A metro (i.e. a subway or tube line) can be understood as a railway under Act No. 266/1994 Coll., on railways, as amended (the "Act"). The implementing decree to Act No. 177/1995 Coll., on the construction and technical regulation of railways, as amended (the "Decree"), uses the term "metro" in its Art. 1 para 2 to describe a special railway which, for the Decree’s purposes, consists of a connecting rail and the safety zone on the platform. The legal status of a metro as a railway was confirmed in Supreme Administrative Court judgment no. 3 As 121/2013 dated August 27, 2014.
With effect from April 1, 2017, Art. 5 para. 1 of the Act expressly provides that a metro – understood as a route intended for the movement of rail vehicles and any structure which extends, complements, changes or secures the railway – does not become part of the land. This provision was added to the Act under Act No. 319/2016 Coll.
A metro line can, thus, be understood as an independent piece of real estate under Art. 498 para 1 of Act No. 89/2012 Coll., the Civil Code, as amended (the "CC"). Under Art. 498 para. 1 of the CC, if another statute holds that an object is not part of the land and that object cannot be conveyed from one place to another without altering its substance, then that object is real property. Until April 1, 2017 when the amendment under Art. 5 para. 1 of the Act came into force, a metro line could also be understood as a separate piece of real estate under Art. 489 para. 1 of the CC, which holds that underground structures with an independently designed purpose should be seen as real property.
Under Art. 27 d) of the Decree, a "metro station" is another part of the metro line and consists of passenger and service platforms; entrance halls; entrance and exit ways; lifts, escalators and walkways; transport devices for people with reduced mobility; rescue tunnels for lifts; fixed stairwells; and station areas and equipment for servicing and passenger handling. The legal status of such areas and equipment as part of the metro line was also confirmed in Supreme Administrative Court judgment Act No. 3 As. 121/2013 on August 27, 2014. In that case, the Supreme Administrative Court considered the legal nature of the underpass at Prague’s Můstek station and found that although that underpass could be used for purposes besides entering the metro, it was part of the metro line.
We can, thus, conclude that all of the listed areas and devices form part of the metro line, which is an independent piece of real estate. In other words, they are not part of the land on which they are located.