The railway station Martinice in Krkonošsko is a cultural monument

Martinice in the Krkonoš Mountains (Semilsko) - The Ministry of Culture has declared the railway station Martinice in the Krkonoš Mountains a cultural monument. The station is unique mainly due to its electromechanical safety system. "It is a unique ensemble of predominantly historical buildings in a uniform station architectural style with a fully functional electromechanical safety system with mechanical signals," said the ministry's spokesperson Simona Cigánková today.

"This system is the only one in the Czech Republic," noted railway enthusiast Petr Pěnička. Together with others, he had been striving for the station's registration among monuments for several years, with the proposal submitted in the spring of 2013. "I am immensely pleased with the ministry's decision," he added.

The station was built in 1871. "Despite partial changes and extensions, the building has maintained a coherent historicizing approach to architecture with a large number of authentic details," said the ministry's spokesperson. According to her, the railway station site documents one of the significant developmental stages of train operation safety - the electromechanical station safety equipment.

"The most valuable element is the still preserved functional station safety equipment without serious additional interventions, which still operates on the basic original principle, with mechanical departure signals, entry signals including distant signals, and already quite unique mechanical shunting signals," added the spokesperson. According to Pěnička, there are only 11 mechanical shunting signals left in the republic, four of which are in Martinice.