A cross-country journey on the Comfortjet – Ceske Drahy’s latest high-speed, long-distance train
About the Comfortjet
Provenance: Ostrava, Czech Republic
Price: €37m
Key route: 850km
Top speed: 230km/h
Capacity: 555 people
It’s a frosty morning at Prague’s Hlavni Nadrazi, the city’s main station, where passengers are awaiting the arrival of the Comfortjet. Manufactured by Siemens Mobility and the Skoda Group, this is Czech national carrier Ceske Drahy’s new long-distance train, which is now plying the Berliner line and is set to extend its services all the way to Copenhagen via Hamburg from May.
The nine-carriage train that Monocle is about to board has 555 seats filled by a wide range of passengers, from business travellers to backpackers taking advantage of the lack of baggage-weight restrictions. Among them is university professor Wei-Leun Fang, who is heading to a conference in Dresden to give a speech about semiconductors. He flew in from Taiwan and made a stopover in Prague to meet his collaborators at the Czech Technical University. “I prefer the train,” he says. “It’s more relaxed and you can see the landscape.”
As the shiny Comfortjet glides in, passengers board its blue carriages. The travel time from Prague to Copenhagen will drop from 14 to 11 hours, with two connections departing daily from both cities. Our journey today will end in Berlin, as the tracks between the German capital and Hamburg are currently being prepared for the high-speed link. For now, the train reaches speeds of 160km/h and, after the upgrades, 230km/h (Comfortjet’s maximum) will be the standard on this German segment.
As we leave Prague, the view outside changes to that of snow-covered fields. We sip Mattoni mineral water; despite the early hour, draught beer and riesling are popular purchases at the bar. In the first-class carriages, these are delivered straight to your seat, which is equipped with a wireless charger and power sockets. Passengers move between sections of the train with ease. “We don’t have to worry about changing the composition any more,” says train conductor Dominik Kabrle. “The nine carriages of Comfortjet will always work together.”
While the train speeds along the Elbe in Bohemian Switzerland, Monocle heads to the dining car. Hearty dishes such as sirloin steak with dumplings and venison ragout are on the menu. The dining car remains a prime spot for chance encounters. We sit with Sydney-based production designer Steven Jones-Evans, who has combined a shoot in Prague with a trip to Berlin. Unlike in Australia, long-distance train routes in densely populated Europe benefit the population along the way. From next year, the Comfortjet will stop at 19 stations and open up lesser-known destinations in the region – a reason for everyone from business travellers to weekend holidaymakers to step onboard.
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