Czech Railways fined for dirty conditions in passenger cars

Czech Railways has been fined 4.5 million crowns over the first six months of the year for dirty conditions in trains, the news website denik.cz reported on Friday. The Czech Rail Safety Inspectorate fined the state-owned carrier nearly one million crowns; the rest were penalties imposed by the Transport Ministry. Czech Railways was only fined for the state of express train passenger cars subsidised by the state; additional penalties were handed out by regions. A Czech Railways spokesman said that more than half of the problems for which the firm was fined were caused by vandalism.