Leo Express trains to be equipped with additional traction system
Dualisation worth €16 million will be carried out by Stadler
Prague, January 27, 2025 - Thanks to an investment of €16 million and the so-called dualisation, the Leo Express commercial trains will be able to use the traction system not only for direct current, but also for alternating current. Leo Express received a subsidy of about 40% from the Ministry of Transport for the conversion of the trains. Stadler won the tender for the implementation of the dualisation, i.e. enabling the train to use both DC and AC traction electricity.
"Thanks to dualisation, the Leo Express trains will be able to operate on both alternating current and direct current, enabling us to expand our services. The Ministry of Transport has awarded us a subsidy covering approximately 40% of the €16 million investment, for which we are very grateful. Furthermore, we received the highest rating among all applications submitted in the subsidy call," says Peter Köhler, CEO of Leo Express.
Within the framework of the Operational Programme Transport 2021-2027 (OPD3), the company received a subsidy from the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic for the conversion of Stadler Flirt train units to operate on the alternating current traction system. The planned modifications will allow the operator to continue operations on the Prague – Ostrava route after the planned change in the power supply system.
Stadler won the tender for the implementation of dualisation, i.e. the ability of the train to use both DC and AC traction power. The company is also the manufacturer of the Flirt trains used by Leo Express on commercial routes between Prague and Ostrava and on to Poland and Slovakia. A significant number of Czech suppliers, such as AŽD Praha or VUZ Velim, will be involved in the execution of the contract.
Contact for media
Emil Sedlařík, phone: +420 773 740 512, e-mail: [email protected]
Leo Express is a private transport operator that has been providing rail and bus passenger services in Central Europe since 2012. In the Czech Republic, it primarily operates on the commercial route Prague – Olomouc – Ostrava, with selected train services continuing to Prešov in Slovakia or Kraków in Poland. The network is complemented by bus connections to Ukraine, which link with train services. Since December 2019, Leo Express has also operated regional trains in the Pardubice region in the Czech Republic, and in December 2023, the company took over regional rail services on the busiest Slovak line, Bratislava – Komárno. The company already has experience in the German market, where it operated train services between Berlin and Stuttgart from 2017 to 2020. For 2026, new connections are planned from Prague via Olomouc to Bratislava, from Kraków to Warsaw, as well as from Przemyśl via Kraków and Prague to Frankfurt and Frankfurt Airport. Together with its main shareholder, the Spanish state railways Renfe, it plans strong growth in Europe in the coming years, both in commercial routes and in public service obligations.
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