Praha hlavní nádraží is the largest railway station in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It opened in 1871 as Franz Josef Station, after

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

. During the First Republic and from 1945 to 1948 the station was called Wilson Station ( cs, Wilsonovo nádraží), after the former President of the United States

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

. In 2014, the station served 224,505 trains (610 daily) and more than 53,000,000 passengers.

Overview

The Art Nouveau station building and station hall were built between 1901 and 1909, designed by Czech architect Josef Fanta on the site of the old dismantled

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

station designed by Czech architects Antonín Viktor Barvitius and Vojtěch Ignác Ullmann. Prag Jugendstil Hauptbahnhof 7

The station was extended by a new terminal building, built between 1972 and 1979, including an underground metro station and a main road on the roof of the terminal. The new terminal building claimed a large part of the park, and the construction of the road cut off the neo-renaissance station hall from the town. In 2011 a partial refurbishment of the station was completed by Italian company

Grandi Stazioni ( en, Great Stations) is a member company of Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato ( en, State Railways) group. It was created to rehabilitate and manage, even commercially, the 13 biggest Italian railway stations. Stations under management The Roma ...

, which had leased retail space for 30 years from 2002. In 2016 Grandi Stazioni lost the concession after failing to complete the renovation of the historic building by the extended contractual deadline. In September 2021, a second exit was opened connecting the station to Winston Churchill Square in

Žižkov Žižkov is a cadastral district of Prague, Czech Republic. Most of Žižkov lies in the municipal and administrative district of Prague 3, except for very small parts which are in Prague 8 and Prague 10. Prior to 1922, Žižkov was an indep ...

via an underpass. The station was the embarkation point for the children evacuated to London Liverpool Street station via the Port of Harwich by

Nicholas Winton Sir Nicholas George Winton (born Wertheim; 19 May 1909 – 1 July 2015) was a British humanitarian who helped to rescue children who were at risk of being murdered by Nazi Germany. Born to German-Jewish parents who had emigrated to Britain at ...

. In 2009 a statue was unveiled on platform 1 commemorating this.

Train services

Long-distance services

The station is an international transport hub, handling services to Germany (

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Bavaria- Bohemia RE (Regio-Express) services, and EuroCity/

EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category which denotes many main-line national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were bro ...

services to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

), Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Ukraine, and Croatia in summer. Services are operated by express trains, and also by

ČD Class 680 ČD Class 680 are EMUs operating in the Czech Republic, using tilting Pendolino technology intended for the SuperCity train service. Built by Alstom (originally Fiat Ferroviaria), they were largely based on the nine-car ETR 470. While tes ...

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, ...

. Services are operated by Czech Railways and by open-access train operators LEO Express, RegioJet, and

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Brno, Plzeň,

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

, and

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on t ...

Suburban services

The station is served by most of the Esko Prague lines which are not dispatched from the nearby Masaryk Railway station.

Intercity Bus services

Buses towards Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, Tábor and other Czech cities, as well as the Airport Express bus service to

Václav Havel Airport Prague Václav Havel Airport Prague ( cs, Letiště Václava Havla Praha), formerly ''Prague Ruzyně International Airport'' ( cs, Mezinárodní letiště Praha-Ruzyně, ) , is the international airport of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. T ...

maintained by České dráhy, depart from Wilsonova street in front of the historical building.

City transport at the station

The station is served by the Prague Metro's Line C directly in the area, and by the Prague tram system outside the station about 500 meters past the park in front of the new terminal.

References

Short describtion of Prague Main railway station
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prague Main Railway Station Hlavni Nadrazi Railway stations opened in 1871 Art Nouveau architecture in Prague Art Nouveau railway stations Transport infrastructure completed in 1909 Brutalist architecture in the Czech Republic 19th-century establishments in Bohemia Railway stations in the Czech Republic opened in the 19th century 1871 establishments in Austria-Hungary