The R17 Line Is Suffering from a Shortage of Carriages, České dráhy Has Upgraded Their Maintenance and Now Maintains Carriages in Plzeň and Cheb as Well

For several weeks now, the R17 Vltava / Lužnice / Silva Nortica line from Prague to České Budějovice, České Velenice and Vienna has been suffering from a shortage of carriages. This leads to the deployment of replacement carriages or shortening of the train sets. České dráhy has taken measures to increase the availability of its fast train carriages as the unfavourable situation has arisen, and the current development is slowly improving.

“We would like to apologise to our passengers on trains on the R 17 line from Prague to South Bohemia that in recent weeks they have had to deal more frequently with cases of deployment of replacement carriages or shortening of the train sets due to their malfunctions. This situation has multiple causes, from the long-standing problems of our suppliers in the field of major renewals of carriages who are not able to meet repair deadlines, to the shortage of employees in the technical labour market, now still worsened due to the high incidence of respiratory diseases which have hit all employers since December last year, to the repeated winter calamities in December and January caused by heavy snowfalls and frosts. On the top of this development, five of our best carriages had to be taken out of operation on trains to České Budějovice due to the cracked catenary line insulator on 29 December 2023 in the Tábor region. The carriages were damaged so much that they required extensive repairs and only one of them has returned to service so far,” says Jiří Ješeta, Member of the Board of Directors and Deputy Director General for Passenger Transport.

“Due to the larger number of carriages put aside at the České Budějovice railway station, we took measures as early as December, but due to some of the reasons already mentioned above, the situation has only gradually improved in recent days,” adds Michal Kraus, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Deputy Director General for Servicing, and lists particular measures which České dráhy has taken to improve the situation: “We are carrying out major repairs of the Budějovice RegioPanter units in Plzeň so that the Budějovice workplace can deal intensively with repairs of the fast train carriages to a greater extent and so that such carriages can return to service more quickly. The higher sickness rate and reduced capacity of the repair shop were then solved by moving a part of the repairs of passenger carriages to Plzeň and Cheb, where more capacity for repairs was available. At the same time, we have introduced a new system of periodical maintenance of complete train sets, including extended night shifts, at the Plzeň site, thus creating more space for maintenance of passenger carriages not only from the Ex7 and R 17 lines. Last but not least, we have transferred six 2nd class carriages from Plzeň to České Budějovice to increase the backup stock of fast train carriages there.”

The measures adopted have had a positive effect on the condition of the fast train carriages, and the number of missing vehicles has significantly decreased. At the time of the most serious situation, up to 20 carriages were missing at any one time, but this number has now fallen to around a third and the measures are intended to further reduce this unpleasant deficit of carriages.

The situation in the area of the fast train carriages has been tense for a long time. One of the most frequent causes is the long-standing overrun of regularly scheduled carriage renewal deadlines at the plants of external suppliers. Last year, the duration of an average carriage repair rose from 35 to 48 days. A similarly unfavourable trend is also evident in the timeframes for remedying warranty defects after upgrades. Another serious problem is also the shortage of people interested in working in the technical branches involved in train maintenance. That is why České dráhy tries to attract and recruit new employees even from remote regions and to offer them interesting bonuses. 

Large investments in vehicle renewal projects and modernisation of maintenance facilities will also contribute to improvement of the situation in the field of fast train carriages. This year, 64 ComfortJet units will be put into operation, and after the completion of the entire contract, the rolling stock of České dráhy will expand by a total of 180 modern carriages. There are also plans to invest in a new multiple unit and carriage maintenance hall in České Budějovice. It will be one of the most modern workplaces equipped with the state-of-the-art technology for comprehensive maintenance of modern trains.