In 2025, ČD trains ran at their highest level of punctuality since 2016. The largest Czech carrier put 144 new carriages and locomotives into service with more than 7,000 comfortable seats in air-conditioned compartments. The range of services offered on ČD trains has been expanded, e.g. more than 450 trains are equipped with Wi-Fi, 248 barrier-free connections have been added and passengers with children have designated spaces on more trains, including a children's cinema. Despite extremely cheap fuel and extensive track closures, passenger figures remained stable. A total of 168 million passengers used ČD services last year.
“Last year, we dispatched 2,427,132 trains and they ran at their highest level of punctuality since 2016. Their punctuality rate rose by 0.6 percentage points year-on-year to 88.2%. If we tolerated the ‘academic quarter hour’, 98.5% of our trains were on time or within this limit,” said Michal Krapinec, chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of České dráhy, adding: “This is not a figure based on a single destination train station. We calculate the punctuality of our trains from virtually every station and stop on their journey. This data reflects the punctuality of our trains for more than 47 million arrivals and departures across the country and throughout the past year.”
If a train is delayed, the most common reason is “other causes” (68.2%). This includes e.g. crossing or overtaking trains or waiting for connections, but also e.g. force majeure or delayed arrivals of trains from abroad. Infrastructure-related causes (19.1%), such as planned and unplanned closures, are the second leading cause. The carrier itself has the smallest influence on the punctuality of trains (12.7%). These cases typically involve faults on locomotives and carriages.
168 million passengers transported
“Demand for our services was stable last year. We transported 168 million passengers. This is comparable to 2024. We are seeing more passengers on integrated transport system fares and there is great interest in travel to Poland, especially thanks to the Baltic express line,” said Michal Krapinec.
There was higher rail passenger demand despite some of the lowest fuel prices in several years. Demand for train travel was also adversely affected by planned or extraordinary closures on important international lines, such as closures near Schöna on the Czech-German border, the closure of the Berlin-Hamburg line because of extensive periodic renewal, or the several-week-long restriction of the Ex 2 Valašský express line to Slovakia as a result of an accident near Hustopeče nad Bečvou. In these cases, passengers had to transfer to replacement buses, which had a negative impact on the comfort and smoothness of the journey otherwise offered by the railway.
More than 7,000 comfort seats in air-conditioned carriages added last year
The modernisation of the ČD fleet continued in 2025. “In long-distance transport, we have put into service another 80 ComfortJet carriages and 20 Siemens Vectron locomotives with a speed of 230 km/h. Regional transport was improved by 22 barrier-free low-floor RegioFox units. This allowed us to take dozens of older passenger carriages and diesel engines out of service,” calculates Jiří Ješeta, a member of the Board of Directors and deputy for passenger transport at České dráhy.
The ComfortJet units were reconfigured from eight to nine carriages and their operations were extended to Vienna, Villach and Budapest. Thanks to the new carriages, modern Railjets now run to Bratislava and Budapest. Barrier-free RegioFoxes replaced older diesel engines in Prague and the Central Bohemia and Hradec Králové regions. These modern units also began service to the Plzeň Region last year.
Last year, new and modernised trains expanded services for passengers, e.g. 453 additional trains were equipped with on-board Wi-Fi, bringing the total number of connections offering Wi-Fi up to 5,277. Sockets and USB connectors for charging travel electronics have been added to 419 trains and are now available on a total of 4,603 trains. Wheelchair accessibility was introduced on a further 248 trains and the total number of trains equipped for passengers in wheelchairs rose to 7,379 last year. Passengers with small children can use the children's corner in the form of a children’s cinema on 18 additional trains. A total of 148 connections already offer this service. More trains have a restaurant car, a ČD Minibar, an on-board infotainment portal and other services.
Thanks to ComfortJet trainsets, it was possible to offer higher comfort on domestic and interstate connections last year. Newly added to the map of places to which ČD travels are Klagenfurt and Villach. Thanks to ComfortJets, from May 2026, ČD will return and even expand its travel offer to Hamburg and add Copenhagen, Denmark, to its map of destinations.
More than 5,000 seats to be added on comfort trains this year
The renewal of trains will continue this year. “This year we will take delivery of the last 36 carriages for ComfortJets, another 30 Siemens Vectron fast locomotives and the last 28 RegioFox barrier-free units from our suppliers. They will serve lines in Prague and in the Central Bohemia, Karlovy Vary and Hradec Králové regions. We will thus offer passengers an additional 5,376 seats on the most modern long-distance and regional trains,” explains Michal Krapinec, presenting the outlook for the renewal of the fleet this year.
But this also means the end of hundreds more older vehicles. "Thanks to these investments, more older vehicles that no longer offer the comfort our customers require will be retired from our routes. We will withdraw a number of the older vehicles popularly known as “fake leather” from regular operation, but also the 854 series diesel engines, which railway fans call Hydra or Vindobona,” adds Jiří Ješeta.
Although a substantial part of the fleet will be renewed in 2026 and most of the trains of the largest Czech carrier offer travel for people in wheelchairs and are equipped with Wi-Fi, electricity sockets and air conditioning, the modernisation of the rolling stock will continue in the following years. In 2027, ČD plans to put another 15 battery trains into service and additional tenders for the supply of hundreds of new vehicles for long-distance and regional transport are currently underway.
Author: Oddělení komunikace ČD
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