| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | EuroCity (EC) |
| Status | active |
| Locale | Hungary Slovakia Czech Republic Germany |
| Predecessor | Primator , Vindobona |
| First service | 14 December 2014 |
| Current operator(s) | České dráhy, Deutsche Bahn |
| Route | |
| Start | Budapest Keleti |
| Stops | Praha hl.n., Berlin Hbf |
| End | Hamburg-Altona |
| Service frequency | Daily |
| Train number(s) | EC 172/173 |
| On-board services | |
| Disabled access | Wheelchair space and accessible toilet |
| Seating arrangements | First class open; second class compartment and open |
| Catering facilities | Dining car |
| Baggage facilities | Bicycle transportation |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
| Electrification | 15 kV AC, 16.7 Hz (Germany) 3 kV DC (Czech Republic) 25 kV AC, 50 Hz (Czech Rep., Slovakia, Hungary) |
The Porta Bohemica is a EuroCity (EC) international express train. Since December 2014 it is operating between Hamburg-Altona and Budapest Keleti.
The train's name, Porta Bohemica (Czech : Brána Čech; German : Böhmische Pforte), is the Latin word for the point where the Elbe river begins its passage through the České Středohoří (Central Bohemian Uplands or Bohemian Central Uplands).
From 1993 to 2003, a predecessor train of the same name ran between Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and a number of different termini in northern Germany.
The train takes the route via Berlin Hbf, Dresden Hbf, Praha hl.n., Brno hl.n. and Bratislava hl.st. A sister train named Jan Jesenius, composed of Hungarian and German rolling stock, is running two hours earlier from Budapest and two hours later from Hamburg.
In May 1993, there was a major reorganisation of the international train services through the Elbe valley. [1] It involved the introduction of four daily EuroCity expresses. Two existing trains, the Hungaria (Budapest–Hamburg) and the Vindobona (Vienna–Berlin) were upgraded to become EuroCity services, a new train, the EC Comenius (Prague–Berlin), was added to the timetable, and the Porta Bohemica replaced another existing train, the Primator (Prague–Berlin). All of these changes took effect from 23 May 1993. [2]
Initially, the Porta Bohemica ran between Praha-Holešovice in Prague and Hamburg-Altona in Hamburg. The northbound train, EC 176, was the last of the four daily northbound Elbe valley EuroCity services to leave Prague, in the early afternoon. The southbound train, EC 177, left Hamburg shortly after 08:00.
On 27 May 1995, the northern terminus of the Porta Bohemica was moved south, to Nauen, Germany (on the northwestern outskirts of Berlin), and the southern terminus in Prague was switched from Praha-Holešovice to Praha hl.n.. On 24 May 1998, the northern terminus was moved back to Hamburg, and in 2001 it was moved even further north, to Westerland (Sylt), also in Germany. At the end of the following year, in December 2002, it was moved yet again, back to Hamburg for the second time.
On 14 December 2003, all of the EuroCity trains running through the Elbe valley lost their names. Trains EC 176/177 continued to run without names for three years until 10 December 2006. But when the naming of the Elbe valley EuroCity trains was reintroduced, the name Porta Bohemica was not reused.
From 14 December 2014, a two-hourly clock-face schedule was introduced between Prague and Budapest, alternating with a railjet between Prague and Graz every other hour. This meant that the EC 172/173 Vindobona was replaced by the EC 172/173 Porta Bohemica Hamburg-Altona—Budapest Keleti. The connection in Praha to a Railjet via Wien Hauptbahnhof to Graz Hauptbahnhof and vice versa includes an hour of layover.
The train is currently hauled between Hamburg and Dresden by a DB Class 101 locomotive, between Dresden and Prague by a ČD class 371 locomotive and between Prague and Budapest by a ČD Class 380 locomotive. It is composed of rolling stock of the Czech Railways, one first class open coach Ampz143, one dining car WRmz815, five second class compartment coaches Bmz241/245. A German second class open coach Bpmbdz294 offers wheelchair space and bicycle transportation. Seasonally, another German second class open coach Bpmz294 without these special amenities is added.
As of 2015, Germany had a railway network of 41,315 kilometres (25,672 mi) of which 19,857 kilometres (12,339 mi) are electrified and 18,201 kilometres (11,310 mi) were double track. Germany is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Germany is 80.
Budapest Keleti (eastern) railway station is the main international and inter-city railway terminal in Budapest, Hungary.
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Railjet is a high-speed rail service in Europe operated by Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and Czech Railways (ČD). It was introduced with the timetable change of 2008–2009 and operates at speeds of up to 230 km/h (143 mph). Railjet is ÖBB's premier service and operates both domestically within Austria and on international services to adjacent major cities in the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia.
The Děčín–Dresden railway, also called the Elbe Valley Railway is an electrified main line in Saxony and the Czech Republic. Formerly called the Saxon-Bohemian State Railway, the line is part of the Dresden to Prague route and is one of Europe's most important trunk routes (Magistralen). It runs along the Elbe Valley from Děčín via Bad Schandau and Pirna to Dresden. The first section of the line was opened in 1848 and is one of the oldest lines in Germany.
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The Vindobona is an international named passenger train which began service in 1957 between Berlin and Vienna via Dresden and Prague. In later years the route was extended to run from Hamburg via Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Brno and Vienna to Villach. It was named after the ancient settlement of Vindobona on the site of the modern city of Vienna. Labelled as a EuroCity train connection from 1993, services discontinued in 2014.
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