Passenger train services • Main line services / Ticketing • Intercity • Private mainline operators • Czech Republic • RegioJet
➤ Similar operators: Flixtrain – Snälltåget
Note : For educational purpose only. This page is meant purely as a documentation tool and has no legal effect. It is not a substitute for the official page of the operating company, manufacturer or official institutions. It cannot be used for staff training, which is the responsibility of approved institutions and companies.
RegioJet is a passenger rail transport operator in the Czech Republic, headquartered in Brno. RegioJet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Student Agency, a company founded in 1993 by Radim Jančura, then a student entrepreneur at Brno University of Technology (VUT). The small company quickly established itself as the leading long-distance bus operator in the Czech Republic, mainly by using a modern fleet of luxury coaches and emphasizing Western European service standards. It built its success by offering comfort, convenience, and friendly service in a sector in Eastern Europe that was not used to such standards.
The founder took advantage of the implementation of European Directive 2007/58/EC, which confirmed open access by allowing cabotage—that is, the ability to pick up or drop off passengers within the same country. This legislation offered greater legal guarantees than those available to the few earlier attempts, such as the now-defunct Arenaway in Italy. Once implemented into Czech law, the directive no longer protected the national company České dráhy (CD).
On another note, Czech legislation allows commercial carriers to receive state subsidies in exchange for offering discounted fares to students and certain other groups, including on bus routes. Since Student Agency’s core customer base is students, Radim Jančura believed he could replicate the same business model with trains.
Student Agency, which already had solid experience in bus networking and marketing, obtained a rail transport operating license in the Czech Republic as early as 2009 and was able to begin organizing accordingly. On October 6, 2009, RegioJet was officially registered in the business category of “railway operation and transport.”
Operator: RegioJet
Subsidiary / shareholders: 100% of Student Agency
Sector: Passengers transport
Type of service: Main line
International transport: yes
First services: 26 September 2011
Train type: various pullet trains
Manufacturer(s): various
Driver service: own
Officiel website: https://regiojet.com/
Social media: :
Similar companies : Flixtrain – Snälltåget
Main line domestic routes
➤ Prague – Brno – Ostrava – Bohumín
Main line international routes
➤ Prague – Ostrava – Havířov – Třinec – Žilina – Košice (day train)
➤ Prague – Ostrava – Havířov – Třinec – Žilina – Košice (night train, three cars continue to Chop, Ukraine border, since March 2024)
➤ Prague – Brno – Vienna – Budapest
➤ Prague – Brno – Bratislava
➤ (†) Prague – Brno – Bratislava – Rijeka / Split (seasonnal night train, 2020 – 2023)
➤ Prague – Krakow – Katowice – Przemyśl (night train)
Regional services (under PSO)
➤ (†) Bratislava – Dunajská Streda – Komárno, Slovakia (2012 – 2020)
➤ R8 Brno-Přerov-Ostrava-Bohumín
➤ R23 Ústí nad Labem–Litoměřice-Mělník-Kolín
Rolling stock (past and present)
Škoda
2011 – 2024
Bombardier
2012 – 2020
2011 – …
Siemens
2014 – …
Alstom
2018 – …
Alstom
2020 – …
Pesa
2021 – …
CRRC
(2024) – …
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2006 – First Attempts
The boss’s desire to enter the rail business actually dated back further. As early as 2006, Radim Jančura had expressed in several media outlets his intention to see Student Agency also become a rail carrier within about three years. At that time, fundamental changes were being made in Czech legislation, as the country had joined the European Union in 2004, which required alignment with the EU’s rail policy. Among the changes was the gradual outsourcing in line with the principles of the EU White Paper, particularly in open public tenders (DSP), which would also concern RegioJet. An official document noted that the advantage of an open market is the motivation it gives carriers to provide superior service quality. This concept of open access was what motivated Radim Jančura.
In 2007, Jančura announced a tender for “cheaper and more luxurious trains than the Pendolinos operated by the public company České dráhy.” Stadler and Siemens were said to have participated in the tender, with Siemens offering a version of the ICE 3, but no sketches of it were ever seen. In 2008, the regional aspect of the tender provided Jančura with the opportunity to negotiate a joint venture with the French company Keolis. In 2009 and 2010, there were various twists and turns regarding offers, followed by withdrawals, concerning regional services in areas around Liberec, Plzeň, and other regional lines. Partnerships with other operators never lasted.
