“I once saw a movie, Murder on the Orient Express. It took place on a night train and since then I wanted to try similar travel,” he answers when asked why Adam Štrunc decided to go on holiday to Croatia by train. Together with his girlfriend, they occupied one of the lounger compartments of the very first connection, which has been broadcast on the Adriatic coast since the end of June by the Czech private carrier RegioJet.
The attention that RegioJet has secured from the departure of the first connection from Prague’s main railway station to Rijeka in Croatia is truly remarkable. Diplomats and journalists came to the station hall, and groups of curious people also appeared on the platform. They wanted to see what traveling by train looks like, which promises to bring people in a few hundred crowns and 15 hours to the Adriatic in spite of the coronavirus pandemic.
Strunc with his girlfriend and almost 500 other passengers of the first connection were lucky that they managed to get seats. There is a huge interest among Czech customers in the trains that Radim Jančura, the owner of RegioJet, describes as a “typical crown product”. In about 14 days, 30,000 tickets disappeared, some connections are completely full.
“It was clear that we would miss passengers from abroad, ie those who would go to the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Therefore, I was looking for an opportunity for the Czechs,” says Jančura, who also took the first connection. Along with the trains to the sea, his company is also launching the Partyja project, renting hotels and boarding houses for closed groups.
RegioJet has run into serious problems with coronavirus. According to Jančura, he lost 10 million crowns a day in sales. He also lost income from state discounts on fares for students and seniors, normally paid out of public money. For RegioJet and its bus relative Student Agency, this meant revenue of tens of millions of crowns a month last year. Coronavirus has reduced these “replacements” to a minimum, in the case of RegioJet by 80 percent when comparing this year and last April.
Therefore, the company borrows for further operation, for example with the help of bonds, and will increase their issue by almost half a billion crowns compared to last year. As Aktuálně.cz himself confirmed Jančura himself, his company will also apply for a state-guaranteed loan within the Covid Plus program. “It’s important. All the companies that stood had a problem with cash flow,” admits Jančura.
The government decided on Monday that carriers, including Smartwings and Jančur’s RegioJet, will also be able to borrow. Through commercial banks, they can apply for loans of up to two billion crowns, but no more than a quarter of their annual turnover. The Export Guarantee and Insurance Company (EGAP) then guarantees 80 percent of the loan principal.
Middle of the attention
“We didn’t know at all that there would be so many journalists,” says one of the passengers on the first flight, Lukáš, somewhat surprised but not dissatisfied. Together with his entourage, he became the center of attention before leaving Prague railway station. She was especially attracted to T-shirts with the slogan ‘Train to the sea, Croatia 2020’. Uniforms in pink and blue were worn by a large group of passengers.
“We are not fans of Croatia, but when we went to three families together, we said to ourselves that we would diversify it in this way,” explains Lukáš. Originally, he and other passengers were to go on holiday elsewhere, but the coronavirus pandemic thwarted their plans. However, families like Lukáš’s are more of a minority on the train. Younger ones predominate.
They are not worried about the infection, most of the respondents were not particularly prepared for the trip. They are used to carrying disinfectant and a veil from the Czech Republic. RegioJet states registration in the official system of Croatian authorities as mandatory for travel by train, and the Czech carrier also fills in its own questionnaire for passengers.
The train to the Adriatic Sea departs from the Czech Republic for the first time in several years. He passed through Pardubice, Brno, Břeclav and Bratislava, ie along the route of the already existing RegioJet connection. Some passengers actually leave the train here, others approach. Then it continues through Hungary and Slovenia to Croatia. While in the first of the mentioned countries the RegioJet locomotive is still pulling the set, in both Balkans it has to be switched to the machine of the local carrier. “Don’t be afraid when you wake up in the morning and the train will go to the opposite side,” jokes company spokesman Aleš Ondrůj.
Lukáš and three other families literally took the journey by train to the sea on an expeditionary basis. In addition to journalists, the ambassadors of Croatia and Slovenia will not be waiting for them at the station, but they did not know in advance, but they do not mind the attention. Children compete over who speaks to the camera. @Aktualnecz pic.twitter.com/1HuDUCStxM
– Helena Truchla (@helena_truchla) June 30, 2020
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The Internet ends in Hungary
The set has air conditioning, chaise longues also have opening windows compared to conventional sets. Compared to the original plan, it is possible to transport bicycles, at the moment the capacity is limited to six bicycles in one set, in the future, according to Ondrůj, the company will increase it to 30. A total of 560 people can fit in one train.
Many families with children travel in four-seater lounger compartments, and Květa, 65, also set off with her two friends. “There is nothing with us, so I thought we would somehow survive,” he assesses the epidemiological situation. “We are accommodated in private, we will not be in a hotel among the people,” he describes the plans. She decided to go at the last minute, replacing her friend, who in the end could not go.
