Ceremonial Completion of the 1st Part of the Brno Storage Yard, Phase I

25. 05. 2010

On 25 May 2010, another significant railway infrastructure construction project implemented in the Czech Republic – the 1st Part of the Brno Storage Yard, Phase I – was completed. The storage yard is situated in the area of the existing Brno – Horní Heršpice railway station and is a separate technical and operational unit making up a part of the Brno railway junction. After its full completion (Phase II is already under preparation), it will serve for the comprehensive operational servicing and side tracking of train units, electric train units as well as individual locomotives. The investor is the Railway Infrastructure Administration, state organization (RIA).

The objective of the construction project was to build an indoor train washer, including the required technological track yard,  a storage track yard, reconstruction and extension of the Modřice traction substation, construction of an underpass connecting Sokolova and Bohunická streets, a complex of railway  facilities to secure railway traffic safety (signalling facilities, telecommunication facilities, power equipment, traction mains and lighting systems), new bridge structures and surface communications in the track yard, required surface structures for new technologies and construction of technical infrastructure connection and distribution points. The RIA CEO, Jan Komárek, commented that “as a part of the construction project, Vídeňská and Kšírova streets were  interconnected with a grade-separated communication over the railway corridor of the storage yard in Horní Heršpice. The existing railway level crossing and the overhead pedestrian crossing in Sokolova Street were replaced.  The grade-separated interconnecting communication enhances the current possibilities for connecting the city of Brno, which is separated by the railway. The Sokolova under-crossing was put into preliminary utilization as early as 2 October 2009.” The clearance of the new communication is 4.35 m and a separate 3-meter wide corridor was built in the under-crossing for pedestrians as well as cyclists.

The washer hall is situated in the premises of the current track yard on track no. 208 of the newly designed technological track yard. The efficiency of the indoor train washer depends on the amount of soiling on a train unit and also on the method of how the cleaned-up units will be exchanged with those waiting for this service. Therefore, the design for Phase I contains  at least the minimum number of service tracks necessary for removing washed railway cars and bringing in new cars . Track no. 208 of the new indoor train washer is connected to all existing storage yards of the Brno railway junction. The track is supplied with a trolley line in front of and behind the hall; the gate of the hall will be reached by the train units equipped with their own driving mechanism, while the other units will be pushed by a locomotive of dependent and independent traction. Movement around the hall is secured by a cable-stayed shifting mechanism with a facility enabling a unit to be pushed out of the hall at its north side. Further moving of a unit will be secured either by its own driving mechanism or by means of a shunting locomotive. The hall will contain up to 7 passenger coaches of the length of up to 26.8 m. The washing processes are fully automated according to the pre-selected programme – the decisive factor is the type of car being washed. Furthermore, operators may set the washing programme so that a waiting car can go through. There are three programmes preset: intensive automated washing, short automated washing and ecological automated washing. The individual programmes differ in the intensity of the amount of cleaning agent and the period of washing the car front. A 7-per-cent solution is commonly used for intensive washing, and about a 3 to 4-per-cent solution for normal washing; the ecological washing is carried out without any detergent. It takes 7 minutes to wash one vehicle front under the normal programme and 14 minutes under the intensive programme. The washer will be put into full operation on 27 May 2010. Technical tests of the facility will have been carried out by that date.

The total investment costs for the construction project implementation are CZK 3.1 billion. The contribution of the Chartered City of Brno to the construction of the Sokolova under-crossing amounts to CZK 188 million. The construction of the 1st part of the storage yard commenced in October 2007 and finished in May 2010. The project of the construction was designed by SUDOP BRNO, spol. s r.o. and implemented by the “Brno Dragon” consortium made up by the OHL ŽS and Skanska companies as its members.