České dráhy (English: ''Czech Railways''), often shortened to ČD, is the major

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

operator in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

providing regional and long-distance services.

Overview

The company was established in 1993, after the

dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia ( cs, Rozdělení Československa, sk, Rozdelenie Česko-Slovenska) took effect on December 31, 1992, and was the self-determined split of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries ...

, as a successor of the Czechoslovak State Railways. It is a member of the International Railway Union (

UIC Country Code The UIC Country Code is a two digit-number identifying countries in which members of the International Union of Railways (UIC) are active. The UIC has issued numbering systems for rolling stock ( UIC wagon numbers) and stations that include the cou ...

for the Czech Republic is 54)
Community of European Railways
and the Organization for Railway Cooperation (

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

). With twenty-four thousand employeesAnnual Report of České dráhy, a.s. for the Year 2014, auditor Deloitte Audit s.r.o. ČD Group is the fifth largest Czech company by the number of employees. Until 1 July 2008, České dráhy was the biggest employer in the Czech Republic. After experiencing regular losses and requiring government subsidy, the railway reported its first ever profit in 2007 while still receiving government subsidy. Attempts to make it more efficient are currently ongoing and a recent plan to move passenger transport to an independent subsidiary was approved by the Czech government in January 2008. ČD operates trains; fixed infrastructure (such as tracks) is managed by SŽDC. In December 2010, the Czech government proposed bringing SŽDC and ČD together in a single holding company. The government has also changed the subsidy available to ČD and SŽDC. In 2014 Pavel Krtek was elected chairman of the board of directors. In 2019 the supervisory board of Czech Railways dismissed Miroslav Kupec, chairman of the board of directors, who has been in office since September 2018.

Statistics

2015

In 2015 its consolidated revenues reached CZK 33 billion.Annual Report of České dráhy, a.s. for the Year 2013, auditor Deloitte Audit s.r.o. Revenues from

passenger A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. Th ...

transport amounted to CZK 21 billion (64% transfer payments from the government, 24% intrastate transport, 12% international transport), revenues from

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...

transport operated by subsidiary ČD Cargo amounted to CZK 11 billion.

2009

* of railway lines operated by ČD, of which was electrified track and is

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

- and multiple-track,České dráhy Group Statistical Yearbook 2010, available at http://www.ceskedrahy.cz/pro-investory/financni-zpravy/statisticka-rocenka/-11024/ all of them transferred to the infrastructure operator SŽDC since. *168.8 million passengers carried *6,907 million

passenger-kilometre The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities, as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications. Transportation quantity The currently popular units ...

s *76.723 million tonnes of goods carried *13,592 million

tonne-kilometre The units of measurement in transportation describes the unit of measurement used to express various transportation quantities, as used in statistics, planning, and their related applications. Transportation quantity The currently popular units ...

History

České dráhy is the result of more than 160 years of railway history in the

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic sin ...

. Historic milestones include: *1828: first horse-drawn railway in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; german: Budweis ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 93,000 inhabitants. It is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is t ...

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

*1839: first steam-hauled railway:

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Břeclav Břeclav (; german: Lundenburg) is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 24,000 inhabitants. Administrative parts Town parts of Charvátská Nová Ves and Poštorná are administrative parts of Břeclav. Etymol ...

*1903: first

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in E ...

electrified railway track *1918: foundation of Československé státní dráhy (ČSD or CSD) (English: Czechoslovak state railways) *1991: first

EuroCity EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteri ...

(EC) trains run on ČSD railways *1993: foundation of České dráhy (ČD or CD) after breakup of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

*1993: started renovation of Pan-European railway corridors *1994: started

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

transportation ("RoLa") on ČD railways from

Lovosice Lovosice (; german: Lobositz) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. It is an industrial town. Geography Lovosice is located about southwest of Litoměřice and ...

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

(stopped in 2004) *2003: founding of České dráhy (Czech Railways), joint-stock company *2005:

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, ...

tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide ab ...

s enter regular service *2006: The liabilities of ČD Group increased from CZK 19 billion at the end of 2006 to CZK 53 billion at the end of 2015. *2007: freight transport moved into subsidiary company ČD Cargo *2008: creation of ČD Sky, an alliance between České dráhy and the airline

SkyEurope SkyEurope Airlines was a low-cost airline headquartered in Bratislava, with its main base at Bratislava Airport (BTS) in Bratislava, Slovakia, and another base in Prague. The carrier filed for bankruptcy on 31 August 2009 and suspended all fli ...

. SkyEurope, which was heavily indebted, went bust in August 2009. *2014: first "ČD Railjet" with passengers runs in the

Freight services

ČD Cargo, the cargo subsidiary, mainly transports

raw material A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feeds ...

intermediate good Intermediate goods, producer goods or semi-finished products are goods, such as partly finished goods, used as inputs in the production of other goods including final goods. A firm may make and then use intermediate goods, or make and then sell, o ...

s and

containers A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The ter ...

. As of 2009, it is ranked in the top five largest railway cargo operators in Europe.

Rolling stock

*2,726 tractive vehicles, of which 856 are electric locomotives and train-sets *27,416 freight cars *3,605 passenger cars

References

External links

Passenger servicesČD Cargo divisionActual train position
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceske Drahy Railway companies of the Czech Republic Companies based in Prague Railway companies established in 2003 Czech brands České dráhy