Czech national carrier České dráhy (ČD) is continuing the large-scale withdrawal of legacy rolling stock as part of the largest fleet modernisation programme in the country’s history. In 2025 alone, the operator scrapped 279 vehicles and sold another 43 units to new owners, with further disposals planned this year as new rolling stock enters service. Part of the withdrawn fleet is scrapped, while selected vehicles are offered for sale, including through specialised industry platform RAILVIS.com.
According to the company, the renewal programme has introduced hundreds of modern units into operation over roughly four years, including RegioPanter EMUs, RegioFox DMUs, ComfortJet long-distance trains and Siemens Vectron locomotives. In total, this represents more than 800 new vehicles offering around 45,000 air-conditioned seats. The arrival of new rolling stock has required capacity to be freed up in depots and stabling yards, accelerating the withdrawal of older vehicles.
“Over roughly four years we have introduced 822 new vehicles into service. To create space for this volume of new trains, we had to withdraw older vehicles. Last year alone, this meant sending around one vehicle per working day to scrap,” said ČD CEO Michal Krapinec.
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Operations Manager
The phase-out has mainly affected older EMUs, legacy diesel railcars and classic passenger coaches, including older compartment vehicles known locally as “koženky”. Disposal has also included several long-distance and regional coach types of Czech and German origin.
“Among traction vehicles, older EMUs of series 460 and diesel railcars of series 810 were most frequently withdrawn. In passenger stock, large numbers of older long-distance and regional coaches were removed from service, including classic compartment and open-saloon coach designs,” said Jiří Ješeta, Deputy CEO for Passenger Transport.
The disposal programme will continue in 2026, with up to 500 additional vehicles potentially scheduled for withdrawal and scrapping. At the same time, ČD plans to continue offering surplus rolling stock for sale, including selected locomotives and passenger vehicles.
