More Trains Were Running on Time Last Year, over 2 Million Train Services

The punctuality of trains increased slightly last year. Namely, 87.6% of train services operated by České dráhy were running on time according to the usual European standards. This was a total of 2,154,326 trains out of more than 2.4 million train services monitored. The statistical figures concerning the punctuality of České dráhy’s trains do not only take into account the departure from the starting station and arrival at the destination station, but also the arrival and departure times at most stations and stops along the way. Last year, statisticians processed more than 46.5 million data records, which means an average of almost 20 time records per train.

“Last year’s timetable performance has been the second best since 2016. Compared to 2023, 0.2% more trains were running on time and this represents almost 3,000 extra trains in terms of total figures. Further improvements in railway transport punctuality depend primarily on influences which are beyond our control. České dráhy as a carrier accounted for only 12.5% of all delays last year. If we considered delays caused by the carrier alone, e.g. a fault with a locomotive or a carriage, even 98.7% of our trains would have been on time last year. The vast majority of delays are therefore outside our direct influence and yet I believe that we will improve the punctuality of our trains in the long term, last but not least thanks to the modern vehicles in which we are investing tens of billions of Czech crowns,” says Michal Krapinec, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of České dráhy.

Train delays are slightly more often caused by the rail system operator, at 18%. This was mainly due to the impact of outages and infrastructure defects. The largest share of delays, 69.5% in total, was due to other influences, including, for example, crossing of trains on single-track lines, waiting for a connection service (the second most frequent reason for train delays) so that connection links between trains could be maintained and passengers would not have to wait for tens of minutes for the next connection service, as well as delayed arrival of trains from abroad, the effects of adverse weather conditions or interventions by the integrated rescue system. In the last two cases, in particular, the biggest delays were caused by traffic operation interruptions of up to several hours due to fallen trees, landslides or activities of the work of rescue workers and investigators after accidents at level crossings or after the hitting of people who were illegally moving on the tracks.

In terms of individual months, trains were most punctual in February (91.8%), March (91.6%) and December (89.8%). Trains were least punctual in September, when the Czech Republic was hit by extensive floods, and trains had to slow down temporarily in many places for precautionary reasons or due to the railway infrastructure damage. In September, 82.8% of trains were on time. The impact of the floods and their consequences also affected timetables still in October and November.

The overall average train delay was only 2:36 minutes and the delay due to the carrier alone was only 48 seconds on average. This figure represents values not only from the destination station but also from stations and stops along the entire train route and is based on more than 46.5 million data records. Positive results were also achieved in terms of train reliability, with only 0.78% of all scheduled train services cancelled or replaced by buses. The cancellation of the vast majority of train services was also linked to the September floods and their consequences.