In September 2011, Radim Jančura confirmed his interest in operating additional express routes. He even proposed to the Ministry of Transport to replace, starting in December 2012, up to half of the long-distance EuroCity (EC) and InterCity (IC) trains on the Prague – Brno – Břeclav line, which were operated by Czech Railways. The proposal was rejected. However, this did not stop RegioJet from preparing its offensive in the long-distance segment.
2011 – The start of operations
A low-cost concept
Unlike its other competitor, Leo Express, as well as WESTBahn and NTV-Italo elsewhere in Europe, RegioJet does not opt for new but second-hand equipment. And that’s just as well. Since 2008, our Austrian neighbours have been launching their Railjets, meaning that a large number of the excellent UIC ‘Z’ coaches that made up the ÖBB’s former Intercity/Eurocity fleet have been retired. Some of the cars were put up for sale, and Radim Jančura bought them back. At the same time, he bought 12 Am61 first-class coaches from SBB. In Italy, Ferrovie Nord Milano wanted to get rid of its 3kV E 630 machines, which were… of Czech origin. Radim Jančura also bought them and returned them to the type used back home, similar to the CD 162 series. The fleet already numbers around forty cars, some of which are undergoing a thorough overhaul in a specialist workshop.
But the projects took a bit of a delay, justified by Aleš Ondrůj, Student Agency spokesman: “We have been resolving the mutual release agreement with ČD for almost a year, we think they are accommodating, but no one has resolved such things before us. That’s why it’s taking longer.”
Equipped with 9 locomotives and 28 coaches in running order, RegioJet was able to start its first service on 26 September 2011 on the Prague – Ostrava (- Žilina) route. On the yellow trains, customers can enjoy the same services and facilities as Student Agency’s yellow buses. With this open-access service, RegioJet is competing not only with CD Railways, which also operates its own Intercity service, but also with a third competitor, Leo-Express, which has now set up shop. In total, including the public company, the main Prague-Ostrava artery is operated by three operators: 5 LEO-Express trains, 11 Regiojet trains and 10 Ceske Drahy trains, i.e. 26 pairs of trains per working day, which is considerable for a small country like the Czech Republic.
In the meantime, at the end of April 2012, Deutsche Bahn and RegioJet were planning to resume the joint Prague-Dresden-Berlin-Hamburg service in 2013. But by August 2012, this project had already been shelved for reasons that are difficult to determine. Much later, DB renegotiated with ČD for a ten-year contract running until 2025.
March 2012: first steps in local traffic
Despite the aforementioned setbacks, RegioJet did not lose hope in regional traffic. The Slovakian government also decided to end the monopoly of the incumbent operator ZSSK. The plan was to put up to 35% of contracted services out to tender, in return for a reduction in subsidies. In March 2012, Student Agency/RegioJet was awarded a 9-year contract to operate regional passenger services over the 95km between Bratislava, Dunajská Streda and Komárno.
It’isnt talking about ex-ÖBB hauled trains, but Talent VT 643 auto-rails. RegioJet leased 9 of these from Alpha Train, which had previously been operating on the local German Dortmund – Enschede line. RegioJet obtained a subsidy for this service that was 16% lower than that of ZSSK, and had to increase frequencies to one train per hour, and every 30 minutes in peak full stops, while reducing end-to-end journey times from 69 to 43 minutes. The services were to be integrated into Bratislava’s urban transport system, and the trains were to have free Wi-Fi, newspapers and refreshments. Traffic was expected to reach 1.9 million passengers per year.
2013: price war and class war
RegioJet’s first year in the ČD field bears a strong resemblance to what NTV-Italo, at the same time, had to endure with Trenitalia. In the summer of 2013, RegioJet hired an external expert, Takoma ATM, to carry out an audit of the Prague – Ostrava rail services. The private operator believed that the DCs had abused their position as a monopoly operator by selling products below cost, which is prohibited by law. The audit revealed that CD’s prices had fallen by 50% on the 358km Prague-Ostrava route, which after all is the purpose of competition. But the point here was to prove a strategy of eviction. It will be confirmed… in 2021, thanks to another investigation!
