First Freight Uses A Pre-Arranged Path On RFC7

On 10 November 2013 six of the nine European Rail Freight Corridors (RFCs) became officially operational. On 10/11 January 2014 a freight service for the first time used a pre-arranged path on the RFC7, named Orient/East Med, which runs from Praha via Slovakia/Austria, Hungary and Romania, with one branch to Constanta and another via Bulgaria to Thessaloníki and Athína. This inaugural train ran under the licence of Slovakian operator PSŽ using the RFC7 train paths provided between Praha and Szajól, though it arrived from Germany, and ran under other operators’ licences as far as Praha. Both photos were taken on 10 January 2014. The first shows the train passing through Havlíčkův Brod, hauled by 189 153, on hire from PKP Cargo and PSŽ’s own 240.039. The other shows it in Zohor, Slovakia, headed by PSŽ's 240.039 on its own, but awaiting arrival of a a banker.