Czech railway company Leo Express has plans to launch a railway link between Belgium and Slovakia, with the trains stopping in Germany and the Czech Republic along the way.
In the notification plans submitted to the Belgian Rail Transport Regulatory Service (Regul) in August, the company stated the train would run once every day in both directions.
It is hoped the service can start on 15 December 2024 but operations in Belgium could be delayed until spring 2025, Leo Express stated in an email to Regul.
The entire journey would take around 19 hours, with the train stopping almost 50 times between its start and terminal station, including eight stops in Belgium. These will be Ostend, Bruges, Ghent, all three stations in Brussels, Leuven and Liège.
Credit: Leo Express
Trains will then enter Germany, where they will make 20 stops including Aachen, Cologne, Dortmund, Hanover, Leipzig and Dresden. After Germany it will enter the Czech Republic, where more than 10 stops are planned including at the capital Prague.
In Slovakia, the train is expected to stop in Kuty and Malacky before ending in the Slovakian capital Bratislava.
Arrival and departure times
While the full train journey will take some 19 hours, it is expected to be a day train. The train will depart from Ostende at 06:15, stop in Brussels Midi at around 07:22, and in Hannover at around 13:45. It is expected to pull into Prague at around 20:00 before arriving at its final destination around 01:13.
The departure time is similar in the opposite direction, with the train due to arrive in Ostende 20 minutes later (01:37).
Leo Express holds valid safety certificates for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland and its parent company holds a valid safety certificate for operations in Germany, but not for Belgium. "Here, Leo Express plans to cooperate with a railway undertaking holding a valid safety certificate for Belgium," the company said in its notification plans.
Part of Leo Express' planned connection – specifically between Dresden and Prague – corresponds to a section of the route that European Sleeper night trains are due to operate along in a few months. This service currently runs from Brussels, via Amsterdam, to Berlin. The company plans to extend its trains to Dresden and Prague from the end of March 2024.
