The Czech rail infrastructure manager SZ (Správa Železnic) and Germany’s DB Netz AG selected the design contractor for a key component of the Dresden - Prague - Krušnohorský tunnel high-speed railway line in the Ore Mountains. The winner of the tender announced in the autumn 2020 was the ILF Consulting Engineers Austria, which will prepare the documentation for the zoning decision for the Krušnohorský tunnel connecting Heidenau (Germany) and Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic). The work is expected to be completed in 2024.

The twin tube tunnel with a length of 26 km of which about 12 km in the Czech territory and more than 14 km in Germany will pass through sensitive geological and hydrogeological zones and will posses rescue connections every 500 metres between the tubes. It is planned that the section from Prague to Litoměřice will be used only for passenger transport services with a maximum speed of up to 320 km/h., and in the section across the České středohoří (Central Bohemian Uplands) and further to Germany up to 150 freight trains will run daily, thanks to which traffic in the Elbe Valley will be relieved. The tunnel under the Central Bohemian Uplands (Středohorský tunnel) will be crossed by trains running at a speed of 250 km/h, while the Krušnohorský tunnel will allow trains to operate with a maximum speed of 200 km/h.

The new railway line will connect the Czech Republic to the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and will free up the capacity of existing lines for the further development of regional transport (photo: DB).