Train 653 left Pardubice at 17:22, one minute behind schedule. Train 608 left Hradec Králové at 17:25, seven minutes behind schedule. The Stéblová station dispatcher set the route for train 608 to track number 1 and assigned train 653 to track number 2; this was the reverse of what was usually done. Train 608 arrived at Stéblová station at 17:40. The station dispatcher left the office, but after a while he returned to set the route for train 653. The switchman went away to operate switch number 4 to set up for the future departure of the train 653, and also to lift the crossing gates after train 608 passed through. Meanwhile, the station dispatcher confirmed by telephone with Čeperka (the station from which train 608 arrived) that the track was empty, and then set the route for the train 653 arrival.