Grandi Stazioni loses court battle over botched reconstruction of Prague station

The Prague 1 court has rejected claims by the Italian group Grandi Stazioni that it's owed CZK 1.26bn in lost profits by Czech Railways, in connection with its reconstruction of Prague's main train station. The Italian group was given the job of reconstructing the historic transportation hub, in return for which it would operate the building for the next 30 years. Work never proceeded according to the agree time schedule, however, and Grandi Stazioni only reconstructed the station's newer main building, even though it was contractually obligated to rebuild the historic Fanta building that's connected to it. This led SZDC (which manages property and rails for Czech Railways) tearing up the original contract. The court rejected Grandi Stazioni claims and ordered it to cover CZK 20m in legal fees for the Czech side.