Leo Express cuts most long-distance trains from December
CZECHIA: Leo Express will cut services on almost all its long-distance routes from 13 December, with Prague–Ostrava falling from seven or eight return trains a day to two or three. The open-access operator calls the new timetable a first phase and plans to add trains during 2027.
According to Czech transport news site Zdopravy.cz, Prague–Bratislava drops to one train a day, Prague–Prešov to four return trains a week and Prague–Warsaw to one return train.
On Prague–Ostrava, Leo Express competes with state operator Czech Railways and with RegioJet. From December, the two will run almost all the long-distance trains on the line.
Leo Express links the cuts to a delay in converting its Stadler Flirt electric units for dual-system operation and to work on RIC coaches bought from Deutsche Bahn.
The Prague–Munich trains it is contracted to run from 13 December are not yet in its timetable or booking system.
Finland’s new state train owner orders 21 more Stadler trains
FINLAND: RailStock Finland, the state company that owns the trains for Finland’s publicly funded passenger services, has ordered 21 more Flirt electric trains from Stadler. It exercised an option in a contract signed by operator VR in 2022, bringing the order to 41 trains.
All 41 trains are due in service by 2030, and an option for 29 more remains open until 2036. Stadler did not disclose the value of the order.
In March 2026, RailStock bought VR’s rolling stock for the contracted services, and the Stadler contract went with it.
RailStock owns the trains and leases them out, so the fleet stays with the state whichever operator runs the publicly funded services.
Customs debts could bankrupt Polish rail operators
POLAND: Polish rail freight operators could be driven into bankruptcy by customs debts on China–EU containers they carried, the Office of Rail Transport (UTK) has warned. The regulator’s president plans to ask the infrastructure and finance ministers for a rapid analysis.
Customs authorities treat the operators as jointly liable for duty on goods that others undervalued or misdeclared. The misdeclarations came to light in investigations by OLAF, the EU’s anti-fraud office.
A single container can trigger more than PLN 367,000 in duty and PLN 163,000 in VAT, according to the business site Rynek Infrastruktury. One company with 54 containers owes more than twice the value of its assets.
The liability threatens operations at the Małaszewicze dry port on the Belarusian border, which handles the main flow of rail freight from China.
Army hands SBB Cargo CHF 60m freight contract without tender
SWITZERLAND: The Federal Office for Defence Procurement (Armasuisse) has awarded SBB Cargo army transport work worth about CHF 60m without a public tender. It says most of the work needs a nationwide wagonload network, and that only SBB Cargo has one.
The remaining 40% of the work is block trains, wagon hire and equipment sales, for which several providers compete, according to an NZZ report cited by Blick.
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