A petition to preserve the railway bridge has been created in Prague, and the town hall wants it too.

According to Richard Biegl, a member of the petition committee and chairman of the Club for Old Prague, the current form of the bridge is historically and technically valuable. "It's not about complicating rail transport; it's really about the fact that the bridge has been a cultural monument since 2018," he told ČTK today. He added that no one questions that everything should be done to save older monuments.

Representatives of the petition committee, according to Biegl, have already met with Minister of Transport Martin Kupka and Minister of Culture Martin Baxa (both ODS). "The Minister of Transport told us he would initiate something like a technological colloquium, which will reassess the condition of the bridge once again," he said. Baxa then informed the petitioners that in order for the existing structure to be removed from a monument protection perspective, it is necessary to prove its irreparability. On Wednesday, representatives of the petitioners plan to discuss this matter with senators elected in the Prague districts in the Senate.

SŽ issued a statement today reiterating its position on the irreparability of the bridge. "The original idea of preserving the existing steel structure for further full-fledged railway operation had to be abandoned by SŽ. The results of the conducted surveys indicated that the existing structure is irreparable and cannot be preserved," the organization stated. According to the statement, the poor condition of the bridge is not related to insufficient maintenance by SŽ.

The future of the bridge has been discussed in the metropolis for a long time. The preservation of the current form has long been advocated by Scheinherr. In the past, he commissioned a study from the Prague city hall, which was developed in collaboration with Swiss bridge engineer and expert on riveted structures Eugen Brühwiler, and according to which repair is possible. In contrast, the Czech Klokner Institute of ČVUT previously recommended replacing the bridge with a new one.

SŽ announced an architectural competition for the next steps, the results of which were announced last November. The winning proposal from the 2T engineering studio involves removing the monumentally protected structure, replacing it with a new one, and expanding it with a third track. A new train stop is to be created at Vyton. According to SŽ's plans, the reconstruction should begin in 2026 and last for 20 months, with the original structure at least partially serving in another location.

The expansion with a third track is also demanded by the capital city for the purpose of increasing the capacity of railway transport. However, Scheinherr reiterated in a letter to the councilors of Prague 5 that, based on the studies conducted, he still considers it possible and appropriate to repair the bridge, meaning only replacing the bridge deck and exchanging only some of the worn-out elements of the supporting structure. "From a transportation perspective, a new single-track bridge and a new railway stop should then be added," wrote the outgoing mayor's assistant. Last week, the Prague 5 council also agreed with his opinion, supporting a solution in the form of the reconstruction of the bridge and the addition of a new third track.

The railway bridge at Vyton was put into operation in its original form on August 15, 1872. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, it was replaced by the bridge that still spans the Vltava today. The current bridge consists of three truss beams with a span of 69.9 meters, is 8.1 meters wide, and 298.4 meters long. According to conservationists, the structure is a significant technical cultural monument in an exposed part of the Prague Heritage Reserve. In the past, SŽ unsuccessfully sought the removal of the monument protection of the bridge.