CROSS-BORDER: Czech open-access operator Leo Express will stop running its train between Frankfurt and Przemyśl in Poland after just over three months, citing construction work on the German network. The last departure is due on 4 October, and the line will not return this year.
Leo Express spokesman Emil Sedlařík confirmed the suspension to Czech transport news site Zdopravy.cz on 3 October. Business daily Hospodářské noviny first reported it on 2 October, citing chief executive Peter Köhler as saying the decision was linked to problems on German infrastructure. The final return service is due to run on 5 October, the paper said.
The roughly 1,300 km line ran from Frankfurt Airport via Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, Ostrava and Kraków to Przemyśl near the Ukrainian border. Leo Express is negotiating with Deutsche Bahn over future train paths, the spokesman said, and has given no date for a return. Passengers holding tickets for later dates will be compensated.
Closures announced at launch
“Running practically every day with a different timetable, with closures, diversions and diversions of diversions, is unsustainable,” the spokesman told the news site.
When the line opened on 25 June, Leo Express said extensive closures in Germany would affect timings and the stations served throughout the summer and autumn. The operator said at the time that it had received the final version of its temporary timetable only shortly before launch.
Trains initially ran only between Frankfurt and Bohumín on the Czech–Polish border, with buses onward to Przemyśl pending an economic equilibrium test in Poland. On the first day, about 20 seats were booked on the train beyond Děčín, the last Czech stop, according to the operator’s booking system, the news site reported.
When ticket sales opened in December 2025, Leo Express scheduled the journey between Przemyśl and Frankfurt Airport at about 18 hours. The timetable for through trains from 31 July had grown to more than 19 hours westbound and more than 20 hours eastbound, with three former DB coaches, one of them a couchette car.
Munich service due in December
Leo Express is due to start its Prague–Pilsen–Regensburg–Munich service on 13 December, under a contract it won against Czech Railways in a tender run by the Czech Ministry of Transport. Beyond the border, the service is to be run in cooperation with a German operator under contract with Bavaria, according to Leo Express.
The operator has not said whether the Frankfurt suspension affects its plans for Munich.