35 years ago, on September 22, 1989, the third Vinohrady railway tunnel was opened. The Vinohrad railway tunnels in Prague are parallel tunnels that lead from the main railway station to the southern part of Vinohrad, where they exit near the Nuselské stairs. The first of them was opened as early as 1871. The second and third Vinohradský tunnels are part of the České Budějovice – Prague line, the first connecting the Main Station with Smíchov.
Work on the first, two-track, tunnel began in the fall of 1869. At that time, exclusively manual digging was complicated by the ubiquitous groundwater, sand and hard rocks. The excavated soil was exported to the territory of today’s Havlíčkové Sady, and the well-known businessman Moritz Gröbe also participated in the construction. The 1,149-meter long tunnel was completed in two years, and on September 19, 1871, the first train with Prince Jan Adolf Schwarzenberg passed through it ceremoniously.
The second Vinohrady tunnel with a length of 1126 meters began to be built only after almost 70 years, in 1940 during the Nazi occupation. The tunnel was broken in 1943 and put into operation on August 15, 1944. With the opening of the second tunnel under Vinohrady, the Prague-Vinohrady station, which was established at the southern portal of the first tunnel in October 1888, ceased to exist. During the war, work also began on the third tunnel, but was stopped after 292 meters.
The third Vinohrady tunnel (in reality, the two-track tunnel splits into two single-track tunnels) with a length of 1125 meters was only started to be built almost 40 years later, in 1983. The tunnel was opened on September 22, 1989.
Source: www.tyden.cz
