The First Phase of the Břeclav Railway Junction Reconstruction Has Been Completed

20. 05. 2010

On 20 May 2010, the first phase of the demanding reconstruction of the Břeclav Railway Junction was ceremonially completed. It has strategic importance for the railway network of the Czech Republic because Transit Railway Corridors I and II pass through it. At the same time, it is a border crossing station to Austria and Slovakia. The investor of the “Břeclav Railway Junction Reconstruction, Phase I” is the Railway Infrastructure Administration, state organization (RIA).

The RIA CEO, Jan Komárek, said on today’s ceremonial occasion: The Břeclav Railway Junction links five metropolises – Berlin, Prague, Bratislava, Vienna and Warsaw. Now, Břeclav has become interconnected with the constructions that were finished earlier, specifically: Břeclav – the state border with Austria, Břeclav – the state border with Slovakia, Břeclav – Vranovice and Břeclav – Hodonín. The speed of trains passing through Břeclav was also successfully increased from the original 80 km up to 130 km/hour in the incoming area and north gridiron of the railway station.

Besides the increased speed, the traffic clearance according to the European UIC-GC standard and the spatial passability for rail cars of the D4 track loading class (22.5t load on the axle) was achieved. Finally, passengers were also provided with appropriate comfort. In the Břeclav Railway Station, three platforms were reconstructed and four newly built, all of them with the platform edge height of 550 millimetres above the upper surface of the rail to make getting on and off the train easier. A completely new structure is the island platform that replaced track 12 and the tongue platform built on the spot where track 9 used to be. The island platform between tracks 2 and 6 was extended. “Access to the platform is enabled by the reconstructed and prolonged subway, equipped with lifts and obviously there are also modern information and navigational systems,” said Michal Štefl, the Chairman of the Board and CEO of OHL ŽS, a.s. today.

Also the whole of the south gridiron of the station underwent modernization, including the five-track bridge over the River Dyje at the 82.467km mark (the central gridiron will be reconstructed as a part of the following phase, i.e. Phase 2 of the reconstruction).

The investment costs of the project were CZK 2.419 billion; the funds were provided by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure. At the same time, an application was submitted for the project to be co-financed by the European Union under the Transportation Operational Programme, when the planned contribution from the Cohesion Fund represents approx. CZK 1.9 billion. The application for a subsidy was approved by the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic in August 2008 a now, the authorization process on the European Commission level is underway.

The contractor of the construction project is the “Břeclav Railway Junction” Consortium, with OHL ŽS (the leading member of the consortium), Skanska and EUROVIA CS as its members. The construction project commenced on 10 October 2007 and was completed in April 2010.