The shepherd’s response to the shepherdess? A dispute arose ‘opportunely’ concerning subsidies for student tickets, which are legal subsidies in the context of student aid, regardless of the carrier. Regiojet offers four comfort classes. The Ministry of Transport then investigated the private company, noting that, although notified as ‘second class’, carriages offering Business and Relax classes could be considered as disguised first class in the Czech Republic. According to the Ministry, in this case, the ‘student’ subsidy did not apply to Regiojet…
Accused of having received more state subsidies than necessary in 2014, Radim Jančura responded that “state compensation for social groups accounts for only 8% of my fare range. Czech Railways, across the entire network, receive total compensation equivalent to 255% of their fare revenue—even for long-distance services that we operate without any operating subsidies. Admittedly, the amount paid by the state for reduced fare compensation is not negligible, but it is thirty times less than what it pays the public carrier.” In any case, RegioJet’s most expensive ticket is well below the first-class fares of ČD, the state-owned company.
These disputes between the two parties did not prevent RegioJet from reporting, in 2013, 1.6 million passengers transported—an increase of 42.5% compared to the previous year, the first full reference year. Losses amounted to €2.9 million on a turnover of €10.2 million. The trains quickly increased capacity from 240 to 400 seats. This growth required an expansion of the fleet of cars, which RegioJet purchases second-hand, preferably from “Alpine” countries and Germany. In 2014, nearly 45 additional cars were added to the existing fleet, bringing the total to 95 passenger vehicles. These cars were intended to strengthen trains on the Prague – Ostrava – Žilina route.
A bit more liberalization in the Czech Republic and Slovakia?
In 2013, the government of Jiří Rusnok supported the Ministry of Transport’s plan to launch calls for tenders starting in 2016 for the operation of subsidized long-distance passenger services on five routes:
- Prague – Ústí nad Labem – Cheb
- Prague – Ústí nad Labem – Děčín
- Plzeň – Most routes
- Liberec – Pardubice
- Liberec – Ústí nad Labem
These routes were complemented by the Ostrava – Opava – Krnov – Olomouc line, which was the subject of a pilot project awarded to RegioJet. This €80 million contract (2.1 billion CZK) planned for the operation of this route starting in 2014 over a 15-year period. However, the agreement became void following the fall of the Rusnok government. RegioJet then focused entirely on long-distance services.
In 2014, equipped with an expanded fleet, RegioJet announced its intention to operate open-access services in Slovakia, between Bratislava and the eastern city of Košice, at the foot of the Tatras Mountains. At the same time, the company was testing its well-known Astra coaches, which feature individual screens on the back of each seat. RegioJet’s international expansion continued with the intention of launching a round trip between Prague and Košice.
Aborted Attempts in Slovakia
Although 2014 ended with a 37% increase in the number of passengers, business in Slovakia was far from flourishing. The intercity trains on the Bratislava – Košice line had been classified as “commercially viable routes” as early as January 2012. In December 2014, RegioJet began operating three round trips on the Bratislava – Žilina – Košice route, at the foot of the Tatras. Radim Jančura remained confident he could be profitable, as his operating costs were 30 to 40% lower than those of the Slovak state operator, ZSSK.
But in November 2015, the operator already announced the end of its operations due to a €4 million loss, which Radim Jančura attributed to the government’s policy of offering free travel to a large portion of the population. ZSSK also pretended to withdraw, but speculation was rife about the Slovak government’s “real” willingness to pursue liberalization. This interpretation would be confirmed in the following years, with Jančura stating that “the tenders were always handled by the same civil servants, regardless of the government in power.”
Nevertheless, RegioJet did not leave Slovakia entirely. Regional passenger services on the 95 km route between Bratislava, Dunajská Streda, and Komárno continued as usual under a public service contract. Similarly, the two Prague – Košice connections, one of them overnight, were also maintained. In the meantime, RegioJet began operating in the Czech Republic in December 2015 on the Prague – Olomouc – Přerov route, with a bus connection to Zlín and Otrokovice.
2016 – Train and Bus Become One
In spring 2016, the RegioJet marketing brand was integrated into the bus fleet. This step allowed for the unification of buses and trains and helped expand the company not only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia but also abroad. The RegioJet transport network could carry between 15 and 20 million passengers in the coming years.
In December 2016, RegioJet returned to Slovakia, operating two round trips per day on the Prague–Bratislava route, with a travel time of 3 hours and 57 minutes for the 396 km journey. The yellow trains stopped at Pardubice, Ústí nad Orlicí, Česká Třebová, Brno Main Station, Břeclav, Kúty, and Bratislava Main Station, with entry-level fares starting at €14. Prague–Bratislava became RegioJet’s second cross-border route between the two countries, after Prague–Košice, which continued to be served by two round trips per day, including one overnight service.
Meanwhile, RegioJet was seeking up to 60 electric multiple units, 30 diesel railcars, and 50 coaches suitable for speeds of 200 km/h under three four-year framework contracts for rolling stock. The total potential value was estimated at €590 million, although firm orders depended on RegioJet securing public service contracts. These were aimed at responding to regional tenders in the Czech Republic, which fall under public service obligations.
Complaints and Lobbying
2016 and 2017 were also quite eventful on the legal front. A complaint had been filed with the European Commission in Brussels, raising suspicions that Ceske Drahy had adopted pricing from 2011 to 2019 on a route between Prague and Ostrava that did not cover its costs, in an effort to hinder competition in the market. The case would only be resolved in 2021, following a legal inspection at the historical operator CD between April 26 and 29, 2016.
In April 2017, the European Rail Freight Association launched the ALLRAIL alliance in Brussels, to represent “open access” passenger operators such as LEO Express and RegioJet in the Czech Republic, Sweden’s MTR Nordic, Italy’s NTV, Austria’s Westbahn, and the independent ticket retailer Trainline. This association worked tirelessly to make its voice heard across all possible railway media channels, denouncing barriers to market entry. Slovakia bore the brunt of the association’s public criticism…
To comply with EU regulations, the Czech government approved a law on April 1, 2017, to establish an independent regulator fully separated from the Ministry of Transport. Despite all of this, RegioJet continued to grow and claimed nearly 4 million passengers in 2017.
2018: Prague-Vienna
Ceske Drahy had reason to fear RegioJet and its expansion plans. In the summer of 2017, the private operator announced its desire to operate from Prague to Vienna, Austria, where CD already operated 7 round trips in the form of ‘CD Railjet’, with the same level of comfort as its Austrian counterparts. To enter Austria, Regiojet joined forces with Bahn Graz-Köflach (BGK), an Austrian company with its own drivers, which provided the technical services on Austrian soil (train path requests, train driving, maintenance, etc.).
In mid-December 2017, the first yellow RegioJet trains rolled into Vienna’s flamboyant Hauptbahnhof, led by Vectron locomotives leased from Switzerland’s EIL. RegioJet offered the Prague-Vienna route for €19, whereas CD and ÖBB charged €39. The latter quickly had to lower their fares.
The Prague-Vienna route was increased from 7 to 11 return trips (CD/ÖBB + RegioJet). Within two months of its launch, almost 120,000 passengers had already chosen the yellow trains operated by the Czech private operator, with a young, often university-educated, clientele.
The 10 million passenger milestone
With night trains proving so popular, RegioJet decided in 2018 to increase capacity on its Prague-Kosice train in Slovakia. In June, the operator launched a rolling stock acquisition plan, buying 18 couchette carriages from DB, which had abandoned night trains in December 2016. RegioJet used them on the Prague – Kosice night service, offering a capacity of almost 1,000 seats.
By the end of 2018, the yellow trains (including regional trains operating in neighbouring Slovakia) had carried more than 10.5 million passengers on all services, representing an increase of around 8% on the previous year. RegioJet long-distance trains, which operate on the Prague – Ostrava, Prague – Košice – Humenné and Prague – Brno – Bratislava routes as well as Vienna, carried 6.5 million passengers alone in 2019, around 10% more than in 2018 (5.9 million passengers).
