“We were thrown off the train at three o’clock in the afternoon and when the transport arrived for me at a quarter to six in the evening, the train was still not there and people were waiting in overcrowded carriages without air conditioning, windows and no locomotive. And also without any instructions. I have never experienced anything like this. Especially today, when they are in their forties,” said Gabriela Matušková from Prague in the early evening of Sunday.
The air conditioning stopped working in the train and the set was stopped on the track. “They took us outside, in extreme temperatures with minimal possibility to hide in the shade,” she described. According to her, it was extremely hot in the wagons, the windows could practically not be opened. Passengers could only choose between staying in a hot train without air or standing in direct sunlight.
“We found ourselves in a situation that I consider completely unacceptable, but mainly life-threatening,” added the passenger.
The rescue service intervened on the spot, a number of people felt nauseous. The intervention of rescuers in the train was confirmed by their spokesman Josef Strašík to Novinka.
“The train stopped in Březová nad Svitavou due to the patient’s health indisposition. Our operations center sent a medical crew from Polička. Already when receiving an emergency call, the operator detected symptoms in the patient that are typical of a condition when the body is exposed to excessive temperature. Difficulty breathing, spinning of the head and a pre-collapse state due to the non-functioning air conditioning, which the patient indicated even when our medical crew arrived. When she got to a colder environment, the symptoms started retreat,” said the spokesman.
As her condition improved, it was not necessary to transport this patient to a medical facility.
RegioJet spokesperson Lukáš Kubát confirmed the problem with the air conditioning. “The air conditioning didn’t work and we had to change the train. The passenger was then carried by a different one than originally planned,” said Kubát.
“Of course, it’s unpleasant, but you never know what can happen here in those buckets. Similar complications cannot be avoided by other carriers,” the spokesman pointed out. He did not know when the crew registered the malfunction and how long the passengers had been driving without the supply of cold air. “I don’t have more precise information, I’m currently on vacation abroad,” he said.
According to him, passengers can request compensation. “We have up to one hundred percent compensation. Maybe some passengers expect that the air conditioning should be twenty degrees. This is not the case, it should only be six to eight degrees below the outside temperature so that no one catches a cold,” he concluded.
