Since the beginning of August, railway companies have been obliged to use the European Train Control System (ETCS) on lines equipped with this system, provided they have the necessary on-board equipment and trained train drivers.
Transport Minister Martin Kupka emphasized the advantages of the new system: “Compared to national signaling, ETCS will provide an incomparably higher level of safety on our railways. We will start operations on 620 kilometers of track within four weeks in January 2025. The gradual introduction will allow us to increase resilience to potential complications, meaning that a partial problem will not or cannot jeopardize the entire system.”
Hundreds of vehicles will be equipped with ETCS, and more than a thousand drivers will be trained. Train operations are managed by almost five hundred dispatchers from the two dispatching centers in Prague and Přerov.
Jiří Svoboda, General Director of the Railway Administration, explains the commissioning schedule: “From January 1, 2025, ETCS will be used exclusively on the Česká Třebová – Olomouc – Dluhonice – Prosenice/Přerov section. A week later, from January 8, the Břeclav – Bohumín route will be added. The Česká Třebová – Adamov and Modřice – Břeclav sections will then follow from January 15. The Prague-Běchovice – Pardubice – Česká Třebová section will be added from January 22.”
A total of 622 kilometers of track will be equipped with ETCS in January, which is twenty times the current level. Fifty thousand trains will cover four million so-called train kilometers per month, which is seventy times the current level.
According to Jiří Kolář, Director of the Railway Office, 1,153 vehicles are currently equipped for operation on lines under ETCS, of which 811 vehicles belong to Czech carriers and 342 vehicles to foreign carriers. Additionally, 1,850 train drivers are trained to drive under ETCS signaling.
From 2018 to 2024, transport companies received a total of CZK 7.2 billion to equip the on-board part of the ETCS. This includes 67 projects with 1,227 vehicles. The national implementation plan was approved in 2017, including informing transport companies about the start of exclusive operation. The first route to be operated exclusively with ETCS has been the Olomouc – Uničov route since 2023. By 2030, ETCS should be in operation on around 5,200 km of the Czech Republic’s rail network.
