The Jindřichův Hradec Narrow Gauge

In 1998 a group of railway enthusiasts and a few businessmen bought two narrow-gauge railways in southern Bohemia from the Czech state for one koruna — about three pence.

In October 2022 the company they had built went bankrupt owing more than 360 million crowns, and the trains stopped.

In September 2025, after three years of silence, a train ran again.

That is the shape of this story, and it is the reason to write about the Jindřichův Hradec narrow gauge rather than any of the prettier heritage lines in central Europe.

What it is

Two lines of 760-millimetre gauge — the bosenský rozchod, Bosnian gauge, the narrow standard of the old Austro-Hungarian empire — radiating from Jindřichův Hradec in South Bohemia:

• South-east to Nová Bystřice, 33 kilometres, opened in 1897, through the pine forest, granite boulders and fishponds of a landscape the Czechs call Česká Kanada — Czech Canada — because it looks like somewhere much further away.
• North to Obrataň, 46 kilometres, into the Vysočina highlands.

Together they are one of the largest surviving narrow-gauge networks in the country, and they were built as ordinary local railways, not as attractions.

The one-crown railway

By the mid-1990s Czech Railways wanted rid of them. Services to Nová Bystřice stopped on 25 January 1997; the government approved privatisation; and Jindřichohradecké místní dráhy — JHMD, founded in 1994 — bought both lines for a symbolic 1 Kč, taking physical possession on 28 February 1998.

It never made money. What kept it alive at first was freight: the line was still needed to move uranium ore from the mine at Okrouhlá Radouň.

But JHMD did some lovely things. In 1999 it bought the machinery of the only cardboard-ticket printing works in the Czech Republic and set it up at Kamenice nad Lipou, printing genuine Edmondson tickets — a third for its own trains, the rest sold to Czech Railways for nostalgic runs and to museum lines across the country. It ran scheduled steam trains. It was the first Czech railway operator to join the national seat-reservation system.

And then it fell apart

The signs were there. In October 2017 operation was suspended outright when the company's safety certificate expired. After an accident the previous year the railway inspectorate found that traffic on JHMD's lines had been controlled contrary to the Railways Act, and from 16 October 2017 the state took over signalling. There were unpaid bills, shareholder litigation and a long argument with the regions about track access charges.

In October 2022 the court declared bankruptcy. The lines went quiet.

Thousands of people

What happened next is the part worth telling properly, and the railway's own account of it is the best source.

In September 2025, after three years of silence, the first train ran. Behind it, in the operator's words, were hundreds of hours of volunteer work and thousands of volunteers from across the country — "students, families, railwaymen and complete amateurs" — plus the support of the local towns and of two regional governments, the South Bohemian and Vysočina.

The railway is now in the hands of Gepard Express, with Gepard Infra holding the infrastructure. And in 2026 it is, in its own headline, "opět v pravidelném provozu" — in regular service again.

What runs

• Steam: Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays toward Nová Bystřice; Thursdays to Kamenice nad Lipou. Seat reservations needed.
• Diesel: on both lines, three times a day each way, every day. No reservations — the crew sells tickets on board and takes everyone while there is room.

The ticket press at Kamenice nad Lipou has been running again since January 2024, and will print you an Edmondson ticket with whatever you like on it.

Railways that come back from the dead do not always stay back, which is the argument for riding this one sooner rather than later.

Everything starts at Jindřichův Hradec, a handsome South Bohemian town with one of the largest castle complexes in the country and, beside the standard-gauge station, a separate narrow-gauge yard where both lines begin.

The yard is worth arriving early for. There are M27 railcars — originally Polish, Romanian-built, rebuilt in 2013–14 and nicknamed the ponorka, the submarine, for their looks — green T47 diesel-electrics from the 1950s, transporter wagons that carry standard-gauge vehicles piggyback on the narrow gauge, and, if you are lucky, a steam locomotive being prepared. Depot tours can be arranged on request, and there is a buffet car on the platform in summer.

