Operator: České dráhy
Headcode: EC458
Route: PRG-DRE
Class: 1st Class
Seat: ??
Date: Tuesday 16th September 2025
Having had a great day exploring the city of Prague, it was time to head back to our base in Dresden and so we were back at Praha Hlavní Nádraží (Prague Main Station) ready to catch a train back across the border. As with the journey to Prague, this service would be operated by České dráhy (Czech Railways) as a EuroCity service, however instead of running to Berlin like many of the Prague to Dresden services do, this one would instead run to Zurich overnight as the ‘Canopus’ sleeper train. Whilst the journey overnight to Zurich takes over 14.5 hours, our journey to Dresden would take around two and a half hours, with us due to arrive at 2059. If you want to read the other posts from our trip from Prague, you can find them here and here.
Train EC458, named ‘Canopus’ departs Praha Hlavní Nádraží at 1858 and after initially following the Vltava and Elbe valleys to Dresden, the train continues through Saxony to Leipzig where the day coaches are detached. The sleeper and couchette coaches are then attached to the NJ408 NightJet service from Berlin to Zurich, and the whole train continues via Frankfurt, Mannheim and Basel, arriving in Zurich just after 0900. Of course, there’s also a train running in the opposite direction overnight which does the reverse, running as part of a combined train from Zurich to Leipzig before splitting and continuing through to Prague as a separate service.
With the platform announced around 15 minutes before departure, we were surprised that the train didn’t arrive until just a couple of minutes before departure time causing a mad rush of passengers attempting to board both the day and sleeper coaches. It also didn’t help that, despite the platform being split into lettered sections, the departure board gave no indication of where the train would be on the platform or what coaches would be in which section. As such we ended up having to run the full length of the train to find the first class seated carriage which was situated behind the loco, and following the chaotic boarding, the train eventually departed at 1836, 8 minutes late.
Because this train formed a combined day/sleeper service, it was formed of individual coaches rather than one of the ‘unit like’ ComfortJet sets, meaning the coaches were all a little older. First class was still laid out in a 1-2 layout with large seat back tables, plenty of leg room, as well as reading lights and plug sockets. Despite the age of the carriages, WiFi was available with the same landing page full of free entertainment such as music, e-books and games. Really the only difference in first class was the slightly more tired seats and the fact that the carriage layout didn’t swap sides halfway down.
The journey to Dresden would have the same intermediate stops as our journey to Prague that morning, with calls at Praha-Holešovice, Ústi nad Lamen hl.n and Děĉín hl.n in Czechia aswell as Bad Schandau in Germany. The stop at Praha-Holešovice came just a few minutes after our departure from Prague Main Station, however following this there is around an hour until the train’s next stop at Ústi and as such we decided this was the best time to make our way one carriage back to the onboard restaurant. One thing I love about trains in Europe is that, for the most part, the catering onboard Intercity services is much better than in the UK. Certainly, the Czech and Swiss onboard restaurants are far and away the best I’ve experienced on my travels, and you can read about my previous experiences with them here and here.
With a menu that ranges from snacks and light bites up to full meals, Beth and I both opted for the traditional sirloin with dumplings, whilst Beth’s mum went for the Tomato soup. There’s also a wide range of drinks available including a Czech pilsner that’s on tap! As with my previous experience the food was excellent, the beer very refreshing and overall, its a great experience to have a proper meal whilst on a train. Shortly after finishing our meal and heading back to our seats we pulled into Ústi and after that it was a journey for relaxing as the darkness stopped us from enjoying the view. We crossed the Czech/German border at around 2016 and at either Děĉín (the last Czech station) or Bad Schandau (the first German station) there is a change of crews, with Deutsche Bahn staff operating the Czech loco and coaches whilst in Germany.
Having called at our final intermediate stop of Bad Schandau at 2025, we had recovered most of our earlier delay and I was hopeful of an on-time arrival into Dresden. Unfortunately, as we reached the Dresden suburbs we seemed to crawl along, at one point coming to a stand on the fast lines alongside Strehlen S-bahn station. This slow running mean we arrived at Dresden’s high-level platform 12 at 2105, six minutes late, and late enough that we missed our connection to a regional train at 2108, ending up on a bus that was replacing the next S-bahn service.
Once again, this journey with České dráhy was relaxing, peaceful and enjoyable, with some excellent food whilst onboard. All the staff we interacted with were helpful and polite, whilst the facilities onboard were good, despite the older carriages. Unfortunately, whilst the delay to this train was minimal, it was enough to eventually see us reach our accommodation about an hour later than planned, showing how a small delay can cause people to miss onward connections and the knock-on effects that can cause. However, despite this the journey was very pleasant and I’d certainly travel on České dráhy Eurocity services again in the future.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 5*
Service 5*
Punctuality 4*
Overall Rating 18/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 