Brno’s long-awaited new train station delayed again as 2028 start slips

Passengers in Brno face a longer wait for the city’s new main railway station after the Czech Railway Administration confirmed that construction will not begin in 2028 as previously planned.

Work is now expected to start no earlier than the beginning of the 2030s, and even that timeline will depend on money allocated through future state budgets. The previously announced completion date of 2035 is no longer considered realistic.

The project, estimated to cost more than CZK 70 billion, would move the city’s main station roughly one kilometer south from its current central location to a new transport hub near the river and the existing lower station.

Railway Administration spokesperson Dušan Kabele said the revised timetable reflects both the current stage of project preparation and the availability of public funding.

This year’s original transport budget did not include money for the project’s design work. The agency is coordinating its next steps with the funding expected to be available to the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure in 2027.

A tender covering the Horní Heršpice section and the new passenger station is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Kabele said final administrative details were still being resolved because of the size and complexity of the contract.

The Railway Administration launched a separate tender last year for design work on a new terminal in Černovice and the reconstruction of adjacent rail sections. Other project contracts have yet to be announced.

The delay adds another chapter to a debate that has shaped Brno’s development for roughly a century. City officials and residents spent decades arguing over whether the station should remain near its present site or move closer to the river.

The relocated option ultimately won approval, but completing the extensive redesign of the surrounding rail network will require multiple linked construction projects.

Brno is Czechia’s second-most important railway hub after Prague, handling substantial volumes of regional, long-distance and freight traffic.

The existing main station is already struggling with capacity as the number of services increases. Regional connections toward Zastávka have expanded, while peak-hour services have also grown on other routes.

Further pressure could come from the possible restoration of passenger trains toward Vyškov and the planned modernization of the Brno–Přerov line.

The future high-speed rail network would place even greater demands on the hub. Transport planners say the current station would be unable to accommodate the expected number of conventional and high-speed trains.

Preparations for a high-speed line from Brno toward Břeclav are also running behind earlier schedules. Construction is currently listed for 2030 to 2035, despite initial plans presented in 2021 that anticipated work beginning in 2025.

The Railway Administration says environmental approval has been secured, land purchases have begun and preliminary geological and archaeological surveys are underway. However, the final timetable will also depend on state funding and future EU co-financing.