Arriva, one of the leading bus operators on the Czech market, is planning to launch a railway line that will connect Prague to the Slovak city of Trenčín, with stops in Olomouc, Uherské Hradiště and Vlárský priesmyk. The line will reportedly only operate on the weekends and focus on students travelers. A train will run from Prague to Trenčín on Friday afternoon and return on Sunday evening. The whole trip will take less than five hours, faster than the current bus routes.
Arriva, controlled by the German state-owned railway company Deutsche Bahn, hopes to launch the new line this summer, after it secures the necessary permits in Slovakia. Arriva’s sales director, Jiří Nálevka, told sme.sk that the new route is a pilot project and the company also plans to take part in tenders launched by the Czech Transport Ministry. Arriva has yet to win a railway tender in the Czech Republic, where it operates only a single train connection (between Šumperk and Kouty nad Desnou in the Czech Republic).
