Prague has taken another step towards the construction of a metro line to the airport

Prague - The Prague City Hall has taken another step towards extending the A metro line from Dejvická towards the airport. Today, the representatives approved the concept of a change to the zoning plan. Actual construction could begin, according to estimates, at the turn of 2009 and 2010. People should be able to take the metro to Ruzyně Airport eight years later.
    "The goal of the change in the zoning plan is to improve the overall quality of transportation services in the northwestern part of Prague, to provide access to Ruzyně Airport and also to the Motol Hospital," stated councilor Martin Langmajer (ODS). The zoning plan should be adjusted within a year, and documentation for the approval process is being prepared.
    The Green Party is against the construction of the extension of line A to the airport. "The assessment indicates that a connection between the airport and the center by a rapid transit rail is more advantageous and cheaper by more than 20 billion crowns. Operating costs for the rapid transit are lower by 200 million crowns a year," said Zuzana Drhová (SZ). According to Petra Kolínská (SZ), the metro should end in Motol; otherwise, money will be wasted unnecessarily.
    "It is a European rarity that the Green Party protests against the metro," said councilor Radovan Šteiner (ODS). According to him, the question is not whether to build the metro or the rapid transit. Both systems are necessary, he emphasized. The zoning plan accounts for the rapid transit; it is a state investment, he noted. According to Šteiner, the metro would relieve traffic on European Street, which currently hosts a number of cars from the Central Bohemia region.
    The first phase of the underground line will lead to Petřiny or to Motol, for both construction and financial reasons. An bus terminal and a parking lot for cars will be built at Dlouhá Míle.
    The extension of line A is estimated to cost 40 billion crowns. Passengers will be able to use stations along the 14-kilometer route: Červený Vrch, Veleslavín, Petřiny, Motol, Bílá Hora, Dědina, Dlouhá Míle, Ruzyně Airport, and the new Staré Letiště.
    Prague will seek funding from the European Union for the construction. In this budgetary period, until 2013, about seven billion crowns could be available.