The Coaches for Prague–Munich Go Out to Tender Five Years Before They Run

The trains that will carry passengers between Prague and Munich from 2031 are being ordered now. Zdopravy.cz reported on 3 September that Netinera has launched a tender for the supply of new coaches to meet the requirements of the Czech Ministry of Transport and the Bavarian public transport authority Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft (BEG), with the notice published in the European tenders journal.

The competition is a joint one, run for two operators — České dráhy and Die Länderbahn — who agreed that Netinera, the owner of Die Länderbahn, would front and organise it. The vehicle tender is multi-round, and interested parties have until 14 September to submit a request to participate.

That is the tell in this story. Ordering the rolling stock is a signal about the operator contest that has not been decided yet: the same two companies that ran the Bavarian express together intend to bid together again.

Two competitions, running against each other

BEG and the Czech ministry launched the operator tender in February this year. The deadline for requests to participate has already passed and BEG declined to say how many applicants came forward, according to Zdopravy.cz. A winner should be known, the outlet reports, probably still this year; service under that contract starts in December 2031.

This is the second attempt at awarding the line. The first ended in failure because the prices offered were too high — which is the context for the vehicle specification, since the conditions are what made the bids expensive in the first place.

The requirements are specific. Each train must offer at least 500 seats, considerably more than today. The coaches must be new, with air conditioning and wi-fi. The locomotives may be second-hand, but they must be hybrid: capable of handling the different electrification systems in Czechia and Germany, and of running away from the wires altogether, on either diesel or batteries. That last condition is the demanding one — a locomotive that has to work under two supply systems and then without either is a narrower market than a locomotive that does not.

Prague loses one operator this December and picks another in five years

The line changes hands twice inside this decade. České dráhy disappears from it in December, when Leo Express takes over operation on Czech territory after a Ministry of Transport tender. From December 2031, the whole route passes to whoever wins the international competition — which may be České dráhy again, in partnership with Die Länderbahn, on the evidence of this vehicle tender.

For Prague the practical stake is capacity. A guaranteed 500 seats a train, air conditioning and wi-fi are a floor set in a contract rather than left to an operator's judgement, which is what a public service obligation is for. Whether that floor can be bought at an acceptable price is the question the first, abandoned attempt already answered once in the negative.

The immediate milestone is short: 14 September, when the manufacturers say whether they want to be in the running at all. Everything after that — the shortlist, the bids, the operator award expected before the end of the year — sets the terms of a service that will not carry a passenger until the December timetable change of 2031.