Urbanism

City of Prague presented a study of the Railway Promenade and a linear park for pedestrians, runners, skaters and cyclists. It will be a four-kilometre-long link between Vršovice and Strašnice along the route of the cancelled railway corridor of the Benešov line. 

The railway promenade with a linear park is to become a green, non-motorised backbone of Vršovice and Strašnice along the route of the abandoned railway corridor of the Benešov line and to serve all residents and visitors for recreation, transport and sport. It will build on the existing network of streets, paths and trails, for example along the Botič River in Vršovice. It will offer Prague residents plenty of space for walking, cycling or skating away from road traffic. One four-metre-wide lane will be divided into two lanes and will allow comfortable travel for faster cyclists and skaters in both directions. The other directionally mixed lane will be dedicated to pedestrians. It will be 3.2 metres wide and separated from the faster lane by less than a metre of green belt, tartan or original track, depending on the location. Unpaved footpaths will also be added along the outer sides if, for example, someone prefers to run on a softer surface.

The promenade will connect and make accessible adjacent quiet residential areas, park areas, sports facilities, bus stops and at the same time preserve the memory of the place in the area for future generations. The route of the railway promenade envisages the preservation of the historic stone underpass, the northern part of the bridge in Eden, the footbridge at the Strašnice stop and the lighting towers or the use of fragments of the track, sleepers and signals. In the first stage, the main section of the promenade over 4 km in length (U Seřadiště - Dolínecká) is to be realised, together with accesses and selected connecting spaces of the linear park. In the next stages, a direct connection to the railway station Prague-Vršovice and the implementation of other parts of the linear park are planned.

Architecture of footbridges

The footbridges are strung along the route of the railway promenade like beads on a thread. Their morphology is minimalist. They are sculptures, objects. The construction of the footbridges is made of patinated steel with a distinctive red colour. The footbridges are conceived as simple beams with different spans (26.5 m; 38.0 m; 68.5 m). The supporting structure consists of a plate structure in the first case, a parapet beam in the second and a Vierendeel beam with a lower bridge deck in the third. The drainage of the supporting structure is solved by its transverse and longitudinal gradient. At the lowest point of the transverse section, water will be drained into the bridge drains and then piped inside the structure's soffit towards the abutment. The superstructure is equipped with a crossbeam in the bearing area, through which its beams are indirectly placed via elastomeric bearings on the bridge substructure. This consists of a reinforced concrete abutment with a storage sill, a closing wall and connecting wings. For all three footbridges, the foundation is envisaged as a deep foundation on large-diameter drilled reinforced concrete piles. 

Authors: Tomáš Cach, Terra Florida, Petr Tej

UR 2023