CZECH open-access passenger operator RegioJet will increase the number of international passenger services it operates with the introduction of the 2024 timetable on December 10.
This includes a new night-train between Hannover, Germany, and Przemyśl in Poland near the Ukrainian border, which will run three times per week. Operation on the Polish section of the route is still awaiting approval from Polish rail regulator UTK, which is expected before the end of this year. The new service will be the second RegioJet train operating to the Polish-Ukrainian border alongside the overnight service from Prague.
While RegioJet operates long-distances buses into Ukraine from Przemyśl, it is still waiting for an opportunity to begin operating cross-border rail services on the standard-gauge link into that country.
RegioJet will also being operating a Prague - Berlin service, although the start of this will be delayed until March 20 2024 due to large scale engineering work on the German part of route. When launched, it will operate three times a day between Berlin main station and Prague main station, calling at Prague Holešovice, Ústí nad Labem main station, Děčín main station, Dresden main station and Berlin Südkreuz.
The precise timings for the new service, the first to compete with the current two-hourly EuroCity trains operated jointly by German Rail (DB) and Czech State Railways (ČD), are not yet known, although RegioJet says that it is working with the German and Czech infrastructure managers to secure train paths. This is particularly difficult in Berlin due to congestion on the network.
RegioJet also to increase the number of its services between Prague and Budapest via Vienna, including raising the number of trains between the Czech and Hungarian capitals to four by extending one Prague - Vienna service in the second quarter of 2024.
RegioJet has already increased services between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, raising the number of trains between Prague and Bratislava from three to four a day from October 2, and services from Prague via Žilina to Košice from two to three trains a day since July.
