Prague plans a fifth metro line, E — a ring line around the city centre

Prague City Hall has officially begun work on a fifth metro line — the purple Line E, designed to connect the city's districts while bypassing the centre. According to preliminary plans, the new line would intersect with the existing network at several points: with Line A at Želivského, with Line B at Smíchov Station and Vysočanská, and with Line C at Budějovická and Letňany. The future Line D would also cross Line E at Pankrác, where Line C already runs — meaning this station could become a major hub linking three metro lines at once.

Before the project gets the green light, a feasibility study will be required. Prague's city council is set to approve the decision to commission it on 7 September. Officials say the document will serve as a kind of "blueprint" for future city leaders and generations of planners to come.

Travel times cut several times over

Deputy Mayor for Transport Jaroslav Beránek (Pirates) gave a concrete example of the benefits: today, the trip between Bohdalec and Žižkov freight station takes about 25 minutes and requires a transfer, whereas with the new Line E it would take just 3.5 minutes.

Prague mayoral candidate Petr Hlaváček (STAN) recalled that the idea of a ring metro line bypassing the centre dates back to the 1980s, and a reserved corridor for its route has now been included in Prague's new master development plan. The project's main goal is to shift people from private cars to public transport, ease pressure on the city centre, and fill gaps in the current transport network.

A price tag in the hundreds of billions of crowns

Rapid implementation is also unlikely given the project's enormous cost. Estimates suggest that building the line using standard tunnelling methods would cost around 220 billion crowns — more than the entire sum currently held in Prague's accounts.

Mayoral candidate Tomáš Portlík (ODS) noted that the city needs to think about the future now, which is why it makes sense to start preparing the fifth metro line well in advance. At the same time, he stressed that the city currently faces more pressing tasks — above all, completing Metro Line D and building the City Transport Ring. In his view, now is not the time to start construction of Line E, but it is exactly the right time to prepare the project properly.

Read also: Prague metro: map and tickets

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz