EUROPE: The Czech Ministry of Transport has selected Leo Express for a contract to operate the Czech leg of passenger service Ex36 between Praha, Plzeň, Regensburg and München for five years from December 13 2026.
The Czech leg of the service is currently operated under contract by national operator ČD, with Länderbahn operating the German section of the route under a parallel contract awarded by Bayern railway authority BEG.
Leo Express offered the lowest price of KC427m excluding infrastructure access charges for the next five-year contract covering the Czech section. BEG is undertaking a separate procurement for the German section.
Five-year contract
Leo Express said there will be eight trains per day each way on the 439 km route, operated using 200 km/h inter-city coaches made available through its partnership with shareholder Spanish national operator Renfe.
These will have air-conditioning, wi-fi and an audiovisual system, as well as places for people with reduced mobility and for bicycles. Snacks and hot and cold drinks including beer will be available.
The coaches will be hauled by multi-system locomotives
The Praha – München route ‘deserves to be resuscitated after years of customer dissatisfaction, and we are honoured to assist the Czech Ministry of Transport in this important international project’, Leo Express CEO Peter Köhler said on March 24.
‘We will introduce popular Leo Express services to this route and at the same time offer through connections via Praha towards Warszawa, Kraków, Przemyśl, Prešov or Bratislava.’
Leo Express will offer its own fares as well as the national OneTicket. Leo Express said it would ‘strive to maintain ticket sales for these connections also through the ČD network’. It will also be possible to use the integrated tariffs of the Plzeň region, as well as InterRail, Eurail and CIV international tickets.
Long-term contract
Meanwhile, the Czech Ministry of Transport and BEG are also undertaking the joint procurement of a long-term contract to run from December 2031 to the end of 2046. An initial procurement process was cancelled in 2024 after no economically acceptable bids were received.
‘The rail link between the two central European metropolises of Praha and München is not only very important for the Czech Republic and Bayern; it is a significant European corridor’, Bayern Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter said February. ‘Owing to its high complexity, the process requires sufficient lead time. I hope that several interested parties will throw their hats in the ring for this prestigious route’,
The planned RE/Ex36 contract would cover 2.8 million train-km/year, including an additional service leaving Praha at approximately 19.45. Requirements include new coaches and an increase in overall train capacity.
The route involves 15 kV AC 16·7 Hz, 25 kV AC 50 Hz and 3 kV DC electrical systems as well as non-electrified tracks, and currently requires locomotive changes in Regensburg, Schwandorf and Plzeň. Following feedback from the cancelled procurement, plans now include simplified operations to require fewer locomotives and less shunting.
It is envisaged that the long-term contract would see electro-diesel locos used between München and Plzeň and then Czech electric locos to Praha, pending continuous electrification which is not expected until the second half of the contract period.
