Primator (train)

Last updated
Primator
Overview
Service type Interexpress (IEx)
(1986–ca. 1990)
Schnellzug (D)
(ca. 1990–1993)
Status Replaced by EuroCity
Locale Czechoslovakia /
Czech Republic
GDR / Germany
Predecessor Progress
First service 1986 (1986)
Last service 1993 (1993)
Successor EC Porta Bohemica
Route
Start Praha hl.n.
End Berlin-Lichtenberg
Service frequency Daily
Train number(s) IEx 76/77 (1986–1991)
D478/479 (1991–1993)
Technical
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification 15 kV AC, 16.7 Hz (Germany)

The Primator was an international express train. Introduced in 1986, it ran between Prague, then the capital of Czechoslovakia, and East Berlin, then the capital of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Express train a train which travels fast and makes few stops

Express trains are a form of rail service. Express trains make only a small number of stops, instead of stopping locally. In some cases, trains run express where there is overlapping local train service available, and run local at the tail ends of the line, where there is no supplemental local service. During overnight hours, or other times where it is practical, express trains may become local, but still running to where an express train would terminate.

Prague Capital city of the Czech Republic

Prague is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, the 14th largest city in the European Union and the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 2.6 million. The city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters.

Czechoslovakia 1918–1992 country in Central Europe, predecessor of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia, was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

Contents

Following the major political changes that took place in Central Europe in the second half of 1989, Prague became the capital of the Czech Republic, East Berlin was absorbed by Berlin and the GDR by Germany.

Czech Republic Country in Central Europe

The Czech Republic, also known by its short-form name, Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic, with 10.6 million inhabitants; its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents. Other major cities are Brno, Ostrava, Olomouc and Pilsen. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.

Berlin Capital of Germany

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3,748,148 (2018) inhabitants make it the second most populous city proper of the European Union after London. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states. It is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and contiguous with its capital, Potsdam. The two cities are at the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg capital region, which is, with about six million inhabitants and an area of more than 30,000 km², Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.

Germany Federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north, and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

In 1993, under the influence of all of these changes, the Primator was replaced by a new EuroCity train, the Porta Bohemica .

EuroCity train in Europe

EuroCity, abbreviated as EC, is a cross-border train category within the European inter-city rail network. In contrast to trains allocated to the lower-level "IC" (InterCity) category, EC trains are international services that meet 20 criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. Each EC train is operated by more than one European Union or Swiss rail company, under a multilateral co-operative arrangement, and all EC trains link important European cities with each other.

The Porta Bohemica is a EuroCity (EC) international express train. Since December 2014 it is operating between Hamburg-Altona and Budapest Keleti.

History

The Primator first ran in 1986. Initially, it was categorised as one of the new top-of-the-line Interexpress services, numbered IEx 76/77.

Interexpress is a former international train category. The word Interexpress is a short form version of the German language term Internationaler Express and its foreign language equivalents.

The train ran between Praha hl.n. in Prague and Berlin-Lichtenberg in East Berlin, on the route and in the time slots previously used by another train, Progress, which was rescheduled to different time slots.

Praha hlavní nádraží railway station in the Czech Republic

Praha hlavní nádraží is the largest and most important railway station in Prague in the Czech Republic. Located in Vinohrady, it was originally opened in 1871 and named Franz Josef Station after Franz Joseph I of Austria. During the First Republic and from 1945 to 1948 the station was called Wilson Station after former President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. His statue stood in the park in front of the station before being torn down by German authorities when the U.S. entered the war in 1941. A new statue of Wilson was installed in 2012. In 2014, the station served 224,505 trains and every day it serves more than 100 000 passengers + additional 46 000 passengers using S-lines suburban trains

Berlin-Lichtenberg station railway station in Berlin

Berlin-Lichtenberg is a railway station in Berlin, Germany. It is located on the Eastern Railway, Wriezen Railway and Berlin Frankfurter Allee–Berlin-Rummelsburg railway lines in the Lichtenberg district. The station is also part of the Berlin S-Bahn and U-Bahn network.

East Berlin Soviet sector of Berlin between 1949 and 1990

East Berlin was the de facto capital city of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, East Berlin was separated from West Berlin by the Berlin Wall. The Western Allied powers did not recognise East Berlin as the GDR's capital, nor the GDR's authority to govern East Berlin.

In 1991, the Interexpress category was discontinued, and the Primator was recategorised as an Express (Ex) (Czechoslovakia) / Schnellzug (D) (Germany).

Schnellzug

A Schnellzug is an express train in German-speaking countries, where it refers to trains that do not stop at all stations along a line. The term is used both generically and also as a specific train type. In Germany and Austria it is also referred to colloquially as a D-Zug, a short form of Durchgangszug, and express train services were often given numbers preceded by the letter D. The similar term, snälltåg, was used in Sweden until January 1980.

In 1993, as part of a reorganisation of international train services through the Elbe valley, the Primator was replaced by the new EC Porta Bohemia.

See also

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References

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