When it approved the decision to move its main train station to a new location earlier this year, the city of Brno made it conditional on the construction of a ‘diametral’ – a sort of semi-submerged rail line running that follows the route of the existing train lines. Brno officials are concerned that tram connections to the new station won’t provide sufficient capacity and that the city’s public transport system will be crippled. But the Czech government doesn’t want to link the two infrastructure investments. A report from the Ministry of Transportation this week suggested that design plans for the new metro take a future commuter rail line into account. Brno’s deputy mayor Matěj Hollan has proposed that the city reject this approach and that it insist both investments be carried out at the same time. “For the city, the shift of the station would be unwelcome and it would damage transportation. People would have to walk because they couldn’t all squeeze into the trams.”
