The Great Train Competition. Prague and the region will choose the carrier for thirty years

The entire contract is divided into three parts. The regions want to close its largest part for a period of thirty years, i.e. until 2059, and it concerns the purchase of large-capacity electric trains on the Beroun-Prague-Kolín, Prague-airport-Kladno, Prague-Milovice-Mladá Boleslav line. This part will cost approximately 60 billion crowns, and the competition should be announced already this October.

On other routes, the carriers that have won the tender are to provide transportation for a period of fifteen years. One part of the competition is to be announced in the first quarter of 2025 and the other in the third quarter of the same year. They handle, for example, routes from Prague to Ústí nad Labem, Benešov and Tábor, from Prague via Lysa nad Labem to Kolín or Benešov. Each of these two parts should cost less than twenty billion crowns.

“Prague and the Central Bohemian Region will split the costs roughly half and half,” said Prague’s Deputy Mayor for Transport Zdeněk Hřib (Pirates). Prague should pay roughly 51 percent of the costs, the region the remaining 49 percent.

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The division into three parts was explained by the representative of Integrated Transport of the Central Bohemian Region, Pavel Winter. “The value of a single contract would be so huge that it would exclude many bidders, so it is divided into three segments according to capacity. It will be more transparent than doing it in one big package,” Winter said.

Representatives of the local government and transport organizers have already started negotiations with manufacturers and carriers. “We are trying to ensure maximum transparency, which is why Transparency International is already monitoring the entire process,” added Hřib. Six train manufacturers and nine carriers from the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Slovakia have already joined preliminary market consultations.

Regions approach a long-term contract for several reasons. “This is an extremely high investment in the vehicle fleet and it is necessary to spread the costs over several years so that it is not a burden on the regional budget,” explained Central Bohemian transport councilor Petr Borecký (STAN). Carriers will also be able to prepare for the contract, for which it will be financially and operationally more stable than short-term contracts. “We are very limited by infrastructure and there is great uncertainty when individual lines will be electrified,” added Borecký.

The largest part of the competition concerns the purchase of electric cars with a capacity of 400 passengers. Over fifty vehicles are to be purchased in the first phase, and dozens more are expected.

“About three hundred thousand people commute to Prague every day. In order to handle such an onslaught, it is absolutely essential to offer a quality alternative to the railway,” said Hřib.

According to Borecký, the huge costs of providing traffic services will be reflected in fares. “The idea that everything will be paid for from the regional budget is not sustainable in the long term. It is necessary to take into account that the price of the fare will increase,” Borecký confirmed, but did not specify the specific price increase. “We are actually competing with a carrier that will purchase the trains that will run for us,” added Borecký. The region and Prague are preparing the conditions of the competition. Trains should have low-floor shopping, seating arrangement in one space without compartments, air conditioning, Wi-Fi connection, space for prams and bicycles or wheelchair-accessible toilets should be a matter of course. “Trains will also be equipped with counting frames so that we can organize transport based on relevant data,” added deputy Hřib.

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