The national carrier Czech Railways (CD) is continuing to modernise its fleet serving long-distance domestic and international lines, having awarded the consortium of Siemens Mobility and Skoda Transportation a contract worth about 500 million euros for 20 Viaggio Comfort nine-carriage non-traction units (including control carriages).

Designed for a maximum operating speed of 230kph, the carriages will be delivered from 2024 to 2026.

Gerhard Greiter, CEO of Region North-East Europe at Siemens Mobility, said: “We are pleased that CD is once again relying on our Viaggio passenger carriages for expanding and modernising its services — and these new carriages will bear the mark of our Czech engineering department.”

Ivan Bednárik, CD’s chairman, added: “The Czech Republic is planning to increase the speed limit on its conventional rail lines to 200kph and build high-speed lines, enabling trains to run faster than the current limit of 160kph.

“This is why we must continue with our planned investments in new trains that meet the standards for vehicles operating on both conventional and high-speed networks in Central Europe. This will strengthen our long-term strategic partnerships in international transport as well as our position in long-distance transport.”

The carriages will be approved for operation in the Czech Republic and neighbouring European countries such as Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland (the interoperability of the vehicles will be ensured by meeting the respective regional specifications).

The control carriages will be equipped with an on-board unit of the European train protection system ETCS as well as national train protection systems.