Prague - Imitation leather seats in the Polish railway cars are empty. When the conductor in north-Moravian town of Petrovice signals the train to take off, there are just a handful of passengers in the little train travelling to Poland.
And it does not play any role that there are no more police guards at the last railway station before the Polish border.
After the Czech Republic and Poland joined the Schengen area in December 2007, there are no more controls to show your passport to as you are crossing the border.
However, every day many empty trains leave the Czech Republic to enter the other countries of Schengen area like here in Petrovice.
The reason? Who wants to enjoy the freedom of travel by train has to pay extra.
To travel by train from the Czech Republic is the most expensive way to leave the country and it does not attract enough people.
Car preferance
Thirteen kilometres from the main railway station in Ostrava to the Polish small town of Chalupky in the second class costs 86 crowns. The ticket from Znojmo to Austrian Retz which is 18 kilometres away costs 143 crowns. To cover the distance between Děčín and Dresden you need to have 379 CZK ready.
If you were to travel the same distance within the Czech Republic, you would pay less. That does not apply only to countries where train transportation is more expensive than in the Czech Republic, it is true also about Slovakia.
"Everyone prefers driving. You can make it to Slovakia in fifteen minutes. People go by train only if they travel to more remote areas of Slovakia," says Tereza Zonygova from the town Lanzhot on the Czech-Slovak border.
The situation is the same on the Polish border. "Most people do not use the railway system. Travelling by car is more comfortable and faster. It does pay off to go by train," said Pavel Vavrečka from the municipal hall of the town Bohumin.
Just too expensive
Borders disappeared but inconveniences limiting the number of train passengers have prevailed.
The biggest obstacle is the price and even the Czech Rail knows it. "If you buy an international ticket it costs you more than buying two separate tickets - each for every country - that connect," confirms Radek Joklík, the communications manager of Czech Rail.
Train tracks cross the Czech border on 26 different places but most of the routes are not interesting for passengers.
People in Český Těšín on the border with Poland could tell stories about it. And they do.
Trains in the direction of Polish Katovice leave the station regularly, but no passengers get on. Locals rather cross the border by foot and then get on the train in the now divided Polish town Ciezsyn that used to be one. From there they can continue to Poland for a cheaper price.
"The costs of international rail travels depend on the prices of each carrier," explains Radek Joklík. "It is a system different from the bus or air transportation where you travel with one company from the beginning of your journey till the final destination abroad," he says.
Numerous reasons
International train tickets are more expensive because of numerous reasons. Administration costs needed to divide the price under multiple carriers are part of the price as well as the ten percent sell commissions that are common abroad (and that the Czech Rail does not charge for domestic tickets).
Prices also depend on the euro exchange rates because prices are always quoted in euros no matter if your destination country uses a different currency.
But exceptions do exist - Czech Rail does offer discounts once in a while - for example in the pre-Christmas season there are special ticket discounts for shopping trips to Germany.
There are regions in the old member states that offer unified ticket prices in between two countries, passengers are not charge any extra fees for crossing the boarder and changing the carriers.
German Rail for example considers Salzburg a domestic destination and the Austrian Rails do the same with German Passau. But that does not mean that all Austrian international routes are this affordable.
If you travel between Austria and Italy you are indeed charged extra money for crossing the border.
