Before signing, there is a contract for the construction of fifteen kilometers of double-track railway line between Prague – Ruzyní and Kladno with a projected speed of up to 145 kilometers per hour. It is awaiting the approval of the state budget.
The railway administration does not even want to reveal the prize before signing the winner. It refers to a figure from the end of 2023, when the price of this longest section of the “highway to the airport” leading mainly through the fields was estimated at 8.6 billion crowns.
In the meantime, prices have been rising, so now, according to Novinek, the price will range up to 10 billion crowns. This translates to 666 million crowns per kilometer. Even at the original price, it works out to 573 million per kilometer.
For comparison, in Spain, since last year, they have been preparing the construction of a high-speed line from Seville to Huelva. Trains will travel there at 350 kilometers per hour. The local Ministry of Transport estimates the cost of building 95 kilometers of track at 1.6 billion euros (39 billion crowns, i.e. 410 million crowns per kilometer).
The journey along the line with thirty bridges and viaducts and a two-kilometer tunnel between two cities in Andalusia should therefore take only 30 minutes instead of today’s 1.5 hours. By the way, this is the same as how long it should take to travel by “high-speed rail” from the center of Prague to Kladno after the modernization is completed. Today it’s about 45 minutes.
The modernization of the railway between Brno and Přerov should enable a travel speed of 200 kilometers per hour. In the first section of Přerov-Kojetín, the construction costs over 700 million crowns per kilometer.
Few competitors
As the analysis of the Seznam Zprávy.cz server pointed out, railway constructions in the Czech Republic are often more expensive than in Spain, France or Germany. The reconstruction of the railway station in Česká Třebová is expected to cost at least 22 billion crowns. In the end, it could even cost more than building a new railway station in Vienna for one billion euros (24 billion crowns). They opened a new station there in 2014.
The Zdopravy.cz server also found that the electrification of a similar line costs half as much in Poland as in the Czech Republic.
According to people from the industry, the reason behind the high prices for railways is the fact that a few strong concerns, grouped around the companies Eurovia, Metrostav and Strabag Rail, are competing for contracts. Sometimes only one candidate applies. While the Directorate of Roads and Highways of the Czech Republic often managed to achieve lower than estimated prices in competitions for the construction of highways, it does not work that way in railways.
The Ministry of Transport and the Railway Administration already commissioned an analysis the year before, which is to compare the prices of railway constructions with foreign countries. However, after the original nine-month term, the contract was extended and the methodology for “objective comparison” modified. The final analysis is to be completed in the summer.
Transport Minister Ivan Bednárik (SPD) has no doubts that there is room for improvement. “In the area of railway infrastructure, we have a great opportunity to advance the preparation and implementation of projects so that more modern transport for people and companies is created for the same money,” Bednárik told Novinkám.
“Experience from the construction of roads and highways shows that greater openness of the market and stronger competition bring not only lower prices, but also higher quality and faster implementation of constructions. We want to gradually apply the same principle to railways as well,” he added.
Changes are already being prepared by the new director general of the Railway Administration, Tomáš Tóth, after his first month in office. The former head of ČD Cargo replaced the sacked Jiří Svoboda. The police found 80 million in cash at his home. Criminal investigators from the National Central Office against Organized Crime are investigating whether there were any price gouging and machinations in billion-dollar road and railway contracts.
“Thanks to the changes, tender procedures will be opened to a wider range of suppliers. The Railway Administration will adjust the qualification requirements, start using preliminary market consultations more and reduce the administrative barriers that can now prevent the participation of smaller or foreign companies,” Railway Administration spokeswoman Nela Eberl Friebová described the upcoming changes to Novinka.
The plan is also to revise the technical requirements and recognize selected foreign certifications.
“For larger investment events, we want to more often use the division of orders into individual parts or professions, for example, construction work will be separated from technological units,” the spokeswoman added. This should allow the involvement of a larger number of specialized companies, reduce dependence on a limited number of large suppliers and, as a result, make contracts cheaper.
The main changes are to take place from April. The Railway Administration wants to try a new method of competition by profession for the contract for the electrification of the line Veselí nad Lužnicí – České Velenice.
