It's 5:56 in the morning, still dark outside, and the high-speed SC 502 Pendolino train is hurtling toward Pardubice at 160 kilometers (99.5 miles) an hour, steadily devouring the twin silver lines of tracks that run ahead of it. Inside the driver's cabin, a confusion of orange, yellow and green lights, knobs and dials flicker in the dark like something out of a Star Trek episode.

Engine driver Zdeněk Kytner, captain of this space train, seems to know what all the buttons are for — which is reassuring, given the constant stream of problems that have plagued the four Pendolino trains state-owned Czech Railways launched to much fanfare Dec. 11.

The trains, seemingly dogged by a cloud of bad luck, have been a disaster so far.

Numerous technical glitches have contributed to frequent delays on the trains' only route, from Prague to Ostrava, north Moravia. Sometimes the delays are so extensive the trains never even make it there. And when one train earlier this month struck and killed a man and dragged him some 30 kilometers before the accident was noticed, it only added to the bad press. As of press time, all the Pendolinos had been removed from service.

Czech Railways is asking Alstom, the Italian company that manufactures the trains, for 600,000 euros ($732,000/17.3 million Kč) in compensation for the dozens of delays that the malfunctions have caused.

"[Alstom] says they are working to repair it, but so far nothing has been fixed," says Kytner, without taking his eyes off the tracks ahead. "A malfunction could happen any time. It could happen right now."

Transportation Minister Milan Šimonovský even threatened Jan. 16 that the country would return the seven trains it initially purchased in 2003, at a cost of 4.3 billion Kč..

Josef Bazala, director of Czech Railways, says the company will pull out of its contract with Alstom if the manufacturer fails to completely correct the software problems.

'We don't speak Italian'

Alstom promises to fix the problems by the end of the month, and has sent a team of experts to the Czech Republic to record and analyze the malfunctions.

When the software reports an error, the driver has to restart the whole system. "It's like with a [personal] computer," says Kytner. "You press restart and hope for the best." In order to do this, the driver needs to bring the train to a complete stop, which takes time and causes significant delays.

Czech Railways has put in replacement trains, which aren't as fast as the Pendolino, to plug the gaps in the Pendolino's schedule. Until the situation is resolved, the Pendolino comes equipped with one expert from Italy representing Alstom — ready to record and assist with any potential malfunctions.

But Kytner, who has been driving trains for 35 years, isn't so convinced this will help things. "Really, I don't know what he's here for," he says.

Miroslav Máca, a technical supervisor riding with Kytner, is also skeptical. "We don't speak Italian, and he doesn't speak Czech."

According to Mihály Müller, a spokesman for Alstom, the malfunction should be fixed by the end of this month, and all five Pendolinos should begin operating again. "We can't say yet what the problem is," he says.

Two more trains are still being tested on Czech tracks and are waiting for the necessary license to operate in the Czech Republic.

But the question remains: Is all this fuss worth it?

After all, the Pendolino reduces the trip from Prague to Ostrava by only an hour. And although the Pendolino is capable of traveling 200 kilometers an hour — it even set a new Czech record of 230 kilometers an hour when it was test-driven — so far the maximum speed the train can maintain is being kept at 160 kilometers an hour for safety reasons.

What makes the Pendolino (the "little pendulum") so special is its tilting mechanism, which allows the train to enter curves at higher speeds. Normally, trains need to slow down significantly when entering a turn. The Pendolino can travel through curves 30 percent faster than regular trains, according to Petr Kaván, an expert from the Czech Railway Research Institute, who led speed testing of the Pendolino in 2004.

When the train enters a sharp turn, it's top part tilts slightly into the curve, which, Kaván explains, helps counter the centripetal force that pushes the train out of the curve.

The tilt can be up to 8 degrees. "It's like on a motorcycle," says Máca, the technical superviser, on the early morning train to Pardubice. And indeed, when the train enters sharper curves, you can feel a small tilt, a smooth movement from side to side that could go unnoticed if you weren't paying attention.

Fading novelty

Pendolino trains also operate in Italy, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.

A one-way ticket from Prague to Pardubice on a Pendolino would have originally run you 300 Kč, about twice that of a regular train ticket. In response to trains performance during the past month, however, Czech Railways reduced that ticket price by 20 percent to placate disgruntled passengers.

Not that there have been many. Kytner says despite its record, people still love taking the Pendolino. Services were packed during the holidays, and rides aboard the train were apparently hot Christmas presents. But the novelty is wearing off, Kytner says.

Kytner pulls the train into Pardubice station three minutes ahead of schedule. The ride from Prague was problem-free: No software mishaps to report, everything smooth sailing.