Rail travel in Czechia has seen some of the most radical change over the last decade or so. The national carrier České dráhy now faces competition from a number of “open-access” operators, one of whom is Leo Express.
Leo Express operate a number of services from the Czech capital Prague, to cities across Czechia, Slovakia and Poland providing an alternative form of rail travel, as well as connecting with their bus network at several stations on their network.
I decided to use their 2300 service from Prague to the town of Kolin, approximately 60 kilometres from the Czech capital to see how they compare to the competition on comfort, price, reliability and value.
Understanding Ticketing
Ticketing on the Czech rail network can be confusing, as several regions have their own special tariffs for public transport, thus making a comparison a challenge.
For this particular journey, Prague Integrated Transport (PID) tickets would not have been valid, unlike České dráhy.
As a result, tickets were purchased using the Leo Express app just ten minutes before departure. Ticket prices are demand driven, and a reservation is compulsory on this service, meaning no standing passengers.
This particular train had just six passengers, and as a result, tickets were just £1.70 for this journey, however, they can range between £1.70 and £10 depending on the demand for a particular journey.
The Journey
One of the biggest advantages with Leo Express is all of their trains use the same platform at Prague, that being Platform 1b, however, this platform is exposed to the elements, an issue in the rain or snow.
Upon arriving at the platform our train was still being cleaned from its previous journey, and boarding did not begin until a couple of minutes before departure, a non-issue on this journey thanks to the lack of passengers.
When boarding a member of staff was greeting each passenger, on some services this is where the staff check tickets, but this was not the case for this journey.
A quirk of the Stadler trains used is that the middle carriage does not have a door for boarding, to confuse things further, the carriages are not numbered in any sort of logical pattern.
As the above diagram shows, carriage A is at the front, with D being behind it, with B at the back. It confuses most people when the train arrives, so if you are booking check and remember where your carriage is located.
One major advantage compared to the UK is these trains are 100% level boarding, meaning bags, wheelchairs and prams can board easily from the platform without the need for assistance from staff, something that cannot be said for other Czech operators.
Seats onboard are a mix of airline style and four seats around a table, and are laid out in a 2-2 formation.
This was not my first time travelling with Leo Express, but I still find the seats to be excellent in terms of legroom and comfort, and as this train was not busy there was plenty of room to spread out.
Onboard service started after the trains second stop at Praha-Libeň. As some areas of this train have steps inside it is impossible for the staff to move a trolley along the train, instead, they will come to you and ask if you would like to purchase anything from the onboard menu.
Alongside the menu, Leo Express also have their own magazine (Magazin is Magazine in Czech), which features destinations across their network with articles in both Czech and English.
A complementary bottle of water was also given out to all passengers, a nice touch, especially on such a cheap ticket.
Interestingly, no ticket checks were carried out onboard, however, due to the need for a reservation the onboard staff know how many passengers they should have onboard, so I imagine they would only have checked tickets should the headcount not have matched expectations.
Our arrival into Kolin was punctual, however, this train was taking a diversionary route and as a result used Platform 4 rather than Platform 2, this saved me changing platforms so I wasn’t going to complain!
My Final Thoughts
On this journey, and my previous ones as well I have always found Leo Express to deliver a very polished service. The staff have always been fantastic, and I have never had any significant delay with them.
I do find their ticket prices can get on the high side sometimes, however, during the hot Czech summers I am willing to pay a bit more for a train where I know I am getting a seat and air-conditioning, something not always guaranteed with other carrriers.
I would use this service again in a heartbeat and would have no issues recommending Leo Express to anybody travelling by train to or from Prague. Personally I wish to see the company follow through on its plans for a train from Slovakia to Belgium and hope we hear more news on that soon.
George Nugent Travels 