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-   -   Prague Main Train Station (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/prague-main-train-station-999451/)

BillT Dec 4th, 2013 12:32 PM

Prague Main Train Station
 
Does anyone have a link to the layout of the main train station in Prague. I have seen a few links for main train stations in Europe but none show the layout for Prague's main station.

Also at the station are the signs in English or only Czech? On each track is there a sign board that shows each train (1st and 2nd class car layout) and the orientation on how they arrive (engine first or rear car first? Years ago when I used the trains in Europe the tracks had these boards so it was easy to know where to stand so that when the train arrived you knew where your car would be positioned as the trains only stop for a short period and they are off again.

PalenQ Dec 4th, 2013 02:30 PM

Czech out the Czech railways site - most such sites have station plans - http://www.cd.cz/en/.

BillT Dec 4th, 2013 02:39 PM

No dice, looked there but no layout.

PalenQ Dec 4th, 2013 02:43 PM

http://www.livingprague.com/stations.htm

At least here you can see that they do have overhead signs indicating all trains and platforms and destinations!

unclegus Dec 4th, 2013 09:29 PM

I have used the station a lot over the years most recently 4 weeks ago.It is a very modern facility.
there is on huge board to inform you of all the trains on the first floor level(I think thats second floor to Americans) and the platforms they leave from and there is also smaller signs buy the entrance to each platform ,also on the platfoms themselves there are other information signs. There are announcement in Czech and English for all international trains.Most trains will have information on the carragies themselves and ist and second class carriages are clearly marked and are obvious by their difference.
In the basement level are luggage starge area,various shops and exchange offfices as well as separate domestic and International ticket office and a decent sized Billa Supermarket.On the ground floor,again lots of shops ,bank and ATms. Ticket office for the public transport system ,various cafes ,a tourist info place and a huge bookshop.
on the first floor is the Huge information sign,more shops cafes etc inclucing a KFC,toilets (with showers) left luggage area and access to the platforms,there is also acccess to the taxi rank from there.It is all very nice ,clean and easy to get round,escalators ,moving ramps and lifts to all areas.

BillT Dec 5th, 2013 03:15 AM

Thanks for the info. Do the trains enter the platform engine first or do they back in. Its important to know as one does not have much time to board before they depart and I want to be sure to stand at the right place on the platform. When we took trains years ago (in other cities) each platform had a board where you could see the composition of the trains.

PalenQ Dec 5th, 2013 03:36 AM

Most trains I believe originate in Prague or at least dwell there a long time if not - you should have oodles of time to find your right car and if not just hop on and walk thru the train as a last resort. But trains in stations like that should be standing there a long time before departure - especially since this is I believe a deadend terminus where trains must turn around - not just stop for a few minutes.

BillT Dec 5th, 2013 05:17 AM

My train is a Eurocity train and originates in Budapest and stops in Prague for 8 minutes. Since we will be carrying 2 large suitcases Iwant to be able to get on at the right car as walking thru the train may be difficult.

unclegus Dec 5th, 2013 07:37 AM

I have never had a problem with the trains ,often they are at the platfomes 15 minutes or more before departure,though that might not be the case in smaller stations but in Prague you will haveplenty of time,just be in the train station at least 15 minutes before your train is due so you can check where to go.

adrienne Dec 5th, 2013 07:48 AM

8 minutes is a huge amount of time. Just look for your car number on the outside of the car and enter that car. I wouldn't worry about this.

PalenQ Dec 5th, 2013 07:51 AM

Will you have a seat reservation? If not you could hop on any car in that class - in 1st class IME on these trains you will nearly always find many empty seats but not so in 2nd class.

michelhuebeli Dec 5th, 2013 09:18 AM

Most large European train stations have a system where overhead signs with letters A, B, C, and D signify the areas where certain carriage types come to a halt. I can't recall if Prague has it in particular, but most likely you will see it, and hear the announcements that go something like "first class sector A, wagon-restaurant sector B, second class sectors B and C" - that sort of thing.

If you get to the station early you'll have plenty of time to find out what the train composition will be - if you book reserved seats (a good idea if you carry that much luggage!) you'll know your carriage number and can figure it out from there. Eight minutes is plenty of time, even for somebody with excess luggage.

PalenQ Dec 5th, 2013 09:22 AM

8 minutes if plenty of time if the train is on time - it could possibly be less I would think if late running train - some other train needs to come into that platform - always check the overhead sign in the main station area for possible track switches.

greg Dec 5th, 2013 09:58 AM

I presume you are looking at EC174? I think there may be a little gotcha with this train. Although I have not taken this particular train, I have taken a similar train last year coming from Vienna which followed the identical route between Brno and Berlin through Prague and Dresden.

I don't remember whether I saw the train composition map on a digital display or on the composition chart posted on the platform. I knew before the train arrived that my car was right next to the locomotive. The gotcha was the location of the locomotive. The train pulled into the Prag HBF with an OBB locomotive, but I realized that the car right next behind was the "tail end" according to the train composition map. So I turned around to the other end of the train to find my car at the tail end according to the way train pulled into the station. Sure enough, a Deutschebahn locomotive came around and docked at the previous tail end of the train. You can still trust the Sektor location map. I should have trusted that rather than following the location of the locomotive.

BillT Dec 5th, 2013 10:24 AM

Greg:
Thanks for pointing that out- I will watch for my car which will be 1st class open seating one (not compartments. Bottom line you really can't tell which way the train will arrive and can't count on the locomnotive as your guide- you just have to look for your car which could as you indicate be on either end of the train!
Sektor location map - what is that?

michelhuebeli Dec 5th, 2013 11:36 AM

On platforms you'll see graphic displays of the train - sometimes in a cute "artistic" model rendering in a glass cage, sometimes just a simple graphic. And if you look up you see those square A - B - C signs.

There are two types of train stations - "through" stations (trains come in from one direction and leave going out the other side), and "dead-end" (my translations from the German "Kopf-" and "Sack-Bahnhof" nomenclature) where they enter head first and leave tail first. Milano Centrale is a huge example of the latter.

On the map Praha hl.n. looks like a through-station, but that's not to say that a new loco might not be hooked up at the "other end" and what was the last carriage becomes the first. Just go with what the diagram and announcements say starting from Prague - sector and carriage number etc., never mind what happened on the way there.

PalenQ Dec 5th, 2013 11:57 AM

Sektor location map - what is that?>

in other parts of Europe at least these are the boards on the platforms themselves and platform level indicating where your car will stop - in what sector - TGVs in France have these boards and sector number painted on the platform where that car should stop.


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