The Czech Republic is allocating EUR 216 million for the design and preparation of railway investments

October 13, 2026

Správa železnic, the Czech railway infrastructure manager, will allocate CZK 5.4 billion ( EUR 216 million) in 2027 for the design and legal preparation of railway infrastructure projects.

The budget will remain at a similar level to that of 2026, but the structure of expenditure will change, with additional funds earmarked for land acquisition and the preparation of high-speed lines.

The plans were presented at the first edition of the ‘Designers’ Day’ event on 2 October, held in the historic Fantova building at Prague’s main railway station. On this occasion, the infrastructure manager also announced changes to the procedures for awarding contracts for design services.

Compared with 2022, when expenditure on project preparation stood at under CZK 2 billion (EUR 80 million), next year’s budget is more than 2.5 times higher. The most significant increase relates to the development of high-speed rail lines (known in the Czech Republic as VRT lines).

This allocation comes in the context of the Ministry of Transport’s announcement regarding the funding of railway investments to the tune of 3 billion EUR. Furthermore, Správa železnic has also published a list of priority projects.

More funding for high-speed lines

Tomáš Tóth, Director-General of Správa železnic, emphasised that funding must be focused on projects that can actually be carried out, depending on available resources and the implementation timetable.

“There will be funding for project preparation in the coming years as well. However, we do not want to create projects for which there is no realistic funding or a concrete completion deadline. We must focus both the funding and the available resources on the works that we can actually see through to completion,” said Tomáš Tóth.

At the same time, the Czech railway infrastructure manager will gradually move into a new phase of preparing high-speed lines, a development also reflected in the increase in the volume of allocated funds.

The aim is to improve the quality of technical documentation and to align the stage of project preparation with budgetary constraints and the capacity of the design market.

Design contracts with a focus on investment efficiency

Správa železnic intends to introduce a new method for awarding design contracts, based on the principle of ‘value engineering’, i.e. the concept of optimising technical solutions and costs. This aims to identify solutions that deliver the best results in relation to the public funds invested. Designers will be encouraged to propose such solutions as early as the tender stage.

The Czech authorities wish to intensify the dialogue between the infrastructure manager and the companies involved in tenders concerning the preparation and execution of railway works. The initiative comes at a time when the Czech Republic is channelling its infrastructure development efforts, with an increasing focus on high-speed lines and on aligning investments with actual funding possibilities.