A Thirty-Year, 165-Billion Contract for Prague's Suburban Trains Goes to a Vote

The largest contract in the history of the Czech railway was put to elected politicians on 7 September. Central Bohemian regional councillors and Prague's city cabinet were due to approve a joint contract with České dráhy for the EMU 400 operating package — the main electrified trunk routes from Prague out to the Central Bohemian towns, awarded for thirty years. Zdopravy.cz reported the timing and the terms.

Thirty years is the number that matters here. Prague's suburban rail is the part of the integrated system the city does not itself operate, and this contract fixes who runs the busiest of it, on what vehicles, until the late 2050s. Two carriers reached the final round.

České dráhy bid 165.173 billion crowns. RegioJet bid 183.645 billion and finished second; it chose not to appeal. The estimated value of the contract when it was advertised was 142 billion. A third carrier, Arriva vlaky, submitted a preliminary bid in May 2025 but no final one. The award was decided on the price offered per kilometre.

The remaining obstacle is the trains, not the service

Approval by the two authorities does not get the contract signed. The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) is still running a case on České dráhy's own tender for the new vehicles these services will need. Škoda won that; Stadler Rail challenged the result.

First-instance decision-making in this matter is still under way, no decision has been issued. The statutory blocking period, which bars the contracting authority from signing the contract, is of course also running.

— Martin Švanda, spokesman for ÚOHS

That is the only live proceeding on EMU 400 at the antitrust office. A separate complaint, alleging that the conditions set for the carriers themselves were discriminatory, was examined and found no problem.

Four years of preparation, and a late objection

Work on the tender began in 2022 with preliminary market consultations with carriers. It was advertised in February 2025, and three carriers filed preliminary bids that May. Petr Borecký, the Central Bohemian councillor for public transport, puts the number of people who worked on it at 70.

In the days before the vote, the association Fair Rail called a press conference arguing the contract is overpriced, on the basis of comparing the advertised estimated value with the final prices. Zdopravy.cz notes that this compares two different figures: the prices quoted are after indexation by the commissioning authorities, meaning they carry estimated inflation across the whole thirty years, and that in nominal terms both carriers came in below the estimate.

That distinction is worth holding onto, because it will recur every time this number is cited. A thirty-year indexed figure and a present-value figure are not comparable, and the gap between them grows with the length of the contract rather than with anything about the bid.

What it buys

The base contract covers 60 units, with options taking it to as many as 133. The first new trains are due to enter service in December 2030 — four years after the vote, and a reminder that the rolling stock case at ÚOHS is on the critical path rather than beside it.

Rejection would not simply pause things. According to Zdopravy.cz, failure to approve would most likely mean advertising a new tender and postponing the new trains by several years, with the existing fleet covering the gap on lines that are already the busiest suburban railways in the country.