Krnáčová: Prague is not considering extending metro A to the airport
Prague is not considering extending metro A from Motol to Vaclav Havel Airport. It will use the construction of a railway connection. Mayor Adriana Krnáčová (for YES) told reporters during today’s tour of the new metro stations, which now end at the hospital in Motol. According to her, the city will look for financing opportunities with the Ministry of Transport. The extension of metro A from the Dejvická station to Motol will cost about 20 billion crowns. Passengers will ride the new stations for the first time on April 6.
The political parties were not united before last year’s municipal elections on whether to build additional metro stations at the airport or use the construction of railways. Krnáčová herself, then a candidate for mayor, was in favor of extending the metro. But that would cost Prague tens of billions. “The connection of the city with the Prague airport is absolutely essential, but I still cannot imagine that we would continue to expand the metro,” the mayor said today.
Preparations for the start of verification operations are culminating in four new metro stations from Dejvická to Motol. According to the director of the transport company, Jaroslav Ďuriš, it will start in March and the metro trains will pass through the stations at intervals according to the timetables. Only after the tests can the transport company start operating with the passengers.
There are four stations on the route – Bořislavka, Nádraží Veleslavín, Petřiny and Nemocnice Motol. At present, a total of 19 trains run at rush hour on route A, after the opening of new stations there should be 24 or 25. In the extended section, the so-called zoning should apply, which means that not all connections will go to Motol. The operation is handled in the end sections of route C or between the stations Skalka and Depo Hostivař on route A.
The construction of the extension of metro A began in 2009. The planned budget of the approximately six-kilometer section is 22.5 billion crowns. According to the director of the transport company, the final account will be about two billion lower. The transport company should draw about seven billion crowns from European subsidies for the construction.