There was demand, and it was fairly strong. On the Prague–Vienna route, growth was significant and confirmed the operator’s sound strategy: “International connections were the main driver of the growth in the number of new passengers, with, for example, during the summer months, an average occupancy rate of 93% on the Prague–Brno–Vienna route, which practically means that nearly all capacity was used,” the company stated.
As of December 15, 2019, these Prague–Vienna trains were operated between Břeclav and Vienna Hbf by drivers from the Austrian private operator Westbahn (17.4% owned by SNCF). RegioJet was already cooperating with Westbahn, particularly in the area of ticket sales. However, the challenge for Westbahn—already in weak financial shape in 2019—was to retain its pool of train drivers by having them work for third parties.
Buoyed by its success, RegioJet quickly sought to launch new routes but needed financing. In June 2019, the operator successfully issued bonds worth nearly €36 million, primarily intended to fund the future development of its train fleet. In August 2019, the company announced its intention to operate trains between Vienna and Budapest, using the same trainsets as on the Prague–Vienna route in a rotation system.
Since December 2019, the company had also been operating regional trains under a public service delegation on the R8 Brno–Ostrava–Bohumín line and regional connections in the Ústí region, with 17 round trips under contract. RegioJet has a so-called “gross contract” with the Ústí nad Labem region, meaning the sales risk is borne by the client—in this case, the Ústí nad Labem region.
Traction resources had to follow. On September 3, 2019, RegioJet ordered 15 Bombardier Transportation Traxx MS3 multi-system electric locomotives, with an option for more units—at a time when Bombardier had not yet been acquired by Alstom. This order followed a previous one in 2017 for eight Traxx MS2e locomotives, which entered service in 2018.
2020 – Pandemic and Croatia
The year 2020 had started off rather well. Miroslav Kupec, a former member of the supervisory board of the national railway company ČD, who had left amid political tensions and a “restructuring” of the České dráhy leadership, became, on January 14, the technical director of rail operations at RegioJet—far removed from the 2016 complaints of “predatory pricing.” It was in the area of maintenance that changes were expected.
Until then, RegioJet had maintained its fleet at Praha-Smíchov since its launch in 2011, but the city decided the site would be redeveloped for commercial purposes. Locomotive maintenance had always been outsourced, but “RegioJet plans to build its own new depot and further expand its technical and maintenance base,” the company stated.
On March 13, 2020, the company issued a press release announcing the suspension of its international operations “based on the decree of the Czech government and the measures taken by the Slovak government.” A long period of uncertainty began, but the company continued to operate, for example, 6 trains instead of 10 on the Prague–Brno route. At the same time, RegioJet adjusted its bus service network, which was to continue providing basic connections to various cities.
On the R8 line Brno – Přerov – Ostrava – Bohumín, which RegioJet operated under a public service concession, the value of having a “gross” contract was being demonstrated in real time: the commercial risk was borne not by RegioJet but by the contracting authority (the state), and the government quickly reduced operations to 8 round trips instead of the 17 planned in the contract.
In a May press release, RegioJet also stated that the company had benefited from state aid for the payment of part of the salaries, postponement of advance tax payments, and other financial measures, which had significantly helped offset the company’s shortfall in revenue.
But vacation was still on people’s minds…
This is probably the event that made RegioJet most well-known in Europe. In mid-June, the operator launched train ticket sales to Ljubljana and Rijeka, with a seasonal night train originally planned to run three times a week. But demand was so high—boosted by the lifting of health restrictions in Croatia—that the train was scheduled to run daily from mid-July 2020. It’s worth noting that this launch came at a time when night trains were making a comeback in popularity, something few could have imagined just a few years earlier…
For operations, 12 carriages were used with a total capacity of 600 passengers in seated or sleeper accommodations, with simple fares starting from €22, including Wi-Fi and breakfast. This connection owed much to a collaboration between RegioJet and the Croatian Tourist Board, as well as the Croatian Embassy in Prague. The first train departed on June 30 from Prague. Nearly 60,000 people took advantage of this new rail connection, which was supplemented by buses for the last few kilometers.
