TRANSGov grant for regional passenger trains
Grants help regional rail operators, Czech regions and Prague buy electric or battery trains to replace diesel fleets, for projects already selected in the first stage.
Ta możliwość jest obecnie dostępna po angielsku.
TRANSGov supports new regional passenger trainsets powered by overhead electricity, batteries or a combination of these, replacing diesel trains. The grant comes from the Modernisation Fund and aims to reduce energy use and emissions.
The grant covers up to 70 % of eligible expenditure, including the procurement price for manufacturing and commissioning the trains and compulsory project publicity. It cannot exceed the grant requested in the first stage. SFŽP pays once after completion and an effective grant agreement; you finance costs above the grant, including ineligible costs.
Operating maintenance, staff, overhead and operating expenditure, loan repayments and interest, taxes and compulsory levies other than qualifying VAT, administrative fees, reserves and investments not directly and exclusively linked to the project are excluded. Expenditure paid before the first-stage call was announced is excluded. VAT qualifies only where you cannot deduct it; a later right to deduct requires returning the related grant. Other public support must not cover the same eligible expenditure twice, and you must promptly notify SFŽP of it.
Eligibility
- Your project must have succeeded in the first stage and have a favourable SFŽP opinion. This second stage does not admit new first-stage proposals. Additional projects can progress only in their original first-stage ranking when funding becomes available.
- Operators must already have the railway licence under Czech railway law and the public-service contract for the services in their successful proposal. Czech regions and Prague can apply if they will own the financed vehicles.
- Most transport performance must take place in Czechia. Regional cross-border services to neighbouring EU countries are allowed within that condition.
- Train numbers and type must match the first-stage proposal. A propulsion change is allowed only if grant requested per unit of energy savings stays the same or falls and suitable infrastructure is available when trains enter service. Existing energy infrastructure, or an approved ministry electric-traction development plan providing it by 2032, is required. Project benefits must match or exceed the first-stage figures after a propulsion change.
- Trains must have Czech railway-network approval, GSM-R railway communication and ETCS train-control equipment, passenger air conditioning, Wi-Fi,230 V sockets and visual/acoustic information. They also need external side displays, at least one accessible carriage and accessible toilet meeting applicable TSI rail accessibility standards, closed-system toilets and central door locking.
- You must not be insolvent, in liquidation, owe overdue taxes or public-budget debts, or fall within the call’s conflict-of-interest exclusion. The call excludes companies where a public official covered by §2(1)(c) of the Czech Conflict of Interest Act or a controlled person owns at least 25 %; ownership and beneficial-owner evidence is required.
- You must not qualify as an “undertaking in difficulty”. SFŽP assesses this using financial-health and economic-group documents. The EU definition covers accumulated losses eroding more than half of company capital, insolvency, an unrepaid rescue loan or unexpired rescue guarantee or ongoing restructuring, and severe debt/interest-coverage problems for larger undertakings. Capital-loss tests exempt SMEs under 3 years old; other applicable tests still apply. For non-SMEs the financial-ratio test requires both debt/equity above 7.5 and interest coverage from earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) below 1.0 for the past two years. Current SFŽP assessment guidance and the call determine the documents you submit.
- Financed trains must run exclusively in public-service passenger transport for their 30-year economic life from passenger-service start. Shunting and technical movements linked to operation and maintenance are allowed. They must serve the original connected routes for at least 5 years after completion; exceptional route changes require express SFŽP approval, and paid services outside a public-service commitment are excluded.
- A train damaged beyond use must be replaced with one of identical or comparable technical quality. Transferring or pledging trains does not release grant duties. When a public-service commitment ends, vehicles and grant obligations pass to the commissioning authority or another public-service operator.
How to apply
- Status
- zamyka się 31 gru 2026
- Otwiera się
- Zamyka się
- Warunki naboru
- Only successful first-stage projects with a favourable SFŽP opinion; no fresh first-stage applications.
Submit the second-stage application through AIS SFŽP with the favourable first-stage opinion, relevant licence and public-service contract, bank-account details, ownership evidence and financial-health documents. SFŽP checks the application before the minister’s grant decision and agreement. Procurement documents and supplier contracts are needed before the agreement; registered-vehicle evidence, invoices and bank records proving payment accompany the payment and final evaluation. If an invoice is partly settled by offsetting debts you and the supplier owe each other, submit a written offset agreement signed by both parties for the amount not shown as paid in the bank records.
The ordinary deadline is noon on 31 December 2026. Missing it ends the selected proposal and releases its allocation. Only reserve projects specifically invited from the original first-stage ranking may apply until noon on 31 March 2027. If only reduced funding is available, the invited applicant must expressly agree in writing within 14 days.
By 31 December 2032, put the trains into regular passenger service, financially close the project and submit the final-evaluation records. Maintain the project for 5 years after completion and retain ownership during that period, except for an agreed transfer of ownership to secure a loan, as allowed by the grant agreement; the agreement normally requires ownership within one month after completion. Obtain prior SFŽP consent for legal encumbrances that could threaten the project. Annual implementation reports are due 15 January for the previous year. Notify SFŽP of project changes, obtain approval where required and allow inspections. Binding energy-saving, emissions and train-number targets apply; failure can reduce support unless caused by unforeseeable factors outside your control.