The agreement, on the basis of which the Czech railway operator RegioJet operates the railway infrastructure of Ukrzaliznytsia on the Prague-Chop-Prague route, was concluded for a period of one year.

"The basis for the running of the train (Prague-Chop-Prague) on the territory of Ukraine are three separate agreements, namely an agreement for the running of a train, which is actually an agreement for the purchase of infrastructure access services, an agreement for the distribution of electricity, which provides the acquisition of services for the distribution of electricity and its supply to our locomotive, an agreement for the purchase of electricity... All agreements were concluded for a period of one year,” said RegioJet executive director Jakub Svoboda in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the last of three agreements with Ukrzaliznytsia was signed literally three days before the Prague-Chop-Prague train set off on its first trip.

Svoboda emphasized that the company would like to enter into an agreement for a longer period.

“Of course. We wanted to conclude an agreement for a longer period. We would like to use this infrastructure for as long as possible, because there are many plans to develop RegioJet’s business in Ukraine and we see many opportunities. We would like to extend the train route from Prague to Mukachevo,” he said.

He also noted that fees for using infrastructure in Ukraine are much higher than in Europe.

“If you count the cost of a train/kilometer, this is almost 10 times more expensive than in some EU countries. It was not easy for us to meet these conditions. But we really want to provide this service. We are interested in implementing the project,” said the executive director of RegioJet, declining to give specific figures due to non-disclosure conditions.

He expressed hope that in the future it will be possible to sit down at the table and discuss “fair terms of the agreement.” According to Svoboda, this is necessary because passengers ultimately pay for everything in the ticket price.

It was previously reported that from March 27, RegioJet will launch a second line to Ukraine through Slovakia to Chop in addition to the existing one through the Polish Przemysl. The route has three carriages with 140 seats, which travel as part of the Prague-Kosice train. The price for seats starts from EUR18.8 and from EUR25 for travel in sleeping cars.

JSC Ukrzaliznytsia launched special transfer train No. 345/346 Chernivtsi-Chop-Uzhgorod, which will connect with the new international route Prague-Chop.