The Vectron locomotive leading the RJ1044 from Prague, leased by RegioJet, made the journey to the Slovenian border at Hodoš, crossing three countries, which underscores the importance of interoperable rolling stock. In Hungary, RegioJet used staff from the operator Continental Railway Solution, the same team that operates the Prague–Budapest RegioJet trains on Hungarian territory. Only from Slovenia onward were state-owned railway companies used: a Slovenian Railways (SZ) electric locomotive handled the train to Šapjane, at the Croatian border, where a HŽPP 1141 locomotive took over. The Vectrons, although certified, are not authorized on the tracks toward Rijeka due to a 20-ton axle load limit. This was, in fact, the first time RegioJet collaborated with public carriers for operating its services in Croatia and Slovenia.
The composition of train RJ 1047 is available at this link. It shows that on a 12-car train:
- 7 cars were of the Bcmz 248.5 type and offered a total limited to 280 couchettes, 4 per compartment due to health restrictions;
- 5 cars were of various types — Bmz, Bmpz, or ABmz — offering 328 seats.
This amounts to a total of 608 places. One might wonder why the 80-seat Bmpz cars were not limited to one seat out of two, given the 2020 health restrictions.
Meanwhile, the operator began running its trains to Budapest from July 31, by extending 2 of the 4 Prague–Vienna round trips. These relied on Westbahn drivers for the Austrian section and Continental Railway Solution drivers for the Hungarian section. Unfortunately, on September 1, this service had to be suspended by order of the Hungarian authorities, who imposed new restrictions. That said, all things considered, RegioJet managed to serve five countries outside of Czechia during the unique summer of 2020, confirming its international presence, particularly in Central Europe.
On October 30, 2020, the European Commission officially acknowledged RegioJet’s complaints regarding suspected predatory pricing by Ceske drahy (ČD), four years after the complaint was filed. In a statement of objections, the European Commission informed the Czech railway operator ČD of its preliminary view that ČD had indeed violated EU antitrust rules by engaging in predatory pricing on the Prague-Ostrava route.
The Czech news outlet Seznamzpravy.cz revealed another aspect of this predatory pricing strategy by publishing documents that the European Commission had seized from the railway headquarters during its investigation in the summer of 2016. Among the documents was reportedly an email sent by a senior ČD executive to his counterpart at ÖBB-Personenverkehr, explicitly stating – in English – “I would be very grateful if you eliminated at least RegioJet” from the sale of sleeper cars that the Austrian operator was conducting in 2015–2016.
Such a collusive agreement could prove extremely costly for both public operators, potentially resulting in hundreds of millions of euros in fines.
2021 – The Recovery
The year 2020 ended in Europe with a sudden enthusiasm for night trains, as four public operators – including ÖBB – joined forces to revive a service that had been abandoned just a few years earlier. RegioJet’s Director of Communications and Sales, Aleš Ondrůj, voiced a pointed criticism, emphasizing that the vision for expanding night train services should be broadened to include other operators as well.
This statement came as Europe designated 2021 as the “Year of Rail,” despite a very unfavorable context due to the second wave of the pandemic, which paralyzed the entire winter of 2020/2021. Nevertheless, 2021 proved to be a significant year for the Czech private operator. In addition to obtaining all the necessary authorizations to launch its night service project between Prague, Kraków, and Przemyśl, RegioJet also planned from the outset to resume its successful night train from Prague to Croatia for the summer 2021 season. This train was unveiled in February 2021 with major changes compared to 2020:
- It now had two branches: one to Rijeka and the other to Split, with the route passing through Zagreb and splitting at Ogulin in the middle of the country – a station nobody had heard of…
- It now passed through Budapest-Kelenföld, thus tapping into the Hungarian market – also fond of Croatia’s coast – despite very late departure times.
The train was scheduled to start at the end of May, running three times a week in June, then daily in July and August.
In April, a Dutch startup named European Sleeper announced plans to create a night train from Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague, with RegioJet as the technical partner – confirmed via press release. The railway community online even spotted a track request in Belgium extending to Ostend! That same April, RegioJet signed a new public service contract for the electrified R23 line, 135 km long, between Kolín and Ústí nad Labem-západ. The contract, announced on March 30, was set for eight years starting in December 2021.
