Europe | Closely watched trains

A Prague-Berlin train loses its old-world dining cars

The looming end of the Knödelexpress

Czech Dining car in an EuroCity Train
Civilisation on wheelsPhotograph: Alamy
|PRAGUE

In recent years the tardy and loss-making operations of Deutsche Bahn have become a symbol of the woes of the German economy. In contrast, Ceske Drahy (CD), the Czech Republic’s profitable and (mostly) punctual national railway, is going from strength to strength. In 2023 it carried 164m passengers, 7m more than in 2022, and invested almost 11bn koruna ($454m) in new trains.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Ode to a dining car”

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