High-speed rail in Poland
High-speed rail service (
Current connections
PKP Intercity was initially using only nine sets a day to operate 23 EIP services from Warsaw to Gdynia, Kraków, Katowice, and Wrocław. Today most of the 20 units operate on the core Kraków - Warsaw - Gdańsk - Gdynia route, running hourly at peak times and every 2 h off-peak. The (Gliwice/Bielsko-Biała - Katowice - Warsaw - Gdańsk - Gdynia route is operated five times a day. There are two Pendolinos each way per day on the Wrocław route. Headline journey times are 2 h 58 min from Warsaw to Gdańsk, 2 h 28 min to Kraków and 2 h 34 min to Katowice. EIP services from Warsaw to Wrocław run via the CMK trunk line, Częstochowa and Opole, taking 3 h 42 min against up to 6 h for the previous route via Poznań.
In addition to the
Several sections of the Central Trunk Line currently permit speeds of 200 km/h (with a current speed record in Poland of 293 km/h)[5] however only 160 km/h was used in commercial service. Polish Railways planned to buy Pendolino trains in 1998 but the contract was cancelled in the following year by the Supreme Audit Office due to financial losses by Polish Railways.
Proposals
Historically, there have been many proposals and plans put in place by several Polish governments and/or interest groups seeking to introduce high-speed rail to Poland. As of December 2009, Poland had 700-800 km of railways suited for rail transport reaching 160 km/h.
Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK)
In 2019, prime minister
The CPK program will include international connections to the planned high-speed rail network in the Czech Republic (Katowice - Ostrava and Wałbrzych - Hradec Králové) and to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia via Rail Baltica (Suwałki - Kaunas).[9][10][11][12] This will enable travel time reductions such as Warsaw to Prague from 510 to 270 minutes and Warsaw to Kaunas from 480 to 210 minutes.[13] The connection between Katowice and Ostrava will benefit from joint investments from the countries of the Visegrad group with the aim to link Warsaw, Brno, Bratislava and Budapest by high-speed rail.[11]
The CPK program is planned to be implemented by 2040.[8] Ten railway "spokes" will radiate from the CPK airport in different directions. Each spoke will consist of newly built sections and of modernized parts of the existing infrastructure. The main railway elements of the CPK program are broken down into the following spokes:
- Spoke No. 1
- Spoke No. 2
- Spoke No. 3
- Spoke No. 4
- CPK - Warsaw - Siedlce - Łuków - Biała Podlaska - Terespol
- Spoke No. 5
- CPK - Warsaw - Otwock - Lublin - Trawniki - Chełm
- Trawniki - Krasnystaw -- Zamość - Tomaszów Lubelski - Bełżec (- Lviv)
- Spoke No. 6
- Spoke No. 7
- CPK - Central Rail Line (Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa or CMK) - new Lesser Poland and Silesia Hub (Węzeł Małopolsko-Śląski or WMŚ) - Kraków - Podłęże - Nowy Sącz/Chabówka
- WMŚ - Czechowicz-Dziedzice - Jastrzębie Zdrój
- WMŚ - Katowice
- CMK - Opoczno - Końskie -Kielce - Busko Zdrój - Tarnów - Nowy Sącz - Muszyna
- Spoke No. 8
- CPK - Skierniewice - Częstochowa - Opole - Nysa - Kłodzko
- Spoke No. 9
- CPK - Łódź - Sieradz - Wieruszów - Wrocław - Świdnica - Wałbrzych - Lubawka
- Sieradz - Kalisz - Poznań - Szczecin - Szczecin Goleniów
- Kalisz - Ostrów Wielkopolski - Leszno - Głogów - Zielona Góra
- Poznań - Zbąszynek - Gorzów Wielkopolski
- Spoke No. 10
Warsaw to Poznań and Wrocław via Łódź ("Y" Line)
Before the CPK program, plans had been made for a "Y" line that would have connected Warsaw-Łódź-Kalisz. The line would then have split into two branches to Wrocław and Poznań.[14] The geometric layout of the line was planned to permit speeds of 360 km/h. Construction had been planned to begin around 2014 and finish in 2019. In April 2010, the tender for a feasibility study was awarded to a consortium led by Spanish company Ingenieria IDOM.[15] The feasibility study was granted €80 million in subsidy from the European Union.[16] The total cost of the line including construction and train sets was estimated at €6.9 billion and was planned to be partially financed by EU subsidies.[17]
In the center of the city of Łódź the "Y" line would have traveled through a tunnel which would have linked two existing railway stations. One of them: Łódź Fabryczna would have been reconstructed as an underground station (construction contract was signed on 18 August 2011).[18] However, the "Y" line project was cancelled in 2011 due to insufficient funding.[19] However, the central hub of "Y" line (the Łódź Fabryczna underground station) was completed.
As part of the CPK program, new railway lines similar to those proposed in the "Y" line project were announced. The new line will link Warsaw and Łódź via the new
Warsaw to Kyiv and Lviv
In early February 2022, upon returning from a visit to Poland, Infrastructure Minister
Upgraded lines
The
Reconstruction work has started on the Warsaw-Gdynia (Sopot and Gdańsk) line to allow speeds up to 200 km/h for tilting trains.[28] This initially allows trains to run to ETCS Level 1 standards with a commitment but no timetable for further upgrades to ETCS Level 2 standards. In the day of 13 December 2020 the speed limit was raised to 200 km/h on the line from Warsaw to seaport Gdynia by New Pendolino train.[3]
Rolling stock
The seven-car Class ED250 trainsets have been supplied by Alstom Transport. Each set has seats for 57 first class and 345 second class passengers, with a buffet/bar and three four-seat business or family compartments.
Polish state railways PKP originally ordered 16 Pendolinos in 1998, but the order was cancelled in 2000 due to a shortage of funds.[29]
In 2010 Alstom was the only company bidding on a PKP Intercity tender for high-speed trains, with an offer of 20 New Pendolino trains.[30] They will be equipped to work on 25 kV 50 Hz AC, 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC and 3 kV DC, and thus able to operate in Poland, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.[30]
On 30 May 2011 the Polish state railways
High-speed tests using the new Pendolino ED250 on the CMK
Dispute between Alstom and Polish Railways PKP
The contract between the Polish operator
Operational status
Other loco-hauled services branded EIC (Express InterCity) will be switched to EIP (Express Intercity Premium) operation over the coming months[when?], with the eventual plan envisaging 17 Pendolinos in traffic, one spare and two for maintenance. All 20 trains have now been completed, with the final set being delivered to Poland at the beginning of December.[when?] However, the first unit which was used for testing and commissioning has been returned to Savigliano for retrofitting before entering revenue service.
As well as 3 kV DC for operation in Poland, the Pendolinos are equipped with 15 kV 16⅔ Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz and the train control systems needed to run in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. However, certification for international operation is not seen as a priority, as the trains are restricted to domestic services for an initial 10 years under the terms of a grant from the EU Cohesion Fund which covered 22% of the project cost.
Alstom expects to employ around 130 people at the Grochów maintenance depot, which has three covered tracks for servicing and two for maintenance. The company is using its TrainTracer health monitoring and diagnostics systems to manage the fleet, ensuring that sufficient trainsets are available for the operator. Some sets are stabled overnight at the outer termini, and cycled through the depot as required. The fleet management and pit-stop maintenance regime has been developed using experience in maintaining the
References
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