Railway connection between Czech and Bavarian Želežná Ruda towns to celebrate 20-year anniversary

The railway that connects the Czech town Želežná Ruda and the neighboring Bavarian town Markt Eisenstein, which in Czech also carries the name Želežná Ruda, will be celebrating its 20-year anniversary on Saturday. To commemorate the re-opening of the railway route, a steam train will take passengers from Plzeň’s main train station to the border town of Alžbětín. Celebrations are scheduled to kick off in the town in the evening, with a concert of Czech-Bavarian music and culinary specialties from both countries.

The railway connection between the two towns was one of the seminal events in Czech-German history after the Velvet Revolution. Before 1989, the railway had been defunct for decades and the communist government in Czechoslovakia even planned its destruction.