use of the arches, namely the city, the district, and SŽDC," stated Yvette Vašourková from CCEA, adding that they would like to complete their project during the SŽDC reconstruction so that both projects are finished simultaneously. According to her, IPR is currently preparing materials for the City Council, so that Prague can start selecting a designer.

The Negrelli Viaduct is the first railway bridge over the Vltava in Prague and the second oldest standing bridge in the city. It connects Masarykovo nádraží across Štvanice Island with Bubny. The 1100-meter-long structure, which was put into operation in early June 1850, is a monument protected by law. It is named after the engineer Alois Negrelli, who oversaw its construction.