Praha hlavní nádraží

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Prague Main Railway Station from the park

The former Art Nouveau booking hall, now a cafe (October 2005)

Prague Main railway station (in Czech: Praha hlavní nádraží, abbreviated as Praha hl.n) is the largest and most important railway station in Prague (Czech Republic). It was opened in 1871 as the Franz Joseph I station. During the First Republic and from 1945 to 1953 the station was called Wilson station (Wilsonovo nádraží) after US president Woodrow Wilson. His statue was placed in the park before the station, however the statue was destroyed during the Nazi occupation.

The Art Noveau station building and station hall was built between 1901 and 1909, designed by the Czech architect Josef Fanta, on the site of old dismantled Neo-Renaissance station. The station was extended by a new terminal building, built between 1972 and 1979, including an underground station and a motorway on the roof of terminal. The new terminal building destroyed a large part of the park, and the motorway cut off the neo-renaissance station hall from the town, so it’s resented by locals. The station is to be revitalized by the Italian company GrandiStazioni.

1 Services

[edit] Services

[edit] Long-distance services

The station is an international transport hub, handling services to Germany (Munich/Nuremberg, Bavaria-Bohemia RE (Regio-Express) services, and EuroCity services to Berlin and Dresden), France (the Paris - Stuttgart - Prague service), Poland, and Slovakia. Services are operated by express trains, and also by Czech Railways (ČD) class 680 Pendolino trains.

Some services on the north-south transport axis (Berlin - Prague - Budapest) do not call at Hlavní nádraží but instead call at Praha-Holešovice station.

[edit] Regional services

In addition to the international services, trains serve all the larger Czech cities, such as České Budějovice, Olomouc, Plzeň and Brno.

[edit] Local transport

The station is served by the Prague Metro's Line C, and numerous tram routes call outside the station.

[edit] Future plans

Prague is the hub of the Czech rail network and is the central point of the ČD's new High Speed Line: Dresden – Děčín – Lovosice – Prague – Kolin - Pardubice - Česká Třebová - Brno - Břeclav – Vienna.