Last week, the Croatian media started reporting on a possible second wave of the disease, while the daily increase in new cases has slowed down again in the meantime.
There is a mandatory ‘convenience store’ on the train at midnight. At this time, the lights in the whole set dimmed. At six in the morning, the night quiet is interrupted by information about breakfast and passport control at the Croatian border, where the train arrives with a delay of about twenty minutes. The country is not yet a member of the European Schengen area of free movement.
In the practical “tweaks” that modern long-distance trains usually offer, the RegioJet connection is still lagging a bit. The internet connection was available in good quality until crossing the border with Hungary, then began to fall out. The beds, equipped with pillows and a blanket with linen, are in fact more sunbeds. Passengers must pick up coffee and cakes in the café corner roughly in the middle of the set. There are no electrical outlets in the sleeping compartments.
Special on-board menu on the Prague Rijeka route. The traditional items they are used to traveling to at RGJ are not missing. pic.twitter.com/fz7lddGs8V
– Helena Truchla (@helena_truchla) June 30, 2020
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Despite the relative comfort, the journey to the Adriatic is relatively long. Even without delay, the train arrives in Rijeka until the next day around nine o’clock in the morning. The destination is a relatively large industrial city with a busy port, so behind the beautiful sea it is necessary to travel even further along the Adriatic coast. RegioJet also provides connecting buses, but their routes are slightly longer in time than regular public transport.
Like Adam Štrunc and his partner, Jančura talks about traveling by train as an experience. He considers the basis of success to have “at least 1,500 chilled beers” on board the train, with which passengers can enjoy their journey. In the end, according to him, the stewards stored perhaps a little more.
According to Jančura, in order for the new line to pay off for the company, it must be occupied by about 90 percent. Trains start daily from July 11, ending in September. If the epidemiological situation so requires, Jančura is, according to him, willing to cancel train stops in other countries, and leave only a direct connection from the Czech Republic to Croatia.
What about Slovenia and the veils?
Adam Štrunc and his girlfriend also noticed a noticeable attention around the first connection. “The events around here are a great diversion,” both young people laugh at the interest of journalists. If it weren’t for coronavirus, they would probably go on vacation elsewhere. They didn’t want to drive, they don’t trust their driving skills enough. “Money didn’t matter, we counted it and the trip would be roughly the same for four people,” say both twenties. They are going on vacation with two other friends.
Despite the efforts of the carrier and the Croatian authorities to get the most normal conditions possible, the fact that the global pandemic is still going on can be seen in the yellow RegioJet trains. There is disinfection in the wagons, outside the coupe itself, passengers should wear veils. The stewardesses at the door remind them of this duty. Their faces are covered.
Since July, the veil obligation in the Czech Republic has been abolished, and in Slovenia and Croatia, which even introduced it only a few days ago, it continues to apply. “We have obtained an exception,” says director Jančura when asked how his company has resolved the condition of mandatory separation between passengers, which still applies in Slovenia and which – according to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs – should also apply to RegioJet trains.
Spokesman Ondrůj explains the exception by saying that yellow trains do not provide domestic transport in Slovenia. When asked if it is possible to get off on the way back from the sea back to the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, the company’s representatives receive a negative answer.
An apology for the inconvenience caused by the necessary measures is also part of the report, which is heard on the train in addition to Czech and Croatian. According to the spokesman, there is also interest in the connection among Croats. According to him, a hundred tickets have already been sold for the first connection in the direction of Prague, which starts on the evening of July 1.
Croatian Ambassador Ljiljana Pancirová is also convinced that yellow trains can be interesting for Croats as well. She also came to escort the train in Prague. “First we had to find out if the project also has support from the Croatian side. Then the logistics were solved. It is not an easy task for the twelve wagons to bring several hundred people to Croatia. The Croatian carrier also had to get involved. But as you can see, it turned out that a complex project can be completed in two months, “describes Pancirová.
She emphasized that the 500 passengers who arrive in Croatia only on the first connection are not a small number for a country whose economy is highly dependent on tourism revenues. In the second half of June, there were about 17,000 Czech tourists in the country.
Both Pancirová and Jančura agree that Czechs do not have to be afraid of holidays in Croatia. “You know how complicated the coronavirus situation is. We have taken all the measures, and the Czechs are welcome and eagerly awaited,” says the ambassador. According to him, he is already negotiating with Czech diplomats in Zagreb about how to transport Croatian tourists to Prague or Brno by yellow trains.
Video: The small risk of infection makes Croatia a popular holiday destination
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Croatia is becoming a globally sought – after destination due to its low risk of coronavirus infection Video: Reuters
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