The Prague main train station (hlavní nádraží) is finally starting to look like a train station. A nice one I mean. One that a city like Prague deserves. A clean one. Bright and airy. Organized. With ways for passengers with strollers, bikes and heavy luggage to get to their platforms without having to drag their strollers, bikes and luggage up stairs and non-working escalators. With wide hallways and civilized looking public toilets (still paid, but oh well…). The repulsive, dreary, smelly basement luggage locker area is gone! It magically disappeared into thin air and was replaced by an open, modern ticket window and information center that doesn’t smell of urine. Boutiques, bakeries, fast food restaurants, regular restaurants, flower shops, and a really nice bookstore are now in place of the handful of tired looking newsstands and plastic wrapped sandwich stands that were once your only “entertainment” and “refreshment” options at the station.

The restoration of the Prague central station is far from finished, but the city no longer has to be ashamed of the pathetic welcome it offered its train traveling visitors until recent months. The work is currently estimated to be finished by 2012. Let’s see what other surprises the Italian investor has in store for us for the coming years.

Here’s just a little personal request: Would it be at all possible to put benches on the platforms? Please?