German railway announces plans for longest new tunnel to Czech Republic

Berlin, The Gulf Observer: Germany announced plans on Monday to build the country’s longest railroad tunnel through the Ore Mountains along the German-Czech border.

The proposed railroad tunnel is approximately 30 kilometres long and would significantly shorten travel times between Prague and the eastern German city of Dresden, according to the Deutsche Press Agency.

State railway Deutsche Bahn said that various other options had been considered but concluded that a single lengthy tunnel would be the best solution for economic, environmental and technical reasons.

The tunnel would run from the German town of Heidenau to the Czech city of Ústí nad Labem.

The new construction project is considered a European infrastructure priority. The existing railway lines through the Elbe River Valley are approaching capacity and are also subject to occasional floods.

It could be two decades, however, before the first trains roll through the tunnel. Current Deutsche Bahn plans aim to start building the tunnel around 2032, with construction work expected to take about 12 years.

The connection between Prague and Dresden, which currently takes about 2.5 hours, would eventually be shortened to only around one hour with the new route.

The line would also shorten the journey for passengers headed from Berlin or Hamburg to Vienna, Bratislava or Budapest.

It is part of a broader European rail corridor from Germany’s North Sea and Baltic ports to Istanbul and Athens.

The project will also boost freight capacity on the critical connection between Germany and other central European countries, said Martin Walden, a Deutsche Bahn official in the German state of Saxony, where the tunnel will be built.