Repairs on Prague’s Negrelli Viaduct are half a year behind schedule, completion pushed to mid-2020

Repairs to Prague’s Negrelli Viaduct, which will help link the center to Prague Airport, will take six months longer than planned.

The renovation of Prague’s Negrelli Viaduct is about half finished, but six months behind schedule. The CZK 1.44 billion project should be completed in the middle of next year. The delay is due to the landmark structure being in worse condition than originally was thought.

The railway viaduct is part of the planned route to speed up the journey from the city center to Václav Havel Airport Prague.

“The renovated viaduct will allow the introduction of a 60 kilometer per hour track speed and will contribute to a significant increase in the flow and number of trains being dispatched,” Transport Minister Vladimír Kremlík (for ANO) said at a press conference.

Work on the viaduct began in April 2017. Repairs were planned to start in 2010 but had been delayed several times for financial reasons.

Kremlík and Tomáš Koranda, head of the construction company Hochtief, which is involved in the construction, said the new completion date will be June 1, 2020.

About 1.5 kilometers of the viaduct have been repaired so far. The work includes the complete replacement of the railway infrastructure, replacement of 3.3 km of rails and obsolete security equipment, repairs to the foundations and the renovation of 99 vaults, eight of which cross the Vltava.

Some 20 vaults were in such poor shape that they had to be completely dismantled and rebuilt. After the repairs are done, residents should notice reduced noise due to the installation of anti-vibration mats and new switches.

In late May, a 169-ton steel bridge span was replaced on the viaduct near the Florenc bus terminal. The procedure took five hours and required the largest crane in the Czech Republic. Another bridge span will be installed above Křižíkova Street from July 5 to 14. This will require Prvního pluku street to be closed between Hudební divadlo Karlín and Kasárna Karlín.

The railway viaduct connects Masarykovo nádraží and Bubny, on the opposite side of the Vltava.

When the renovation of the viaduct is finished, the street level should have cafes, galleries, and shops in the arches. A new square will be created.

The Negrelli Viaduct (Negrelliho viadukt) is a stone, brick and steel railway bridge crossing the Vltava river that was built between 1846 and 1849. At 1,110 meters it was the longest bridge of its kind in Europe until 1910. It was designed by engineer Alois Negrelli.

It is Prague’s first railway bridge and Prague’s second-oldest bridge of any kind across the Vltava. It is currently the longest railroad bridge and the third-longest bridge in the Czech Republic.