12 minutes earlier in Prague. The municipality of Benešov rejects the billion-dollar new railway project
The 3,000 inhabitants of Velké Popovice are rebelling against the state’s transport plans. The local nature park is to be crossed by the new railway from Prague to Benešov, from where people commute to the metropolis every day for work. According to the Railway Administration, the new line will speed up the journey by 12.5 minutes, according to the Central Bohemian Region, it will improve traffic in the region. Environmentalists, however, call the construction pointless and warn against the extinction of the protected area.
Velkopopovický Kozel is cooked here, and children from the surrounding area come to skate at the local ice rink. Now Velké Popovice is to become an important point of modernized transport. The Railway Administration plans to build a line across the territory of the municipality, which will speed up the connection between Prague and Benešov and relieve the current congested routes. The Central Bohemian Region will decide on the construction in November.
“We calculated the estimated time savings between the two cities at 12.5 minutes,” said Nela Eberl Friebová, the spokeswoman for the state-owned enterprise. The new section is to lead from Prague’s Uhříněvsi to Bystřice u Benešov, with three stops on it – in Popovice, Nespeké and Lipane. For 40 billion crowns, construction is to begin in 2035, and it is to be completed five years later.
Originally, the high-speed line to Brno was even supposed to lead through this way. However, the Railway Administration has since released the plan and published a study two years ago that envisages this connection further north. Even so, I should take trains to Popovice quickly. The planned D204 line should allow up to 200 kilometers per hour, according to the Railway Administration. The current limit is 40 kilometers lower.
The Central Bohemian region also argues that with the new railway, the area will get more accessible transport and a number of nearby municipalities will bring new stops. “People will come to them by car and continue to Prague by train,” stated in January this year regional councilor for regional development Jiří Snížek from Pirátů. In addition, an increase in population is expected in the region.
However, the construction aroused disapproval in the affected municipalities. The track is to lead through a 200-meter-wide corridor and cross the Velkopopovicko nature park. The wooded hilly area with an area of approximately 22 square kilometers preserves an untouched part of the central Bohemian landscape, protected species of plants and animals, as well as sources of drinking water. It has been a nature park since 1993.
“The track threatens the park in a fundamental way. It’s about its existence or not. If construction were to take place, its existence would lose its meaning,” described Eva Šrailová, chairperson of the Basic Organization of the Czech Union of Nature Protectors in Velká Popovice.
The map shows where the D204 rail corridor should lead. | Photo: Central Bohemian Region
The railway is to split the protected area in two. This would lead to the crossing of migration routes that ensure free movement of animals through the landscape. New roads and tracks thus cause the disintegration of continuous natural units into long-term islands that are not suitable for the survival of many species of animals.
“For the conservation of the park, it is absolutely essential that it maintains its integrity. It is home to 60 species of important animals, especially protected and endangered, and 30 endangered plant species from the red list grow, of which ten are especially protected and highly endangered,” Šrailová described with a link on the list compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The planned railway corridor in greater detail. | Photo: Territorial planning documentation of the Central Bohemian Region
Jan Weger, chairman of the Environmental Commission in Velké Popovice, was responsible for the threat to surface and underground water.
Both also refer to studies that evaluate the impact of the planned construction and are part of its documentation. I mention the text on the environmental impact assessment or the study evaluating the impact of the corridor on the landscape of the park.
The visualization shows the insertion of the corridor into the landscape of the Velkopopovicko nature park. | Photo: studio neoVisual
Residents also define themselves in relation to the corridor. They express their opinion by signing the petition, which Šrailová launched in February of this year and so far 1,600 people have created it. Just at the beginning of the year, the railroad workers and the region presented the intended corridor to the public.
“In January, three meetings were held in Velké Popovice, Bystřice and Říčany, at which representatives of the Railway Administration and the Central Bohemian Region presented the proposed route. They also informed about the next procedure, including the possibility to raise comments on the proposed route,” said administration spokeswoman Eberl Friebová.
A view of the area where the proposed corridor enters the territory of the nature park. The image is part of a document on the assessment of the impact of the proposed building on the landscape. | Photo: Studio B&M
The interviewed experts also agree with the construction of the corridor, but they prefer construction outside the nature park. “It would be good to think about whether the line could lead elsewhere, so that it represents the least possible burden on the environment,” said Petr Panský from the Center for Efficient Transport.
Vít Janoš from the Institute of Logistics and Transport Management of CTU also encouraged the growing population and the overloaded current connections. “Prague’s urban infrastructure has been growing for decades and people are commuting to the metropolis. With the current regular population, the number of trains in Prague is also increasing, so the double-track Benešov line is so extreme,” he described the situation.
The region will decide on the direction of the track
The village of Velké Popovice is also protesting against the encroachment on the nature park. She filed an objection to the project in June. “We demand a balance of both public interests – traffic serviceability and the protection of the environment in it,” said Mayor Václava Zímová.
The regional council, made up of ODS TOP 09, Pirates and Mayors, cannot decide on the railway corridor project. It must be discussed by the council, it should express itself in November. The opinion of the opposition is not yet known, opposition representative Robert Bezděk for ANO told Aktuálně.cz that he did not want to comment on the matter two months before the decision.
Regional councilor Snížek, who is also the deputy of Central Bohemian Governor Petra Pecková from STAN, told the Aktuálně.cz editors that he wants to comply at the November council meeting. So the new track could lead elsewhere. The issue is continuously resolved with the municipal management, which is confirmed by the municipal authorities.
Nature park Velkopopovicko | Photo: Miroslav Hájek
“He started public discussions to find out the attitudes of residents and municipalities. I see that positively,” said Weger on behalf of the Commission for the Environment.
The Railway Administration is also ready to modify the plan. “If there is such a condition from the meeting of the regional representatives, we will respond to communicate with the representatives of the municipalities in an effort to ensure a through route,” spokeswoman Eberl Friebová said.
Looking for another option
In the event that the region rejects the route through the nature park, the Railway Administration will commission a study to find another route. She has already tested several variants in the past. In the densely populated central Bohemia, however, it is impossible to completely avoid buildings or other important areas. “Finding a conflict-free track management is practically impossible,” said Janoš from CTU.
The fact that the new draft with more options doesn’t count bothers critics. “The only option is the route of the source of the natural park. Previously, the corridor was planned for a high-speed rail, and the proposal had three options,” pointed out Weger.
“After all, there would be some possibilities, for example to move the railway by a few kilometres,” reminded Miroslav Hájek, a resident of Velkopopovice, who sent a written reminder to the region in June about the planned route of the corridor. He, too, is now waiting for the region’s decision in November.
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