EditoRail: On the Rails. Editorial ERA21 #03/2026

Filip Landa

I’m writing this editorial – where else? – on a train, on my way to our Brno editorial office. Railways have been a constant in my life, largely thanks to my father’s former profession. Until the age of 26, I enjoyed the perk of “company travel,” crossing half of Europe by train, with a particular fondness for the Balkans. It was quite an adventure in those days. Today, though the free rides are a thing of the past, my passion for the railway endures, despite the occasional accidents and hours-long delays I have experienced over the years. While I’ve never done the exact math, I estimate I cover over 40,000 kilometers by rail each year.

That is the commuter’s perspective. Through an architect’s lens, however, we examine railways quite differently – from the intricate detailing of historic or contemporary station buildings to the sweeping infrastructural scale of urban planning and landscape integration. And that is precisely the focus of the issue you now hold in your hands.

Next year marks the bicentennial of trial operations on the horse-drawn railway connecting České Budějovice and Linz – a pioneering milestone that proved rail transport could achieve capacities orders of magnitude greater than road travel. Much has evolved since then: freight logistics have grown increasingly efficient, while passenger transit has become dramatically faster and more comfortable. Yet, in many regions – particularly within major metropolitan hubs – the system is reaching its absolute capacity limits.

In this issue, we project into the future of railway infrastructure, with a specific focus on the anticipated rollout of high-speed rail networks. What will this phenomenon bring to Czech cities, and how will it reshape our local landscape?

We have deliberately bypassed topics currently dominating public debate, such as the ongoing renovations of major Prague stations or the contentious future of the railway bridge below Vyšehrad. We have addressed these projects extensively in our recent incisive commentaries, which remain available in our archives. Railway brownfields and our perennial favorite – the relocation of the Brno main station – were thoroughly explored eleven years ago in our Railway Transformation issue (ERA21 #05/2015). Now, we offer a dedicated “infrastructural” perspective, which we trust you will find both timely and compelling.