From May 2026, a new direct train service will connect Prague with Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen. České dráhy, in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn and Danish State Railways (DSB), will operate the route using state-of-the-art ComfortJet trains. Two daily connections will run year-round, with a third added during the summer season.
Passengers can look forward to travelling on the ComfortJet – the most modern trainset designed for long-distance transport. The journey time between Prague and Copenhagen will be approximately 11 hours. This is expected to shorten further in the coming years with the completion of the Fehmarn Belt undersea tunnel.
The planned service represents the first of ten pilot projects initiated by the European Commission to support cross-border rail travel across the continent.
“The agreement to launch a new international train service to Copenhagen demonstrates the strong position of České dráhy in the European railway transport market. Cooperation with Deutsche Bahn and Danske Statsbaner opens up a comfortable and direct service for Czech passengers to the Danish capital and other destinations in Scandinavia,” said Michal Krapinec, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of České dráhy.
The service, crossing three countries, will be operated jointly by České dráhy, Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Danske Statsbaner (DSB). Trains will depart from Prague year-round at approximately 6:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., with a third departure at 4:30 p.m. added during the summer season. Tickets are expected to go on sale six months prior to the launch of operations.
A Return to the North After a Decade
Direct rail services between Prague and Copenhagen are being restored after more than a decade. The last direct night trains to northern Europe ran under the 2014 timetable. Since then, passengers travelling to Denmark have had to change trains in Hamburg.
In the early 1990s, Prague and Copenhagen were linked by the Neptun express train (Prague – Berlin – Warnemünde – Copenhagen), which used the historic ferry service between Warnemünde (Germany) and Gedser (Denmark). That journey covered approximately 850 kilometres and took around 14 hours.
Thanks to upgraded infrastructure, the new daytime train will complete the longer route in just 11 hours. In future, journey times will drop further with the opening of the undersea tunnel between Germany and Denmark and higher speeds on key railway corridors, such as Dresden to Berlin.
The new direct train service will benefit not only travellers between Prague, Berlin and Copenhagen but also those heading to or from key regional hubs such as Ústí nad Labem, Dresden, Hamburg and Odense. Over 15 million people live in the metropolitan areas and towns served along the route. The connections will open new travel opportunities between Scandinavia and southern or central Europe.
