In the coming months the remaining seven-car sets will be introduced on this route, replacing CD and Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) EuroCity stock. ÖBB Railjet sets will also be employed on the two-hourly service.
The introduction of the new trains will see the journey time between the Czech and Austria capitals cut from 4h 45min to 4h 10min from December, and ČD anticipates a further reduction to less than four hours when infrastructure improvements on the Prague – Brno line are complete.
The 185m-long Czech Railjets are formed of five second-class coaches, one restaurant car, and a first/business-class driving trailer. One of the second class coaches also has a bicycle compartment with 10 folding seats. The set seats 394 passengers in second class, 42 in first class, and six in business class.
Traction is provided by a fleet of Siemens class 1216 multi-system electric locomotives, which are being leased from ÖBB.