South-east to Nová Bystřice

Thirty-three kilometres, opened in 1897, and the line most visitors take.

It runs out of town through farmland and then into Česká Kanada — "Czech Canada" — which is not a marketing invention but what Czechs have long called this corner of the country: rolling pine and spruce forest, granite outcrops and boulder fields, and fishponds everywhere. South Bohemia has been farming carp in artificial ponds since the fifteenth century, and the landscape is more engineered than it looks.

The halts are tiny. Střížovice, Kunžak–Lomy, Albeř — a nameboard, a hut, a single track, and often nobody there. Several of the station buildings now let rooms, which is the single best thing this railway has thought of.

Nová Bystřice at the end is a small town three kilometres from the Austrian border, with a square, a church and a bistro at the station. It was in the border zone during the Communist years and has the slightly time-stopped feeling of places that were closed for forty years.

North to Obrataň

Forty-six kilometres, longer and less visited, running up out of South Bohemia into the Vysočina — the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands.

Kamenice nad Lipou is the place to stop. This is where the Edmondson ticket press lives — the machinery of the last cardboard-ticket printing works in the country, bought in 1999 and working again since January 2024. If you write ahead they will print tickets to your own wording; people order them as wedding invitations.

The Thursday steam working comes here. At the far end, Obrataň is a junction with the standard-gauge line, which means you can arrive or leave that way rather than doubling back.

What the trains are like

Small, slow, wooden-floored and entirely unpretentious. The diesel services are worked by railcars or by a T47 and a rake of red-and-cream coaches; the steam trains bring out the historic set. There is no catering on board, but there are bistros at Nová Bystřice and Hůrky and the buffet car at Jindřichův Hradec.

Tickets are sold by the crew, on the train. The diesels take no reservations at all and are obliged to carry everyone while there is capacity — which on a summer Saturday with bicycles can mean a squeeze.

Bicycles, dogs and prams

All carried, which matters here: the lines run through walking and cycling country and a great deal of the traffic is people taking a bike out one way and riding back. Ask about the bicycle charge when you board.

Practical notes

• Steam needs booking; the diesels do not.
• Check the day. Steam is Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to Nová Bystřice, Thursday to Kamenice nad Lipou.
• Three diesel trains a day each way, every day, on both lines.
• Timetable and fares are published on the operator's site and change with the season — the current ones apply from 1 July.
• Bring cash as well as a card for the small stations and bistros.
• Sleep in a station if you can — Střížovice, Kunžak–Lomy, Albeř or Nová Bystřice.

Check the operator's own site before you travel. This railway was bankrupt and silent from October 2022 until September 2025, and the timetable is rebuilding season by season.

What is running (as of July 2026)

The operator's headline is unambiguous: "Úzkokolejka je opět v pravidelném provozu" — the narrow gauge is in regular service again. It is run by Gepard Express, with Gepard Infra holding the infrastructure.

Steam trains

Diesel trains

The exact departure times and the fare table are published by the operator and apply from 1 July. We are not reproducing them here because this railway's timetable has been rebuilt repeatedly since the restart and any figure we print risks being out of date before you read it. Go to uzkokolejky.cz (opens in a new tab).

The lines

Tickets

Sold by the train crew on board. There is no ticket office queue and no online purchase for the diesel trains — only the steam trains take reservations, through gepard.com.

Reductions apply for seniors, children and disabled passengers; there are charges for bicycles; prams and dogs are carried. Larger groups are asked to give notice.

Why you must check

The recent record, briefly:

• October 2017 — operation suspended when the safety certificate expired; the state took over traffic control after an accident the previous year.
• October 2022 — JHMD declared bankrupt, owing over 360 million crowns. Trains stopped.
• September 2025 — after three years of silence, the first train ran, following what the operator describes as hundreds of hours of work by thousands of volunteers.
• 2026 — regular service on both lines, steam four days a week.

