The journey from Prague to České Budějovice will be faster by 25 minutes thanks to new tunnels8/2/2021|Press releasesThe train journey from Prague to České Budějovice will take only 100 minutes. After the tunnels on 4th railway corridor will be finished in 2023, the journey to South Bohemia will be faster by 25 minutes. Minister of transport Karel Havlíček stated it during an inspection day of transport constructions in South Bohemia. “We are currently building key railway and motorway with national impact in the South-Bohemian region. Travelling by train from Prague to České Budějovice will be faster and more comfortable thanks to the modernization of the 4th railway corridor. Another step to finishing the D3 motorway in direction to borders with Austria is a 20 km long bypass around České Budějovice, which is currently in construction. This year, we will start the construction of another section from Třebonín to Kaplice”, said minister of transport Karel Havlíček. The works on the 4th railway corridor to České Budějovice continue even during the winter. Správa železnic (the national railway infrastructure manager) works on tunnels Mezno and Deboreč to make them waterproof. The modernization of the corridor is taking place in sections Sudoměřice-Votice and Soběslav-Dubí. Both of them will be finished in 2023. Parts of the sections are designed for a speed up to 200 km/h, which will shorten the travel time between the capital city and the South-Bohemian capital. Since summer 2020, České Budějovice is restoring the heritage-protected railway station building. All publicly available spaces will be restored and new facilities for employees of Správa železnic will be built. The restoration also includes reconstruction of the building’s outer covering, windows and roof. All works are envisaged to end in 2022 making the building a respectable welcoming place for passengers travelling to the South-Bohemian region. “In terms of road transport, a 20 km long bypass around České Budějovice, a part of D3 motorway, is now under construction. Road and Motorway Directorate carries out works on two sections – from Úsilné to Hodějovice (7.2 km) and from Hodějovice to Třebonín (12.5 km). Tunnel Pohůrka, which had to be technically modified due to a groundwater leakage, is planned to be constructed within the first section. Therefore, the tunnel construction had to be postponed to the end of 2024”, added the minister. This year, the Road and Motorway Directorate plans to start with works on another part of D3 motorway in direction to Austria, i.e. a section Třebonín – Kaplice railway station (8.5 km). A 211.8 km of motorways and 1st class roads are in construction, out of which 106.4 km consist of greenfield motorways, 50 km of D1 modernisation and 57.1 km of 1st class roads.