Renfe, through its subsidiary Leo Express, has managed to win a contract to operate a 100-kilometre railway line in Slovakia. Specifically, it is the connection between Bratislava, the country’s capital, and Komárno, on the border with Hungary, which will have a 10-year exploitation contract.
The Spanish public company has thus prevailed over the Slovak state firm, ZSSK, and the private company Yosaria Trains, which also reached the final phase of the bid to which up to seven international companies applied. Leo Express thus takes over from RegioJet, its competition in the Czech Republic, which operated this connection until December 2020. When the contract expired, the authorities decided to provisionally award the operation to ZSSK, which operates the trains in cooperation with ÖBB, the Austrian public company.
The contract awarded to Leo Express has a start date of December 10, 2023 and would run until December 9, 2032. However, the local Ministry of Transport would have given the company the possibility to start operating this same month of December, so the agreement would have a duration of 10 years.
The handicap of this line is that it is not electrified, that is, for its operation it is necessary to use diesel traction trains. Leo Express will deploy, according to its own plans, modern, low-floor, air-conditioned multiple units with a capacity of more than 100 seats that could be expanded at peak times with multi-wheel drive up to 400 seats. According to industry sources, the offer has been carried out with two-car Lint 41 trains from Alstom.
The previous operator, RegioJet, operated the connection with railcars with this fuel that were subsequently replaced by the addition of locomotives and cars with identical traction.
Poland and Czech Republic
Leo Express thus adds this tour in Slovakia to its list of services. The company provides passenger transport by rail and bus in Central Europe and operates mainly on the Prague-Ostrava trade route, as well as in the Czech region of Zlín. In addition, it carries out international services between the Czech Republic and various cities in Poland, such as Krakow, and Slovakia, with Kosice. Since December 2019, it operates trains in Pardubice (Czech Republic).
Renfe acquired Leo Express as part of the company’s internationalization process, and has indicated that it represents a “strategic business opportunity”, since it allows it to operate in three more countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland) and have the means and licenses to access the German market.
This acquisition, which closed in August 2021, allows Renfe to participate in bidding procedures to operate public services in these three countries, where the synergies derived from local implementation, experience, technical team and Leo’s references can be taken advantage of. Express. In addition, a few months ago it reinforced its management team with Peter Köhler as CEO.
2.4 million passengers
In 2019, the last year before the outbreak of Covid, the company transported 2.4 million passengers and achieved a turnover of 1.3 billion CZK, that is, about 40 million euros. The expansion of its network of destinations will allow it to continue growing in this region in which the company competes face to face with public and private firms from all over the Old Continent.
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