In the Czech Republic, the transition to Daylight Saving Time on a Sunday is expected to cause delays for 12-night trains run by Czech Railways (ČD). The national carrier plans to mitigate these delays by reducing the dwell time of trains at stations. ČD announced this in a press release on Tuesday. The time change will only affect long-distance trains, while regional services will depart after the time change, according to ČD spokesperson Filip Medelský.
The time change will also prompt the railway to implement measures to prevent further delays on Sunday. Medelský stated, “To ensure that these night trains do not pass on their delays to other daily services, morning connections will largely not wait for these delayed night trains.”
The delays will concern trains on the route from Munich via Ostrava to Warsaw, from Slovakia’s Michalovce to Prague, from Graz to Berlin, from Zurich to Prague, from Břeclav to Budapest, and one train from Prague to Brno. Passengers can verify the location and delays of trains via the ‘My Train’ mobile application, the carrier’s website, or phone at the ČD contact center.
Daylight Saving Time was introduced in the Czech lands in 1915 and 1916. It was reinstated during the Second World War in 1940 and lasted until 1949. For the third time, Czechs adjusted their clocks during the energy crisis at the end of the 70s of the last century. Until the mid-90s, daylight saving time lasted half a year in the Czech Republic. In 1996, the republic joined EU customs, and the time shift lasted seven months.