The Central Bohemian Region and the City of Prague are preparing a tender for a new railway carrier. With a value of around CZK 60 billion, and lasting for 15 years, the tender will be the largest related to transport services between Czech regions.
The current contract with Czech Railways (ČD) to provide rail services in the region expires in 2029. The competition for new carriers is to be announced next spring, so that as many manufacturers and carriers as possible can participate, Central Bohemian regional councillor for public affairs Petr Borecký (STAN) told journalists.
“Based on the information obtained and the restrictive conditions, we anticipate a procedure that will lead to the renewal of vehicles on regional lines in the short term until 2026,” says Petr Borecký.
“We assume that the tendering process should last for approximately a year, until the spring of 2025,” said Petr Borecký. “Then we will leave some time for possible objections, appeals and questions from the applicants, so that by 2026 at the latest, the carrier knows that it is leaving in 2029 and has enough time together with the selected manufacturer to tighten the contract so that the new vehicles will be available from 2029.”
The winner could be one or more carriers; the competition will be similar to the current tender for bus carriers in individual areas. “I must state that the current legislation literally forces us into a less favourable solution. And unfortunately there is no time to change it. Nevertheless, we will do everything to ensure that, similar to the competition for bus operators, the competition for railway operators in Central Bohemia and Prague is transparent and friendly to passengers.”
An expert team is being created for the competitive tender, and representatives of the governor’s office are negotiating with authorities in the capital. The Central Bohemian Region will be the main contracting authority. At the end of the month, the administrator of the public contract will also be selected, which should be a company with qualifications for transport tenders.
Competition will take place in the main corridor lines, where EMU 400 sets will be deployed, and the current CityElefant sets will run there in the meantime. In addition, the region is counting on new competitive tenders for 20% of services on non-electrified medium-sized lines, which is possible within the current ten-year contract with ČD. These include, for example, the Prague-Vraná nad Vltavou-Čerčany, Prague-Neratovice-Mladá Boleslav, and Prague-Hostivice-Rudná lines.
“These lines have a traffic intensity somewhere between local and main corridor lines, and we know that they will not be electrified by 2029,” said Borecký. “That means that it does not make sense for electric vehicles to compete there, but at the same time it does not make sense to put small regional trains there – they are medium line size.” New carriers should operate on these lines from 2025, or 2026 at the latest, for a period of ten years. The value of this contract will be around CZK 4-5 billion.
“The change of the rolling stock on the railway is inevitable and I am glad that we are dealing with the modernization of the vehicles in advance, which will avoid that in the near future passengers are offered comfort that does not correspond to their ideas that they are currently used to,”
As part of the contract with Czech Railways, 22 new three-car RegioPanter electric units and 10 new two-car RegioFox motor units will also be purchased. Next year, RegioPanter units should run on the line from Prague to Ústí nad Labem and Čáslav via Kolín, and RegioFox from Prague via Rudná to Beroun and from Beroun to Rakovník. According to Borecký, the renewal of the vehicle fleet is a necessity: “We want to finally say goodbye to the first 471 series units or the old trains of the 810 series,” he added.
