European Rail Boom Continues – Canada/BC Flounders
As Canada flounders, with BC in particular, with any sort of passenger rail revival, Europe is leading the way with the current passenger rail renaissance.
HST, on the Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal route is being built more for politcal prestige, than anything else.
If any government is truly interested in mitigating the effects of Global Warming and climate change, rail must be part of the solution, but in Canada it is not.
In British Columbia, there are four passenger rail projects begging for investment:
- Rail for the Valley’s Marpole to Chilliwack regional railway
- The E&N rehab to a viable regional railway
- Restoration of a public passenger railway on BC Rail from Vancouver to Prince George and beyond
- .A Kamloops to Kelowna regional railway.
The cost of doing the above is about the same or less than the current cost to extend the Expo and Millennium light-metro lines in Metro Vancouver!
Regional passenger rail service is vital to bring quality transportation accessibility, at an affordable price, to areas with zero passenger service of any kind!
One of Europe’s longest train routes will launch next month, connecting multiple major cities
Spanning more than 1,300km, the journey will reportedly take 18 hours to get from Poland to Germany
Written by Liv KellyTravel WriterFriday 29 May 2026
The European rail boom continues, and a symbolic new route is the latest addition to the continent’s ever-expanding train network.
Leo Express, a Czech rail operator, is set to launch a brand-new route from Poland to Germany (via Czechia) on June 25.
Starting in the eastern Polish city of Przemyśl, the service will stop at Kraków, Prague, Dresden and Leipzig before concluding in Frankfurt.
Demand for rail travel to and through Poland has been on the rise over the last couple of years, with record levels of passengers on the country’s railways. In fact, Przemyśl specifically has become a primary hub for Ukrainian travellers since the beginning of Russia’s war, as the city lies just 10km from the border.
In 2025, the first direct service between Poland and Croatia was inaugurated, and it also has connections to Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Austria. However, spanning 1,300km, this will reportedly be one of the longest single rail journeys in Europe, and it’s set to take around 18 hours to complete.
Departures from Przemyśl will leave the station at 1.31pm and arrive the following morning in Frankfurt at 7.53am. In the reverse direction, services will leave at 8.27am and arrive at the slightly impractical time of 2.23am.
With all that time to kill, passengers will have access to WiFi, power sockets, air conditioning and on-board catering. Here’s a map of the route.
When initially announcing the route in December, CEO of the operator Peter Köhler said: ‘Leo Express is breaking down the symbolic rail barrier between eastern and western Europe and connecting key European centres with the gateway to Ukraine via a direct route that has been lacking until now,’ according to Notes from Poland.
We don’t yet know how much tickets will cost, but keep an eye on the Leo Express website for announcements about when you’ll be able to book.
