Czech railroad operator RegioJet has made its first flight on the Prague-Chop route. The night train from Prague with 120 passengers arrived at the Chop station on schedule at 10:35 Kyiv time, the press service of the railway operator reported on Thursday.
As reported, starting March 27, RegioJet is launching a second line to Ukraine via Slovakia to Chop in addition to the existing one via Poland’s Przemysl. The flight has three cars with 140 seats, which follow the Prague-Kosice train. Ticket prices range from EUR18.9 to EUR67.9 including meals.
The night train Prague – Chop departs from Prague (Czech Republic) at 21:52, from Košice (Slovakia) at 06:38 in the morning and arrives in Chop at 10:35. In the opposite direction, departure from Chop is at 17:35, from Kosice at 21:37, arriving in Prague at 05:46 the next day.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” launches a special connecting train No. 345/346 Chernivtsi – Chop – Uzhhorod, which will connect with the new international route Prague – Chop.
The connecting train No. 346 Chernivtsi – Chop – Uzhhorod will depart from Chernivtsi daily at 05:30, go through Ivano-Frankivsk (08:13-08:27), Stryi (11:20-11:50), Mukachevo (15:13-15:18), Chop (16:28-16:57), and arrive in Uzhhorod at 17:20. In the opposite direction, departure from Uzhhorod is at 11:05, followed by Chop (11:28-12:03), Mukachevo (13:00-13:10), Stryi (16:15-16:40), Ivano-Frankivsk (19:22-19:27), arriving in Chernivtsi at 21:32.
Train stops are provided at the stations Batyovo, Karpaty, Svalyava, Volovets, Slavske, Skole, Morshyn, Bolekhiv, Dolyna, Rozhnyativ, Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kolomyia.
The largest private railway passenger carrier in Central Europe Czech RegioJet in partnership with Ukrzaliznytsia plans to launch in 2023 a flight Prague-Chop, and in 2024 two flights to Germany – Kiev-Berlin and Kiev-Hanover via Leipzig and Dresden, said the owner of RegioJet Radim Jančura in an interview for “Forbes Ukraine”.
“Historically, the train from Kiev to Berlin ran until 2012 and was very successful. But the German railroad at one time imposed commercial conditions that increased the cost of the train on the territory of Germany. It made the route unprofitable and the trip was closed,” – he said.
The RegioJet head said the company has optimistic expectations for this project, as many more Ukrainians travel to Germany than to the Czech Republic.
Yanchura also underlined that RegioJet has a different business model from the state operators, so UZ will not have to share the revenues with the Polish and German railroads.
Speaking about the flight to Chop, the RegioJet head noted that the company has the largest share of transportation on the popular route Prague-Kosice.
“We would like to continue this route to the Ukrainian city of Chop in Transcarpathian region, and in the future to Mukachevo,” Jančura said.
According to him, the company now agrees with “Ukrzaliznytsia” schedules and conditions, so we plan to run a new train to Chop during 2023.
Yanchura added that launching a train to Mukachevo is more difficult.
“The main obstacle is the Chop-Mukachevo track section is not electrified: it used to have a contact network, but later part of it was dismantled,” the RegioJet owner noted and added: – We are ready to electrify this section at our own expense.
The head of RegioJet did not name the cost and timing of the project. According to him, they will be known after the Ukrainian authorities and UZ will approve the technical audit and determine the scope of work.
According to him, after Ukraine joins the EU, RegioJet will be able to operate trains itself in Ukraine, having received a license.
“This is how we work in all countries of the European Union. In the EU, anyone can get access to the railway infrastructure by paying a fixed tariff,” Yanchura explained.
The RegioJet owner noted that the company relies on residents of small towns rather than the population of large cities with well-developed airports.
In addition, according to Yanchura, the company is working on the possibility of RegioJet trains, still following only to the Polish Peremyshl, to the Ukrainian border station “Mostiska-2” and plans to implement this project by the end of 2023.
“For this purpose it is necessary to complete the passenger platform and the pedestrian bridge. We are ready to build it at our own expense, “- said the owner of the company.
He also said that he is ready to buy in Ukraine passenger railway cars in large quantities, but their price should be up to $ 1 million per piece.
RegioJet is the second biggest bus carrier in Europe after Flixbus and the biggest private railway passenger carrier in Central Europe. The company has licenses to operate in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Austria and Poland. Last year, RegioJet carried 11 million passengers.
