Train Delays in the Czech Republic: Your Rights and Compensation Options

Train Delays: Rights and Responsibilities

In the following lines, we will look at the issue of delays and emergencies on the railway. We will get acquainted with the rights and options that the railway offers to passengers. We will tell you in which cases we can spend the night in a hotel, how much it will cost, and how to travel on delayed trains abroad.

Train delays, what am I entitled to?

Probably every one of you has experienced a train delay, but most of the time it resulted in you missing the last metro or bus. You arrived at school late, or you had to call work to say you would be late. Everyone experiences such problems. But maybe it hasn't happened to you yet that you would be left somewhere you don't know, in a city you didn't want to be in, and tens or maybe hundreds of kilometers from your destination.

The conditions of carriage, which carriers follow, think about these problems. We will go through them gradually, according to the amount of delay, the destination of the journey and the time of day. Imagine that the type of travel document also affects the solution of the emergency and the rights of passengers. In a real case, it can easily happen that two people sitting opposite each other, traveling on the same train, from the same starting point to the same destination station, will have a different right to compensation. We will describe below why.

IDS ticket, Route and Network travel documents

The first step is to say what kind of travel document (ticket) you have.

If you are traveling, for example, on a PID (Prague Integrated Transport) ticket, and your train is delayed, the only thing you are entitled to as a passenger in the event of a delay is an extension of the validity of the ticket. If you are in a situation where the connecting service (whether bus or train) leaves you due to a delay, it is a problem. In such a case, you are not entitled to a taxi, for example. In this case, the journey ended for you at the station where you got off.

In the case of Integrated System travel documents and route and network tickets, the documents are not considered to be sectional (with a specific place and time of boarding and alighting), but network tickets on which you can travel whenever and as often as you want. So watch out for that.

Replacement transport by regular buses and taxi service

However, if you have purchased a Czech Railways ticket (Flexi basic, Flexi discounted or Tied) and you miss the train at the transfer station, and you would wait for the next one until the morning hours, you can call the ČD infoline and request confirmation of using a taxi service or other alternative transport. In the event that the operator does not find an alternative connection for you, you will receive a numerical code from him or they will help you arrange a taxi. When you have a journey around the station, with this code, a taxi receipt and a ticket, you can prove yourself at any ČD ticket office and request reimbursement of the replacement transport.

At the ticket office, they will take your documents and send the money for the replacement transport to your account. Attention, it is not immediate, sending the money takes several days, it is solved by the accounting department of Czech Railways The maximum price for using a taxi is CZK 1,000 per vehicle. If you are traveling in a group of, for example, 3 people, the price for a taxi is still CZK 1,000. So definitely don't throw away your ticket in anger, it will come in handy.

If there is a conductor on the train, always try to find him and ask him for a delay so that it is clear which train you were traveling on. In such a case, he will also arrange a taxi code for you, because it is likely that there will be more passengers like you on the train and the whole event will be resolved faster.

Unfortunately, in the transport conditions of Regiojet, GW Train Regio, Arriva vlaky or Leo express, we did not find any mention of solving these extraordinary situations and the possibility of using alternative transport in the form of a regular bus connection or taxi service.

All of the aforementioned companies only offer waiting at the station until the next train of the given carrier leaves, either to the boarding station (because I want to return, the journey has lost its meaning for me), or to the destination station. In some cases, this may mean spending the night at or in front of the train station.

I want to compensate the ticket price

At this point, however, there is agreement across carriers, and why not. Thanks to Regulation (EC) No. 1371/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on rail passengers' rights and obligations, the General Conditions of Carriage (GCC-CIV/PRR), Czech Railways compensates for train delays in international and domestic transport.

In the event of a delay of 60 - 119 minutes, you are entitled to 25% of the fare if the total price for one passenger is at least 16 euros or CZK 360 in domestic transport. The passenger will receive compensation in the form of a credit note or, at the passenger's request, to a bank account.

In the event of a delay of 120 minutes or more: in this case, you are entitled to compensation of 50% of the fare if the price of the ticket in international transport was at least 8 euros, or CZK 180 in domestic transport.

This amount of compensation does not apply to time and route tickets, which are governed by their own rules.

In addition, Regiojet offers "stricter" compensation conditions on selected routes. It is enough for the train to have a smaller delay than that required by the EP and ER regulations. The lines are divided according to letters A to C. You can find the details in the transport conditions here: smluvni-prepravni-podminky.pdf (regiojet.cz) article X.

International tickets

f you are traveling abroad and your train is canceled on part of the route, or you miss a connecting train, do not despair. In such a case, the possibility of traveling by a subsequent train is solved first. No additional payments or other inconveniences. At the ticket office at the station where you missed the train, just ask for a delay or confirmation and you can go.

If your connecting train was the last one, there are two options. If there is only a short distance to your destination station, the carrier will probably proceed to reimburse the taxi. There may be a limit here, which each carrier determines for itself. If you have several hours of travel ahead of you, you are entitled to accommodation with an international ticket. Many carriers have contracted partner hotels where they send passengers with a voucher for accommodation. If you have a voucher issued, you already have a room booked automatically, there is no need to arrange anything.

Together with the voucher, you will also receive a confirmation of the delay and they will find you a connection with which you will complete the rest of the route the next day.