Rail travel between Prague and Brno to accelerate from December
Train travel between the two largest Czech cities, Prague and Brno, should be faster from December. Planned changes will shave five minutes off that journey, while rail links between the capital and České Budějovice will speed up even more.
The reason for this acceleration is the completion of modernisation work on the rail corridor in question. High-speed trains that make stops at stations between the two cities will also be quicker by some 11 minutes, thanks to the deployment of new trains.
Czech Railways has reported a marked increase in passenger numbers between the Bohemian and Moravian capitals in recent years. This has chiefly been attributed to Railjet trains first deployed on the route in 2008 and major roadworks on the D1 motorway connecting the cities, which has spurred some motorists to leave their cars at home.
Rail travel from Prague to České Budějovice in South Bohemia is set to speed up even more, with the return of EuroCity and InterCity class trains to the route. At present regular express trains are serving that line.
Trains running at up to 160 kilometres an hour – compared to the present maximum of 140 kilometres an hour – are to be deployed from December. Three pairs will continue on to the city of Linz in Austria while one pair will stop at popular tourist destination Český Krumlov.
Instead of a number of stops along the way as at present, the fastest trains on the route will only pull in at Tábor. This will also help shave almost 20 minutes off the current journey time to two hours and four minutes.
Trains have never run so fast between Prague and České Budějovice, though the improvement is still some way short of expectations. It had been envisaged that following the completion of work on that corridor journey time would be a mere one hour and 40 minutes.
Nevertheless, the shorter time should make rail more competitive with road transport. Growth in passenger numbers can be expected and the acceleration will be a solid starting point for the future dominant role of rail on that route, CEDOP said on its website.
