Liberalization of Passenger Railway Transport in the Czech Republic

The article describes a long way of liberalization of passenger railway transport in the Czech Republic, since 1st January 1995, when the new Railway Act no. 266/1994 came into effect. Due the next years only a few non-state operators started to operate some short regional railway lines. The situation started to change, when after 2005 some regions tried to invite tenders for operation of subsidized railway lines. In the long-distance railway market a big change should come in 2011-2012, when two private operators (RegioJet and RAPID Express) should start non-subsidized operation between Prague and Ostrava.