At the former train station in Bubenč, a leisure center will open at the end of the holidays

Prague – On August 28, a cultural and recreational center called Stanice 6 will be ceremonially opened in the former train station building in Prague-Bubenč. It will be exactly ten years to the day since the last train stopped there. A multifunctional hall, gallery, bistro on the platform, and a bike rental will be created in the renovated spaces near Stromovka, and concerts, exhibitions, sports activities, debates, and various community events will be held there. Prague 6, which manages the building, informed about the opening of the center in the municipal magazine Šestka.

According to the sixth municipal district, Stanice 6 will become the first train station building in Prague to receive a permanent new use.

The interiors, façade, roof, windows, and doors of the building have undergone significant renovation, and the areas around the building have also been modified. The wooden carved veranda has been refurbished. Inside, the architects removed non-original partitions to create a large open space. All utilities, including electricity, water, and waste systems, heating, and gas pipes, were completely rebuilt. During the exterior modifications, the adjacent sidewalk, platform, and paving around the station were redone.

"We built an entrance and parking, ensured barrier-free access to the building from the street and from the platform. A fence separates the platform from the tracks to prevent entry from Stanice 6 onto the tracks. This is an important safety aspect," said Zdeněk Hořánek, chairman of the board of the municipal company SNEO, which participated in the reconstruction.

A busy line runs around the former station, serving regional trains and express trains from Prague to Ústí nad Labem and beyond to Germany.

The one-story station building designed by architect Antonín Jüngling has stood by the tracks since 1850 and began operations in 1854 with the opening of the Northern State Railway lines from Prague to Lovosice. The last passenger train stopped here on August 28, 2014, just before midnight, with the role of Bubenč being taken over by the nearby newly built station Prague-Podbaba. A year earlier, the Bubenč station had been designated a cultural monument. After the station operations ended, followed by the restaurant, the building remained unused.

Prague 6 took over the management of the building at the beginning of 2019 from the capital city, which bought it along with the surrounding land for approximately 14 million crowns from Czech Railways. In November 2019, during the announcement of the winner of the tender for the operator of the leisure center, the leadership of Prague 6 anticipated the opening of the center in the former station building in 2021. However, the reconstruction was delayed by the COVID epidemic and unexpected issues with the building's condition that arose only during construction.

The operators of the community center will be Richard Preisler, Martin Kontra, and Martin Krb, who are behind businesses like Bajkazyl, which combines a bike workshop, rental, bar, and cultural space, as well as Šachta in Holešovice. Their project Stanice 6 won a public competition announced by the city hall in 2019. They will lease the station for ten years for 100,000 crowns annually. The future tenants collaborated with architects Ondřej Tuček and Jan Binter on the design of the building, who are responsible for the new look of the Bubenč station.