Jančura will put a locomotive from China into operation

You can also listen to the interview in the audio version.

Around 15 percent of people have still not returned to public transport after covid. Entrepreneur Radim Jančura’s company RegioJet nevertheless reports a successful year – EBITDA, i.e. profit before taxes and depreciation, rose to 700 million crowns – 200 million more than in 2019.

“Covid is still not completely forgotten, those two years have left their mark on people’s behavior and they are slowly returning to traffic. However, the past year was good – we are also better off in terms of turnover than in 2019. However, it is not that the year itself was better, but it is due to the fact that we have launched a large number of new lines since then, which results influenced,” says Radim Jančura in the program Agenda SZ Byznys, adding that he expects further stabilization and the return of more people to public transport this year.

Right from the end of the year, the prices of this carrier rose again, albeit subtly. “The price had to go up by 10 to 15 percent, and I think it has already happened. Since carriers on long-distance lines have a lot of dynamic prices, people often don’t even notice it,” says Jančura, adding that energy makes up 30 percent of costs in transport, and this year the company is paying twice as much as last year.

Despite this increase in price, according to Jančura, the price of public transport in the Czech Republic is low. “We are cheaper than Poland, Germany or Austria – even Slovaks had more expensive public transport. So I don’t see it as a problem yet. It would be worse if we had to raise prices like this every year. What the passengers would not pay for in the tickets, the state would pay for subsidized transport. 90 percent of all public transport in the Czech Republic is subsidized transport ordered by the region or the ministry,” adds Jančura.

It is precisely with subsidized trains that RegioJet connects its future. “We travel between Prague, Brno, Bratislava and Vienna without subsidies. Our competition, which is subsidized, has half of it paid for by public money on the same route,” adds Jančura, adding that tenders are the company’s future.

This year, however, the company faced problems on the subsidized lines. On the R8 line between Brno and Bohumín, for example, passengers complained about shortened and overcrowded trains, and the ministry therefore resorted to fines. The same complaints were also heard on the R23 line from Ústí nad Labem to Kolín.

“I think it’s a little better now. There were complaints in the summer, when deliveries of parts from abroad were delayed. I believe that it will be better, but I know that the Czech Railways also have similar problems. They are afraid that they have few cars for the summer precisely because the parts are delayed,” says Jančura, adding that he is also afraid of the summer for these reasons. “That’s why I said there won’t be another line until we stabilize,” he adds.

The company also cooperates with the French multinational company Alstom, which operates worldwide in the rail transport market.

“We have a contract with Alstom for 140 locomotives, we want to use them, but they are angry with us. Hopefully we will find a way together,” says Jančura, adding that if Alstom is not reliable in terms of timely deliveries, the largest Chinese CRRC manufacturer will come next.

“I probably wouldn’t buy a bus from China, but I’m not really worried about the train. I would say that they may have the upper hand in these technologies,” he adds, adding that Chinese trains must meet strict European standards and this certification takes about two to three years. “As soon as the manufacturer goes through this, they can go to the rails. We will now operate Chinese trains on a trial basis. We are preparing a test operation and we will see what the quality will be,” he adds, adding that he does not want to give further details, but negotiations with the Chinese side are ongoing.

“Once the Chinese homologate, they will be able to supply huge quantities immediately. No factory in Europe can do that,” adds Jančura, adding that the price is lower compared to other manufacturers.

At the moment, the company only has 111 buses, with which Radim Jančura started in transport. Although he is now planning to buy twenty new ones, but according to Radim Jančura, this business is already in the background.

“Our main competitor is no longer FlixBus, but yellow trains. Where we release the yellow trains, we leave the buses alone and then withdraw them. So we withdrew from many lines because of the yellow trains,” he adds.