CZECH REPUBLIC: The Ministry of Transport has selected RegioJet as the winner of a contract to operate subsidised express trains on route R9 from Praha to Havlíčkův Brod and Brno or Jihlava.
The contract runs for 15 years from December 2026 and covers 2·8 million train-km/year. Services are to be operated using 200 km/h low-floor electric multiple-units to be supplied by Pesa.
Student Agency subsidiary RegioJet said it had bid KC4·9bn for the contract, while incumbent České Dráhy had bid KC5·9bn, which ‘once again confirms that the strategy of the Ministry of Transport is correct, that competition on the railway pays off, without the need to spend state or European funds on the purchase of new trains’.
Announcing the contract win on March 23, RegioJet owner Radim Jančura said he was ‘glad that we managed to get such an important contract’ as the Praha – Brno route. ‘It is the next step in our expansion, and we are looking forward to the next competitions’, he said. ‘We will continue to strive to provide passengers with quality services at affordable prices.’
