The Czech Ministry of Transport has announced that exclusive operation under the European Train Control System (ETCS) will begin on 1st January 2025. Testing of ETCS on the 29 km long Olomouc – Unicov railway line began in November 2022, but problems arose in communication between the trackside and on-board ETCS systems. The railway industry now has one year to rectify the problems. To date, 903 km of Czech lines and 639 railway vehicles are equipped with ETCS. ETCS is to be gradually installed on 4,600 km of track by 2030. The authorities estimate that an investment of €2 billion will be required for this phase. In addition, the operators have invested €128 million in equipping the trains and a further €640.7 million are required to equip more trains by 2030. According to the plan published by the Czech government, ETCS will be installed on a further 4,000 km of railway lines by 2040, meaning that the entire Czech railway network will be equipped with ETCS.
