First year in Germany: Leo Express is the second largest private passenger rail carrier on the German long distance transport market

PRAGUE, August 23, 2018 – The company Leo Express entered the German tracks in cooperation with FlixTrain on August 24, 2017. On the route Berlin-Frankfurt-Stuttgart, operated jointly with FlixTrain, it operates daily, from Thursday to Sunday, even twice a day with new locomotives. 

Leo Express launched its operations in Germany in cooperation with FlixTrain on August 24, 2017 as the first ever Czech passenger railway carrier. It remains the only Czech carrier to enter the market outside of the Czech and Slovak Republics and also the second largest open-access carrier in Germany.

„Our services meet the demand for alternative, sustainable and environmentally friendly transport. Germany has a huge liberalized transport market on which we want to further develop and which we want to connect with the Czech one through the Prague-Berlin route, " says CEO of Leo Express Peter Köhler.

A month ago, Leo Express, in cooperation with FlixTrain in Germany, strengthened its fleet by two modern electric locomotives Siemens Taurus for operation in speed of 200 kilometres per hour and increased the capacity by 10 cars. At the same time, he started to operate on the Berlin-Frankfurt-Stuttgart route daily, between Thursdays and Sundays even twice a day. Leo Express continues hire drivers, guides and dispatchers.

A month ago, Leo Express became also the first private carrier in passenger rail transport which entered Polish railways to connect the Czech Republic and Poland. In the future, the company wants to connect Czech and Polish railway networks, that is way it declared to operate the international route Ex5 Prague – Bad Schandau – Berlin.

Leo Express news regarding train connections in Germany:

  • It became the second biggest open-access carrier in Germany
  • The connection Berlin-Frankfurt-Stuttgart operates daily for a month already, from Thursday to Sunday it operates even twice a day
  • It cooperates with FlixTrain on the route Berlin – Wolfsburg – Göttingen – Kessel – Fulda – Hanau - Frankfurt am Main – Darmstadt – Weinheim – Heidelberg – Vaihingen – Stuttgart. 
  • Leo Express rented two modern electric locomotives Siemens ES64-U2 to increase capacity on the route Berlin-Stuttgart for the speed of 200 kilometres per hour
  • It increased its transport capacity in Germany by 10 carriages
  • Leo Express is interested in operating the line Ex5 on the route Prague-Berlin to connect Czech and Germany

Emil Sedlařík

Leo Express spokesperson

Press release in PDF

Contact for media 

Emil Sedlařík, phone: +420 773 740 512, E-mail: [email protected]

Leo Express is a private transport company providing rail and bus passenger services in Central Europe since 2012. It operates mainly on the commercial route Prague-Ostrava, but its trains also go to Košice and Krakow. The network is complemented by bus lines to Poland and Ukraine. From December 2019, Leo Express also operates regional trains in Pardubice Region, and in December 2023 it took over regional rail transport on the busiest Slovak railway line, Bratislava–Komárno. Together with its main shareholder, the Spanish National Railways Renfe, the company plans strong growth in Central Europe in the coming years, both in commercial lines and in commitment services.

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