Správa železnic is the state organisation that manages the Czech national railway network. It maintains and modernises the lines, controls train traffic, allocates capacity to operators and prepares the Czech high-speed rail programme.
Správa železnic was established on 1 January 2003 as Správa železniční dopravní cesty (SŽDC) and took its present name on 1 January 2020. It took over traffic control from České dráhy on 1 September 2011 and bought about 1,500 station buildings from the operator in 2016 for CZK 3.3bn. Tomáš Tóth, former head of ČD Cargo, has been Director General since 1 February 2026.
The network covers 9,344 km of lines, of which 3,295 km is electrified. As infrastructure manager, Správa železnic serves every passenger and freight operator on the Czech network, including České dráhy, ČD Cargo and RegioJet. It has about 17,000 employees.
The board dismissed the previous Director General, Jiří Svoboda, on 1 December 2025, after police found about CZK 80m in cash at his home during an investigation into the organisation’s contracts. He says the money is family savings.
Funding and electrification
Správa železnic is funded mainly through the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure (SFDI). The fund’s 2026 budget of CZK 169.3bn allocates CZK 72.2bn to the Czech infrastructure manager.
The government approved a draft SFDI budget for 2027 on 21 September 2026 that would raise the allocation to CZK 77.6bn. Parliament has yet to vote on it.
A plan presented in May 2026 adds 590 km of electrification by 2033, of which 235 km comes with line modernisation and 355 km as electrification alone. The plan raises the electrified share of the network to about 40%.
ETCS and train protection
ETCS-only operation began on the main corridors in January 2025 and covered 670 km in May 2026. At the end of 2025 ETCS was installed on 1,435 km of line.
A revised national plan from May 2026 gives priority to the TEN-T core lines, which carry about 90% of traffic. Lightly used lines are to receive a simpler train-stop system from the 2030s instead of full ETCS.
On 5 June 2024 a RegioJet express passed a red signal at Pardubice and hit a freight train, killing four people. A July 2026 draft report by the rail safety inspectorate Drážní inspekce names as a contributing cause a 2017 ministry directive that kept the national train protection system inactive in modernised stations until ETCS arrived.
High-speed rail programme
Správa železnic is the developer of the Czech high-speed programme, Rychlá spojení, and carries out surveys, land purchase and environmental assessment. SNCF Réseau supports the design work under an eight-year consultancy contract signed in 2021.
A revised plan sent to the government in April 2026 puts the cost at about CZK 600bn and aims to complete a core network Dresden–Ústí nad Labem–Prague–Brno–Ostrava/Břeclav by 2040. The first construction, the Moravian Gate line between Přerov and Ostrava, is planned for 2029.
The revised plan drops several sections, including Kralupy–Most and the western line from Prague to Plzeň and Bavaria. The government approved the territorial plan for the high-speed route through Prague on 17 August 2026.