Prague to Dresden HSR

Objective

To bypass the winding, flood-prone Elbe River valley rail bottleneck, dramatically expanding freight capacity and slashing passenger travel times between Prague, Dresden, and the wider Central European network. The Prague to Dresden High-Speed Rail (HSR) completes a critical missing link on the Orient/East-Med Corridor of the TEN-T (Trans-European Transport Network). It advances this vital European route by transforming cross-border connectivity and untangling regional freight bottlenecks

Description

A planned international high-speed rail project featuring a cross-border, 26-kilometer base tunnel slicing through the Ore Mountains, connecting Czech and German standard-gauge networks.

History

Initiated by a joint Czech-German state declaration in 2020, pre-construction has focused on extensive geotechnical exploration of the Ore Mountains and cross-border alignment harmonization. Planning regimes have required coordination between the German Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP) and Czech national spatial frameworks to lock in the tunnel portal locations.