As part of a feasibility study, the Praha Sobé group, which is part of the city government, wants to commission the examination of the possibilities of building a circular subway line marked O as part of a feasibility study this year. According to him, the line would satisfy the need to travel through the center on some routes, relieve congested metro sections, simplify commuting to work for Central Bohemia and connect the planned new development to the public transport system. The opposition ODS and ANO also agree with the proposal in principle, according to Mayor Zdenek Hřiba (Pirates) it will be necessary to check.

According to Martin Všetečka from the Institute of Land Communications, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology, it is quite common in big cities not to build all metro lines only in the center. He sees the congestion of sections in the central part of the city and shortened routes outside the center as the main reasons for this. “Of course, it has a lot to do with the urban planning of the city, that is, whether it is rather monocentric or rather polycentric,” he pointed out. According to him, the construction of circular lines can often support the development of other areas of the city. According to Všetečka, the current load on the metro in Prague has reached a state where, according to him, it is reasonable to deal with the issue of a circular line. At the same time, he emphasized that for now it is only a matter of verification, not the commissioning of the building.

According to Milan Kříž from the Institute of Logistics and Transport Management, Faculty of Transport, Czech Technical University, everything indicates that the population of Prague and its surroundings will grow in the future. It is necessary to respond to this in spatial and transport planning, he said. At the same time, he reminded that the project of the ring line in Prague is still in progress, while several variants of the project may emerge from the study, which will have different effects on subsequent transport and the spatial plan. According to him, the possible construction of a new line should be based on a balance between territorial and transport planning in the city, as well as on political and social consensus.

The experts agreed that the question of whether a similar circular line in Prague is even realistic will be answered by the upcoming feasibility study. According to Kříž, it is right that the study is being considered now, because sometimes a situation arises when a solution is accepted in advance, which then turns out to be economically inefficient in the study. In this context, Všetečka stated that it is still premature to talk about the specific management of the line before the study is completed. The most appropriate specific route of the line should be answered by the just commissioned feasibility study.

According to the first proposal, presented on Thursday by deputy Adam Scheinherr (Praha Sobě), the new line should lead from Nádraží Podbaba through Dejvice, Smíchov, Dvorce, Budějovická, Vršovice, Žižkov, Vysočany, Čakovice and then in the second phase north back to Podbaba. According to Scheinherr, the cost of the circular line cannot be estimated now.

The city is now waiting for a building permit for the construction of the first section of the fourth metro line D, which is to be about ten kilometers long and will pass through Pankrác and Písnice. Another section from Pankrác to Náměstí Míru is to be built in the future. According to this year’s update, the total expected cost of line D is 97.79 billion crowns.