The traffic will return to Prague's Negrelli Viaduct on June 1, 2020

Prague - Operations on the Negrelli Viaduct in Prague will return on June 1, 2020, after reconstruction. The Railway Infrastructure Administration (SŽDC) has already laid insulation on the viaduct and will begin to sprinkle gravel on it. Ondřej Göpfert from SŽDC announced this during today's open house event. The repair of the viaduct will cost 1.44 billion crowns. It began in 2017, and preparations took more than five years. Trains started running on the Negrelli Viaduct in the summer of 1850.

The viaduct will be repaired over a length of nearly 1.5 kilometers. The work includes a complete replacement of the railway superstructure, including technological parts, replacement of 3.3 kilometers of rails, and outdated signaling equipment. The administration has also laid new anti-vibration mats on the viaduct, which will reduce the noise from passing trains. "They have two functions. They prevent the transmission of vibrations into the structure itself and make the ride on them more comfortable and quieter for trains," said Göpfert.

The work on the shell, the stone cladding of the bridge, is reportedly almost complete. "There will still be work related to the jointing of the masonry and finishing touches. For us, the critical limit is to complete the load-bearing structure to allow for the laying of gravel and subsequently the track bed. Of course, work under the bridge will continue, essentially until the end of next year," Göpfert said. Compared to the original plan, SŽDC has reconstructed more arches than initially anticipated.

The steel bridges over Křižík Street and towards Hrabovka are also completed. The arches over the Vltava River are made of granite; others are sandstone, and towards Hrabovka and Florence, it is a combination of bricks and sandstone. "The structure (viaduct) is a protected monument, so we had to restore everything," Göpfert said. The so-called sluice number 4, a small house near Florence that served as a lock, was also saved.

The administration is so-called "networking" the arches under the viaduct so that they can be used for commercial purposes in the future. This phase will be addressed in the future by the Prague City Hall, according to Göpfert.