A new study will respond to the criticism of the NKÚ regarding the Brno train station

Brno - The Green Party in Brno claims that the shortcomings in the preparation of the railway line reconstruction in Brno, which were recently highlighted by the Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ), will be addressed by an upcoming comparative study. The NKÚ criticized, among other things, that during the planning of the reconstruction of the Brno railway junction, which includes the relocation of the main station 800 meters south, other options were not assessed. The Greens, who were in opposition during the last election term and are now a coalition party, criticize this as a mistake of the previous leadership of Brno. The opinion of the Civic Democrats, who promoted the project before the elections, is being sought by ČTK.
    "It was a wrong political decision by the past leadership of the city and the government that leads us into a dead end - we have one option carefully prepared, but it fails to demonstrate its socio-economic benefits and suffers from numerous risks," states Martin Ander (SZ), the deputy mayor of Brno. He reminded that the new leadership of Brno commissioned experts to develop a study comparing the option of relocating the station just under a kilometer south of Brno with the option of placing the new station near the existing one in the center of Brno.
    The NKÚ evaluated the planned reconstruction of the Brno railway as part of a package of projects for the modernization of railways in the Czech Republic. The audit aimed to check how funds were managed during this process. In conclusion, the NKÚ stated that the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure and the Railway Transport Administration were also repairing and modernizing railway constructions that were economically and socially inefficient.
    For the new Brno station, the NKÚ cited as a shortcoming that the authors of the project did not assess different variants of possible reconstruction of the junction. The NKÚ noted that the thirty percent savings in overhead costs, which is accounted for in the project and is expected to come from employee savings, had not been justified and was only estimated by the compiler. Moreover, it states that the overall costs for the reconstruction of the railway and the construction of the new station did not include the funds necessary for the construction of essential city infrastructure. "Furthermore, calculations of socio-economic effectiveness showed that the project, in its proposed form, is unacceptable," the report states.
    The proposal to have a study comparing both options for the future Brno station was brought forward by the Brno Greens shortly after the elections. The Brno council then approved the commission of the study. In contrast, the Brno ODS is against its creation, having held a key position in the municipality for the past 15 years and prepared the railway junction reconstruction project. According to a recent statement by the Civic Democrats, this would only increase the project costs and delay the construction.