At http://czech-transport.com/index.php?id=521, they list two direct trains from Prague to Nuremberg. The distance is 156 miles and it takes 4:30 for the trip--do the passengers push the train.
Back in the 60's, passengers traveling from Paris to the Bayreuth (Wagner) Opera Festival, would take the Orient Express, which would be split in Stuttgart and one section would go to Prague, with a stop in Pegnitz for a connecting train to Bayreuth. One would assume that service between major cities would improve (now that that the "Eastern Bloc" has been dissolved.)