4 Months after the cancellation of the first tender, Czech Railways Administration has announced that it will tender the design of the longest tunnel ever planned in Czech republic. The 24 km long tunnel will be between  Prague and Beroun.

The first tender was won by a consortium of companies led by AFRY-CZ. But later it has been cancelled due to some procedural issues. It has taken almost half a year for the new tender to come.

The Railways Administration released the following:

The Railway Administration has announced a repeated tender for the preparation of an update of the documentation for the zoning procedure for the construction of a new line between Prague-Smíchov and Beroun. It will include a tunnel approximately 24 kilometers long.

The new double-track corridor line will start with the modification of the exit from the Prague-Smíchov station, where two more will be added to the two existing tracks. The route of the new line will lead mainly in a tunnel with a length of 24.7 kilometers, which will start below Barrandov and end at Beroun. Furthermore, the new corridor will continue with an overpass over the Berounka valley. On the Prague side of the tunnel, a branch to the Branický Bridge in the direction of Prague-Krč will be built, and on the Beroun side, a branch will be prepared for the adjoining new high-speed line in the direction of Hořovice / Plzeň. The new tunnel will be designed for a maximum speed of 200 km / h.

The main benefits of the new line include reducing the travel time in the section Prague-Smíchov - Beroun to about 12 minutes, speeding up and improving regional traffic in the section Prague - Beroun and the entire southwestern part of the Central Bohemian Region in relation to Prague, speeding up and improving domestic and international traffic in the section Prague - Pilsen - Nuremberg / Munich. Relieving the current congested railway along the Berounka from long-distance passenger and freight transport will then make it possible to increase the frequency of suburban trains on this line.

Most of the tunnel excavation will be performed by full-profile TBM tunneling machines at a depth of approximately 150 meters below the surface. At present, there are only 13 longer railway tunnels in the world and a similar number are under construction or in a similar phase of preparations. Construction work is expected to begin in 2028 and complete in 2035.

In Czech:

https://www.spravazeleznic.cz/-/sprava-zeleznic-hleda-zpracovatele-dokumentace-pro-novy-tunel-do-berouna