Private operator Leo Express will start operating a Prague–Munich international service from December after winning a five-year Czech government contract for the route, in what marks another step in the operator’s cross-border expansion under Spain’s state-backed rail company Renfe.
The Czech Ministry of Transport has awarded Leo Express the EX36 contract covering the Czech section of the 439-kilometre Prague–Pilsen–Munich corridor. The operator said it had submitted the best offer in the tender, with a bid of 427 million Czech crowns (€17.2m) over the five-year term.
Under the contract, Leo Express is due to run eight daily connections on the route, giving the service a two-hourly frequency from the December 2026 timetable change.
Although the contract applies only to the Czech part of the corridor, the trains will continue across the border to Munich through a partnership with a German transport company contracted by the Bavarian state authorities.
Leo Express, in which Renfe Proyectos Internacionales acquired a stake in 2021, said the award would further strengthen its international footprint, with the Prague–Munich operation set to become Leo’s second venture into the German market.
That expansion is already underway. In June, Leo Express is set to launch a new commercial service linking Przemyśl, near the Ukrainian border in Poland, with Krakow and Prague, before continuing to German cities including Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt and Frankfurt Airport.
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