National Railway Day to Take Place in Bohumín on Saturday, September 23

The twenty-third day of September will be the National Railway Day. The celebration of this holiday will take place in Bohumín this year and its visitors will have a lot to look forward to. They will have an opportunity of getting familiar with the railway history and at the same time they will see the state-of-the-art railway technology. There will also be an accompanying programme, a large part of which will take place right in the centre of the Silesian town. The highlights of the celebrations will consist of nostalgic rides and the night light show, which will include a live orchestra this time.

“I would like to invite all lovers of trains and the events around them to the National Railway Day, which will take place in Bohumín this year. Visitors can look forward to a number of historical trains, as well as the most modern rolling stock. One of the highlights of the celebrations will be the night show, where the greatest railway jewels will be presented in the light of spotlights and lasers,” describes Michal Krapinec, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of České dráhy.

The National Railway Day will take place in the Bohumín depot area. Shuttle transport between Bohumín, Ostrava and Karviná will be provided throughout the day. A rich programme will also take place for all the day on T. G. Masaryk Square in Bohumín, where visitors can see a multi-instrumentalist, an illustrator's show, hear an author's reading or listen to lots of songs intended for children and adults. At 6 p.m., Janek Ledecký will perform on the square.

More than ten nostalgic rides will await visitors coming to the National Railway Day. The electric unit known as Žabotlam (Frogmouth) will run from Šumperk to Bohumín. The steam locomotive called Šlechtična (Noblewoman) will come from Ostrava. The steam locomotives known as Rosnička (Tree Frog), Šlechtična, Papoušek (Parrot) or Skaličák will travel with the historical Ce series carriages seven times during the day from Bohumín to Petrovice u Karviné and back. Special trains headed by the diesel locomotives known as Bardotka, Sergej, Brejlovec and Pilštyk will then make a round tour from Bohumín along the mine sidings. The timetable of the nostalgic trains can be found by interested visitors on the website www.denzeleznice.cz.

The actual Bohumín depot area will be divided into three worlds and there will be also guided tours of the exhibits on the turntable. These guided tours will take place three times – at 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 hours.

The World of History

It will offer a presentation of the most beautiful historical steam, diesel and electric locomotives. Visitors will be able to see almost twenty of them, including Šlechtična, Rosnička, Papoušek, Hektor, Sergej, Věžák, Bobina or the electric pantograph unit known as Žabotlam.

The World of Change

It will present the modern rolling stock of České dráhy, as well as the rolling stock of its subsidiaries or cooperating carriers. Several highly modern vehicles will be on display at the Bohumín railway station, such as the latest RegioFox from the Poland-based company PESA or the three-car electric unit “RegioPanter” from the Škoda Group. Visitors will also be able to see such locomotives as Traxx DC3, Siemens Vectron, E4DCU Newag Griffin from PKP and many others.

The World of Fun

Traditionally, it will offer a rich accompanying programme for families with children. Visitors will find there a wide range of fun and playful activities including a bouncy castle, creative workshops and face painting. They will also meet the mascot there, known as Elfie the Elephant. This year, there will be a unique opportunity to try out a hand carriage again. The exhibition will include also a presentation of firefighting equipment of Správa železnic (Railway Administration) and demonstrations of their work, such as emergency medical aid interventions.

The beginning of the programme on the square is scheduled at 8 a.m., the whole depot area will then open at 9 a.m. and the end of this programme there is scheduled for 5 p.m. The imaginary culmination of Saturday's railway holiday will then be a night show.

Night light show

Saturday evening will belong to an exclusive light show full of historical railway jewels. This event will start at the turntable at 8 p.m., offering more than ten historical exhibits in customised stage lighting and this time also with live musical accompaniment provided by an orchestra. The show will be accompanied by a commentary introducing each exhibit, and a number of interesting facts will be presented on this occasion.

Admission to the National Railway Day is CZK 150 for adults, CZK 50 for children aged 6 to 15, children under 6 have free entrance. Visitors can also purchase a family admission (2 + 2) for CZK 300. The entrance fee to the night show amounts to CZK 300.

Tickets for the nostalgic rides and National Railway Day 2023 can be purchased in the ČD E-shop.

Transport

We recommend the use of regular ČD connections. On Saturday, September 23, 2023, the SC 241 Pendolino Košičan train service will make a special stop at the Bohumín railway station, departing at 6:00 a.m. from Praha hl.n. and arriving at 9:22 a.m. at the Bohumín railway station. Tickets can be purchased at ČD ticket offices or online in the ČD E-shop.

You can also take advantage of the special discount Vlak+ Den železnice 2023 (Train+ Railway Day 2023). If passengers buy a ticket for the direction to Bohumín and back from Bohumín at the same time, they will receive a 50% discount on the price of a ticket for the return direction. The return ticket must be activated by confirming participation in the National Railway Day by scanning the QR code through the My Train application. The code will be available in the information points throughout the event.

When travelling by car, visitors are kindly requested to use the collection parking areas in the immediate vicinity of the Bohumín depot facility in the parking area at the track system. The city of Bohumín offers other parking areas, for example near 9th May Street. A shuttle bus service will be operating from the Bohumín railway station to the THÚ (technical and hygienic maintenance) hall and back.

Why is the Railway Day celebrated?

The Railway Day is celebrated annually during September to commemorate the famous day of 27 September 1825 when the train of George Stephenson, inventor of the steam locomotive, set out on its first journey. This train linked Stockton and Darlington in Great Britain.

A detailed programme and a list of special rides on the occasion of the National Railway Day in Bohumín are available on the www.denzeleznice.cz website and on the Vlakem na výlet (Train Trip) portal.