Meanwhile, RegioJet had already sold 15,000 tickets for the Prague-Rijeka/Split night train. The service was launched on May 28 with around 400 passengers on board. At the destination, bus services from Rijeka, Split, Gračac, and Ogulin connected travelers to all holiday spots along the Croatian Adriatic coast – from Istria to Dubrovnik. RegioJet also did not neglect the reinstatement of its other services. On June 13, the connection from Prague to Budapest via Vienna resumed with two round trips per day.
In August, the Polish Railway Transport Office (UTK) – the Polish regulator – received a request from RegioJet to operate a commercial passenger service between Kraków, Warsaw, and Gdańsk, a line dominated by the historic Polish company PKP. The request was submitted for the maximum possible duration of five years. “RegioJet has expressed its intention to provide a new passenger transport service from December 11, 2022, to December 11, 2027,” UTK stated.
2024 – Regional Steps and Reorientations
At the beginning of the year, RegioJet announced it would no longer continue its summer service to Croatia, preferring instead to “reorient its rail capacity toward another route, notably from Prague to Ukraine” via Przemyśl in Poland, and another route via Chop.
In the open-access market, RegioJet also expressed no interest in launching new commercial lines outside of the Prague-Berlin route. “We will focus on tenders,” declared Jančura.
As of early 2024, Czech Railways (ČD) held about 80% of the rail market, with private operators controlling the remainder—RegioJet held around 10%. “We managed to win the latest tenders in the Ústí nad Labem region and for the Prague–Brno fast train line via Havlíčkův Brod. In both cases, we will start with new trains, and we want to do the same for upcoming tenders. I expect the Ministry of Transport will require [the use of] new trains in future competitions,” explained Jančura.
He estimated that by around 2034, competition could become well-established in the Czech Republic, with three major operators—České dráhy, Arriva, and RegioJet—each holding roughly equal market shares, while smaller carriers like Leo Express and GW Train Regio would also maintain a presence.
A 2024 surprise was the testing, starting in January, of a Sirius trainset from China’s CRRC. It’s worth recalling that in 2016, private operator Leo Express surprised the industry by ordering three EMUs from CRRC, named Sirius and built in China. The first arrived at the port of Bremerhaven before reaching the Czech Republic in 2019. However, in 2022, Leo Express, now partnered with its new Spanish shareholder Renfe, terminated the contract. Until now, the necessary approvals had still not been granted despite tests at Velim.
On January 3, 2024, trainset 665.002 began tests from VUZ Velim to Přerov, where initial operations took place without passengers. Later, the first runs began on the Přerov–Otrokovice section. The trials, expected to last four months, are conducted on express services between Kolín and Ústí nad Labem via Lysá nad Labem and Mělník, which RegioJet operates under a PSO contract. Unit 665.002 performs two round trips per day on this route. Trainset 665.001 is not yet in service but is available as a backup.
At the end of March 2024, RegioJet launched the first private European rail service directly into Ukrainian territory. While the Prague–Chop route enjoys high occupancy and customer satisfaction. But the return journey often faces significant delays due to strict customs checks at the Ukrainian-Slovak border.
These inspections are thorough due to Schengen entry rules, with an extensive list of prohibited items. According to RegioJet’s Executive Director Jakub Svoboda, it’s not just about illegal cigarette imports—items like meat products and cheeses also pose issues. If customs officers find any banned goods, the resulting paperwork can delay the train for up to two hours.
Another challenge is limited customs staffing at the border. Since Slovakia’s national rail company ZSSK runs a Mukachevo–Košice service beforehand, delays there affect RegioJet’s schedule. When late, RegioJet’s cars has to wait for next RegioJet train, i.e. the day-after Košice–Prague daytrain. This can result in passengers waiting up to six hours at Košice station.
Despite these challenges, the company sees strong future potential in Ukraine-bound rail travel, planning route expansions and highlighting consistent passenger demand.
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Main line • Intercity • New mainline operators in Europe • Czech Republic • Lexical