PKP Intercity responds to RegioJet: We operate transparently and in accordance with the law

PKP Intercity operates in a transparent manner, in accordance with ethical standards and applicable regulations – the carrier's press office informed PAP on Monday in response to questions regarding RegioJet's allegations. The Czech carrier claims that it is discriminated against on the Polish market.

“PKP Intercity, as a State Treasury company, conducts its operations in a fully transparent manner and in accordance with the highest ethical standards and applicable law,” the carrier's press office told PAP in response to questions about the allegations of the Czech company RegioJet.

“Due to the activities carried out by the competent authorities, the company does not provide additional comments on this matter,” it was added.

On Monday, the Czech company RegioJet announced in a press release that it is treated unequally on the Polish passenger rail transport market by various companies related to PKP SA. The company announced that it is therefore preparing a complaint to the Office of Rail Transport and an application to the European Commission.

RegioJet complains about violating the principles of fair competition, including: by discrimination in the allocation of timetables by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe SA, which manages the infrastructure. As evidence, it was indicated that the average travel times of Czech trains on the route between Krakow and Warsaw are to be 8-9 minutes longer than the journeys of the Polish carrier, and one pair of trains must additionally run a detour route through Zawiercie.

“An even worse situation occurred in the case of the Prague-Warsaw connection through the Katowice station, where even the routing process was not undertaken in accordance with RegioJet's order, and the incumbent state carrier ran commercial trains through the renovated Katowice station,” said Radim Janczura, owner of RegioJet.

As an example of discrimination, the Czech carrier also cited the denial of access to advertising space at stations managed by PKP SA and entities managing this space. “These entities refused to allow RegioJet to buy advertising, arguing that RegioJet is a direct competitor to PKP Intercity, which also conducts passenger transport,” the release said. The situation was supposed to improve after the matter was revealed by the media.

RegioJet also stated that it encounters difficulties due to the lack of complete passenger information in the search engine on the station manager's website www.pkp.pl.

The Czech carrier also pointed to threats of disciplinary dismissal addressed to employees of the Polish carrier if they cooperate and provide services to RegioJet.

According to reports from the WP portal, PKP Intercity alerted the services last week after the company's president received “disturbing” messages from the owner of the competitive RegioJet. The case was referred to the Internal Security Agency. RegioJet assured WP that it had nothing to blame and confirmed that Janczura had sent informal messages to the president of PKP Intercity via WhatsApp.

The founder, owner and managing director of RegioJet is Radim Janczura. In 2011, yellow trains from this company appeared on Czech tracks. Janczura openly announced that he wanted to eliminate the state monopoly in transport. He took part in tenders for long-distance and local connections. It entered the Slovak, Hungarian, Austrian and German markets.

At the end of 2024, the Polish Office of Rail Transport granted Janczury a license to operate commercial rail connections. RegioJet has permits, among others: for servicing the Gdynia-Kraków, Kraków-Warsaw, Warsaw-Gdynia, Warsaw-Przemyśl, Przemyśl-Hanover, Warsaw-Vienna routes and for a seasonal connection to Rijeka and Split in Croatia.

Currently, yellow trains are present only on one national route in Poland – between Krakow and Warsaw. There is also a connection from Prague to Przemyśl and Krakow. (PAP)

mbl/ as above/