There are two direct flights a day from the Old Town to Prague and two connections in the opposite direction. For the inhabitants of the Zlín Region, especially the Uherské Hradiště region, this will give the possibility of a direct train connection to the capital. It will be an outage that will not be just replaceable and the inhabitants will miss it, said the mayor of Uherské Hradiště Stanislav Blaha (ODS). Czech Railways also offers a direct connection from the region to Prague.

Leo Express spokesman Emil Sedlařík said today that the reason for the cancellation of connections was the switchover of the traction system between Nedakonice-Říkovice stations to alternating current by the Railway Administration. “For this reason, our current units cannot be on the project line and will head to the Ostrava region from the Přerov station. We are currently working on several variants of the transfer solution, which could, after switching, maintain the connection to and from the Zlín Region, “said Sedlařík. According to him, hundreds of passengers use the connections every day.

“We will deploy free train capacities on the Prague-Bohumín route, which will be strengthened by two pairs of connections in the Prague-Bohumín direction and two pairs of connections in the Bohumín-Prague direction. The connection tickets will be on sale this week, “said Leo Express.

From the southern part of the Zlín Region, passengers can get a direct connection to Prague with Czech Railways. On weekdays, the Slovácko Express travels seven times in both directions, the journey from the Old Town to Prague takes about three hours and 50 minutes according to the timetables. “The connection capacity is determined on the basis of an order from the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic. We are continuously monitoring the occupancy of Slovácké Express and in the long-term exhaustion of train capacity and training needs, we will discuss the addition of additional cars with the train orderer, “said Petr Šťáhlavský, spokesman for Czech Railways. According to him, the Slovácko Express is made up of modern air-conditioned cars, passengers can choose between cars with classic compartments and large cars.

According to Šťáhlavský, switching the traction system in the section between Nedakonice in the Uherské Hradiště region and Říkovice in the Přerov region does not mean any complication from the operational point of view, according to Šťáhlavský. “We have prepared for the change in advance and Slovácké Express is transported by the most modern multi-system Siemens Vectron electric locomotives, which are also a modern ETCS system. Other connections, such as EuroCity from Poland to Austria and Hungary, Moravan express trains and regional connections were operated by multi-system locomotives and units in the past as well, ”said Šťáhlavský.

Leo Express will cover the route from the Old Town to Prague in about three and a half hours. “The connections operated by Leo Express were very popular. I think the trains were always full. They were popular because they drove fast, at the same time they had quality on-board service. It was the only alternative to Czech Railways connections, “said Blaha.

The cancellation of Leo Express connections will also affect the inhabitants of the regional Zlín, who could have joined or disembarked in neighboring Otrokovice. Czech Railways offers only one direct connection from Zlín to Prague, the Zlín Express, where it is possible to go back to the capital early in the morning and in the evening. In other cases, passengers must transfer in Otrokovice. In the case of RegioJet, a passenger who wants to use train transport must first take a bus from Zlín to Olomouc, where he will change to a train to Prague.