Smíchov Station Is Half Rebuilt. Platforms Three and Four Open on Tuesday, the Footbridge Slips to 2028

The reconstruction of Praha-Smíchov station has reached its halfway point. When the current night closure ends on Tuesday 20 October, passengers get platforms three and four, together with the rebuilt part of the southern underpass. Platforms one and two close the same day and the works move across to that half of the station, next to the historic station building. Zdopravy.cz reported the handover from a site visit with Správa železnic on Friday.

What opens

Platform three has been completely rebuilt; platform four is new. It is meant mainly for trains on the Pražský semmering line towards Zličín and Hostivice. Both are reached from the southern underpass, which gets new lifts, escalators and stairs.

"The southern underpass, completely rebuilt in the area of platforms three and four, should open at 4:20."

— a Správa železnic representative, during the site visit

Everything beneath and around the track in this half has been renewed: substructure, track, overhead line and signalling. There are new information signs, lighting and cameras. The canopies over the underpass entrances and the escalators remain provisional, as do the waiting rooms, because their final form depends on the city's bus terminal, which is to sit on a deck above the tracks.

Passengers should expect to be moved again. In about a month the main route through the station shifts to the northern underpass, and about half a year after that back to the southern one, while the parts of the build are joined up.

The footbridge date depends on who you ask

The other piece of next year's work is a new pedestrian footbridge connecting Smíchov and Radlice across the tracks, with access down to each platform. Správa železnic's press release raises the possibility of opening it at the end of next year. On site, the investor's representative was not prepared to say so.

"I don't expect it to be done by the end of 2027. If we manage it, there will be some provisional state, but the finished product we want will be, I'll say, in the middle of 2028."

— the Správa železnic representative, as reported by Zdopravy.cz

The concrete, including the columns and part of the bridge structure, is finished, he said. What remains comes after the works move: connections, stairs, waterproofing and final surfaces. And an early opening does not depend on the railway alone. The continuation of the footbridge belongs to the Smíchov City South development, and a regime for early use would have to be agreed. "We can be ready; the question is how ready they will be," he said.

We report both dates, as the outlet did. The difference between them is the difference between a press office and an engineer on site.

The ground for the bus terminal

Alongside its own work, the railway is building in advance the foundations of the city's bus platform — all 40 of its columns now stand — so that later construction of the terminal disturbs train traffic less. As we reported on 7 October, when the city picked the terminal's builder, its construction cannot start until these piers are finished.

A new technical building has been built to shell stage; the equipment that runs the station will move into it from the old station building. The railway part of the project is still scheduled to be complete at the end of 2028. The contract price for the station and the footbridge is 4.14 billion crowns. The reconstruction of the station building follows, and Správa železnic's director general Tomáš Tóth said its design is now being completed.