Metro D May Reach Libuš Without Being Able to Turn Round There

Libor Martínek, the chief engineer on metro D at Metroprojekt Praha, has set out how the line is likely to be operated once it runs past Nové Dvory — and the answer is that for a while it will be operated in two pieces. He was speaking to Zdopravy.cz in the outlet's podcast, published on 11 September.

The problem is where the trains can turn. The turnback sidings are behind Nové Dvory, not behind Libuš, and Martínek says Libuš may nonetheless open with the second section.

There is a high probability that Libuš station — and everyone hopes so — will be built and put into service with the second section. That we will be running Pankrác–Libuš. Then there is Písnice station, where it currently looks like a one- to two-year slip behind Libuš, and the Písnice depot is anyone's guess.

— Libor Martínek, chief engineer on the metro D project, Metroprojekt Praha

If that happens, the service pattern has to absorb it, and automatic operation is what makes that possible.

We really cannot turn round beyond Libuš. Because we have an automatic metro and the trains can be handled more easily, in the sense of when we release them onto the line and in which direction they will go, it is conceived so that we will run from Pankrác to Nové Dvory, and between Nové Dvory and Libuš one or two shuttles would run.

— Libor Martínek, chief engineer on the metro D project, Metroprojekt Praha

Two things follow from that for anyone living at the southern end. A shuttle over a single station means a change at Nové Dvory for everyone travelling further in, and it means the frequency to Libuš is set by however many units are dedicated to the shuttle rather than by the frequency of the line. Both are Martínek's description of current thinking rather than a timetable; he frames the Libuš opening as a probability, not a commitment.

North of Pankrác, on paper

At the other end the paperwork has moved. Martínek says Metroprojekt has in these days handed over the project-intent documentation for the Pankrác – Náměstí Míru section, and that if everything goes well the section could have a building permit by the end of next year. The section from Pankrác to Olbrachtova, he says, will shortly be built.

Beyond Náměstí Míru the route is not settled. A feasibility study has just been commissioned for the Náměstí Míru – Náměstí Republiky section, and how Žižkov is served is one of the questions it has to answer. Martínek describes a genuine fork rather than a preference.

A direct branch from Náměstí Míru towards Žižkov is possible, on a curve around the main station. Not perpendicular to the main station, though, but parallel, in its eastern part. That is the direct Žižkov variant. If D goes to Náměstí Republiky, then we can only reach Žižkov by means of a reversal. And here there are fairly large clashes of opinion. That will be part of the study too; a lot of questions need to be examined and answered.

— Libor Martínek, chief engineer on the metro D project, Metroprojekt Praha

He adds that the study must be free of any political pressure — a remark that is itself a comment on how the argument has been running.

Krč, and why there is a bridge

On Nádraží Krč, Martínek says the significance of the railway station itself was much discussed, and that the answer was to build for the long term.

It makes sense, we are building with a hundred-year horizon. Správa železnic plans for this station to be more important than it is today. The connection will be direct — from the metro D platform you get straight into the station's departure building.

— Libor Martínek, chief engineer on the metro D project, Metroprojekt Praha

The new departure hall at Krč is to be built as part of metro D and then transferred to Správa železnic. The metro also needs a bridge over the brook at Krč, which Martínek attributes to the maximum gradients permitted on the Prague metro rather than to anything about the site. He also says Krč station has proved more demanding than one would expect, and that side evacuation walkways will be a new feature of the line.