Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Praha Hlavni Nadrazi

This was my last shot of my railfanning session, in which I tried to capture the late-day sunlight on Hlavni Nadrazi. Although my Nokia 301 cameraphone was limited, being a cameraphone, it did occassionally have decent luck with sunsets, and not only while pointing directly into the sun.

This was my second shot, as the train proceeded into Praha Hlavni Nadrazi.

Ceske Drahy #150210-3 is a class 150 electric locomotive, which is typically used on express passenger trains, as seen here. These units like the Class 362 and 363 classes, date to the Communist era, having been introduced in 1978 (the Class 362/363 units date to 1980-1990). Consequently, they are only capable of operating at up to 140Km/h, or 86 m.p.h. They are more powerful than the Class 363 units, at about 5364 horsepower (converted from 4000 Kw). However, they only can run on 3000 volts DC. In any event, the slightly higher performance of these units means that they are more likely than the Class 363 units to be seen on international services. I am not aware if this train was coming in from Linz, Graz Wien/Vienna, or from a domestic origin to the south, though.

This was another service operating by a Class 471 "City Elefant" EMU, this time entirely in the new blue livery. This service, while I have been unable to identify it, was almost certainly a local service to either Strancice, or Benesov via Strancice.

This was a second shot of the City Elefant arrival, illustrating that this was actually a two-unit lashup of three bi-level coaches, for a total of six. The rear trainset still has the original red, white, and blue City Elefant livery, which has been replaced by the more generic two-tone blue used on local electric trains on Ceske Drahy. Starting from about 2010, Ceske Drahy actually began using the two-tone blue not only on the City Elefant, but on all passenger stock, even the express stock, although this repainting project didn't affect the majority of stock until about 2013. By 2015, it was starting to become rare to see the older liveries.

This was another shot I took from Spanelska, overlooking the south/west throat of Hlavni Nadrazi. This Class 471 "City Elefant" EMU was actually arriving with a local service (although I don't know which one), rather than departing. These are obviously bi-level units, and have largely been used to replace the Communist-era EMU's like the Class 451 and 452 "Pantograph" or "City Frog" units. By 2015, there were few, if any, Communist-era units left, and by 2018 they were gone except for on excursions. Also, by 2015, they generally only worked services out of platforms 1-4, but that was only incidental. Part of the reason was that they had recently been replaced on the locals to Strancice and Benesov (via Strancice) out of platform 7.

This was the first in a series of photos I took while railfanning at Praha hlavni nadrazi. This overlook, from a parking lot on Spanelska, overlooking the south/west throat of Hlavni Nadrazi, is a favorite with railfans who want to get photos. Within a few metres of this spot is probably the most popular spot, on Vinohradska immediately above the tunnel entrances. The railway tunnels at Hlavni Nadrazi are actually the ones from the 1966 Czech film Sedmikrasky. The express train on the right is probably headed for Ceske Budejovice, the most common destination for express trains from platforms 6 and 7. The other likely destination would be Linz. That electric locomotive is probably a Class 362 or 363, which are multi-voltage locomotives with between 4104 horsepower and 4667 horsepower, depending on the voltage used. Their maximum speed is only 75 m.p.h., but this route (via Cercany and Benesov) isn't very fast until you get south of Cercany. Both express and local trains on the Prague-Benesov route consistently use platforms 6 and 7 at Hlavni Nadrazi.

I took this photo immediately after returning to Prague from Fluff Fest, and initially I had skipped over it, not planning on an iPernity upload. However, while reviewing one last time, I decided to include it, as I liked how it was composed. If you look carefully, you can see "hlavni nadrazi" reflected in the train window from the platform sign.

This was after our arrival on the CityNightLine service in Praha Hlavni Nadrazi. Our sleeper was a first class one, operated by JLV, making it actually the only Czech sleeper on the train, as the rest were DB (and possibly SBB, I don't remember). The train was heavy enough to be double headed, although as usual it ran under 160Km/h (99 m.p.h.) on Ceske Drahy. The trailing unit was #371015-9. I noted that both units were named. #371004-3 was named "Otik," and #371015-9 had a common Czech woman's name, although I've forgotten it. Does anybody know it?

Eurocity services between Prague and Munich are at least partly contracted out to Arriva at the moment. Given Arriva's history in Britain, this surprises me, although we weren't too horribly late into Munich in the end, just late. Some of this was Ceske Drahy's fault (or rather the fault of the Czech track authority), though, as most of the delays happened in Plzensky Kraj. The ALEX coaches include many ex-CD coaches like this one, mildly rebuilt with new seats.

All of Praha Hlavni Nadrazi's ticket booths used to look like this, with the exception of the long lines of people being harrassed by bums that smelled so bad you could smell them a long time before you could see them. In the past year, the rebuilding of Hlavni Nadrazi has progressed enough so that now none of these are still in use. Instead, a complete German-style travel centre has been set up in the basement, along with still more retail shops to go along with all of the retailers and restaurants on the first and second levels.

I took this at the start of a trip I took with my aforementioned friend to Hradec Kralove. We had decided on it more or less on a whim, almost cancelling the trip because of massive flooding the previous day, which was still being cleaned up. Ultimately, although Moravia was badly damaged, Bohemia escaped well enough so that trains were running on the 26th of June, when we left. This wasn't our train, though, as Pendolinos to the East run via Pardubice, rather than Hradec, and in any case this one was for Vienna (Wien). This was the first time I had seen one in Hlavni Nadrazi, so me and my friend took several minutes to get photos and video of it. Luckily, I also had my real camera again, since I decided the occasion was worth adding to the backlog of film.

These Class 111 electrics are mainly used for switching in Praha Hlavni Nadrazi, although they turn up other places as well. Here #111011-3 was making up an express for either Linz or Vienna (Wien), I don't remember which.

Here's my latest spotting of #451065-7 "City Frog," so named as a parody of the new Class 471 "City Elephant" EMU's. Still no word on who did this, or whether it was authorised.

One thing that's fairly easy to find on Ceske Drahy passenger coaches are these little reporting marks plates on the steps. Since the vast majority of CD stock is still left over from the Communist, and therefore CSD, days, most of these are actually CSD plates, altered in one way or another to read "CD." The purpose of these escapes me, though, as they aren't particularly visible when the doors are shut, they're not a good quick reference for passengers today since even passenger equipment in Europe is interchanged, and in any case there are far clearer markings on the sides of the cars, albeit often obscured by grafitti, at least in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

I took this at the start of my Sedlcany trip back at the beginning of the summer in 2008. This was the locomotive that would take my train (bound for Ceske Budejovice) to Olbramovice, where I would change for the branch to Sedlcany.