A railway restored by volunteers and a new owner within the last year is not a fixture yet. Confirm your date.

Getting to Jindřichův Hradec

The town is on the standard-gauge network, about two and a half hours from Prague with a change, and reachable from České Budějovice, Veselí nad Lužnicí and Jihlava. The narrow-gauge yard is beside the main station.

The Obrataň line's far end connects to the standard gauge at Obrataň, so it is possible to travel in one way and out the other rather than doubling back.

Operator: Gepard Express — uzkokolejky.cz (opens in a new tab); steam reservations at gepard.com. Position as of July 2026.

Two quite different arrangements, depending on whether you want steam. The diesel trains take no reservations: tickets are sold by the crew on board, three trains a day each way on both lines, every day, and the operator must carry everyone while there is capacity. The steam trains do, booked through gepard.com — Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays towards Nová Bystřice, Thursdays to Kamenice nad Lipou — and those are the ones that fill on summer Saturdays.

No fares are printed here: this railway's tariff and timetable have been rebuilt repeatedly since it restarted in September 2025, and the operator's own page is the only reliable source. Check the service is running for your date, and carry cash as well as cards for the small stations. Bicycles are a large part of the traffic, so expect company in summer.

This is one of the quietest corners of the Czech Republic, and the railway is the best way into it. Two lines run out of one town, through pine forest, granite and fishponds, into country that was border zone until 1989 and was never redeveloped afterwards.

Beyond the six places carded here, the Museum of South Bohemia at Jindřichův Hradec holds the Krýza Nativity, the largest folk-art mechanical nativity scene in the world: some 1,400 figures, a third of them moving, built by one stocking-maker over sixty years. On the Obrataň line, Kamenice nad Lipou is home to the Edmondson ticket press, the last cardboard-ticket printing works in the country, working again since January 2024; the town also has a château with a museum of toys and cycles.

Nová Bystřice, at the far end of the southern line, sits three kilometres from Austria and has the slightly suspended atmosphere of a town that spent forty years behind a closed frontier.

Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and the Hluboká château are all within reach to the west — and Vienna is closer than Prague.

There is one obvious answer here and it is unusual enough to lead with.

Sleep in a station

The railway lets rooms in its own station buildings — at Střížovice, Kunžak–Lomy, Albeř and Nová Bystřice. You get a country halt on a 760-millimetre railway in the middle of Czech Canada, with the last train gone and the next one in the morning, and nobody else about.

There are very few rooms and they are popular. Book as early as you can.

Jindřichův Hradec

The practical base, and a good town to spend a night in: hotels and penziony around the arcaded square and beneath the château, all inexpensive by western European standards. The narrow-gauge yard is beside the main station, which matters if you are catching an early steam train.

Nová Bystřice

At the end of the southern line, with a handful of guesthouses and the station rooms. Quiet to the point of silence, three kilometres from the Austrian border, and a good base for walking in Česká Kanada or visiting Landštejn.

Kamenice nad Lipou

On the Obrataň line, small, with a château and the ticket printing works. A couple of penziony. Sensible if you are riding the northern line and want to see the press.

Třeboň

Forty minutes west and the most comfortable option in the region: a walled spa town among the fishponds, with proper spa hotels, peat baths and a great deal of carp on the menus. Worth two nights on its own account, and an easy base for the railway.

Telč or Slavonice

Both within reach, both extraordinary to look at, and both with small hotels in historic houses on the square. If you want the region rather than only the railway, either makes a better week than Jindřichův Hradec.

When to come

May to September is the season: steam runs four days a week, the diesels run daily, and the bistros and buffet car are open. July and August are busiest, and the diesels — which take no reservations — can be crowded with cyclists on a Saturday.

Autumn is beautiful and quieter, but check what is still running. Winter service is thin; this is a railway rebuilding itself, and the winter timetable is not the summer one.

Whatever you choose, confirm the trains with the operator first. It has only been running again since September 2025.