The fastest journey time on the route via Tabor, České Budejovice and Summerau is currently 5h 4min, which SŽDC describes as "unsustainable and uncompetitive." Upgrading of the Prague - České Budejovice line has lengthened the journey time by 30 minutes, while on the Austrian section of the route trains effectively run as regional services with frequent stops resulting in a sedate 1h 11min journey time on the 60km stretch between the border at Summerau and Linz.
SŽDC says it expects infrastructure enhancements in the Czech Republic to reduce the journey time on the Prague - České Budejovice section from 2h 54min to around 1h 45min by 2019.
ÖBB Infrastructure has committed to cutting Summerau – Linz journey times to less than an hour. Implementing the deferred construction of a second track on the St Georgen – Linz section will be key to this aim, removing a key bottleneck on the Austrian section.
SŽDC says a journey time of 3h 45min between Prague and Linz should therefore be possible by the end of the decade.
The agreement to accelerate services on the route will be formalised in a memorandum of understanding between the Czech and Austrian transport ministries, which will also cover improvements on the Prague – Vienna – Graz corridor.
