ČD to run five battery trains on 550,000 train-km Pardubice contract

České dráhy will operate roughly 550,000 train-kilometres a year on secondary lines in eastern Czechia with battery-electric multiple units, under a public service contract signed with the Pardubice Region on 9 November 2026. The agreement runs until December 2034 and displaces Leo Express, which currently operates the Ústí nad Orlicí – Letohrad – Králíky – Moravský Karlov route.

The contract carries three hard technical requirements. Five BEMUs (battery-electric multiple units — trains drawing overhead power where wires exist and running on batteries beyond them) will enter service: four for the timetable, one as a spare. Speeds reach 160 km/h under the pantograph and 120 km/h in battery mode. Every unit must carry ETCS (the European Train Control System, which supersedes trackside signalling), because exclusive ETCS operation on the route begins on 1 January 2030.

How will the trains actually run?

The mechanism is straightforward. Electrified sections charge the batteries through the pantograph. On the unwired branches between Lichkov, Králíky and Moravský Karlov, the trains switch to stored energy. No charging infrastructure is specified in the contract, which keeps the capital burden on rolling stock rather than on the region's infrastructure budget.

Funding comes from TRANSGov, a Czech programme that subsidises battery-train deployment. The Pardubice Region envisages 11 subsidised BEMUs in total across future orders. Supplier selection for the first five units is expected by the end of 2026 — a tight timeline given a 2030 ETCS deadline built into the same contract.

ČD already runs battery trains elsewhere. For the signing, it brought a class 690.2 battery-electric RegioPanter borrowed from the Moravian-Silesian Region, where such units have operated since December 2024. A further 15 Škoda battery-electric units are being introduced there, with passenger services planned by March 2027.

What does the fleet renewal deliver in Hradec Králové?

In a parallel development, ČD has received the last of its PESA RegioFox class 847 diesel multiple units. The final seven units, numbered 847.060–066, reached the Trutnov depot in the Hradec Králové Region during October and early November. Their primary task is replacing class 814.2 railcars on Starkoč – Broumov services, with connections to long-distance trains toward Prague.

The numbers behind the renewal programme, launched in 2024:

• 33 two-car RegioFox DMUs (diesel multiple units) delivered to the region
• Seven electric RegioPanter units added alongside them
• Investment exceeding CZK 4 billion (about €164 million)
• Modern units now covering almost 75% of the region's train-kilometres

Each RegioFox seats 115 passengers and tops out at 120 km/h. Twin Rolls-Royce diesel engines meet Stage V emission standards. ETCS and automatic couplers are fitted as standard.

A milestone for the supplier

Completion of the Czech order lifts PESA's class 847 production to 106 units. That makes the RegioFox the Polish manufacturer's first rolling stock series to pass 100 vehicles — a production record, not a projection, and one that gives ČD a proven, standardised platform for regional diesel work even as the Pardubice contract signals the direction of travel toward battery traction.

The two strands converge on one outcome: by the time exclusive ETCS operation begins on the Králíky branches in January 2030, ČD intends to be running battery-electric units there, selected by the end of 2026 and financed largely through TRANSGov.