Puls Biznesu: Reform at the railways

Revolutionary changes at the railways are oncoming. For the needs of EURO 2012 the Ministry of Transport wants to modernize the old and construct new tracks.

As early as in August modernization will start of the line to Gdansk. The works will take two years. Afterwards the travel time from Warsaw to the seaside will take just two hours.

By 2012 the state railways (PKP) want to refurbish over 650 km of the tracks connecting the cities where matches of the European Football Championships will be held.

Moreover the Ministry of Transport is planning to improve transport connections with Ukraine. Modernization of the line running to one of the border crossings in Dorohuskor and Medyka, previously planned for the years 2014-20, will be covered by the current refurbishment plan (for the years 2007-13).

An idea was also developed in PKP to accelerate construction of a new, super fast railway line, the so-called Y, from Warsaw to Kalisz, where it would separate into two lines: to Poznań and to Kutno. Commencement of the investment was planned as late as after 2014, but the railway enterprise want to construct the section from the capital city to Łódź by EURO 2012. It will speed up travel from Warsaw to Wrocław. New tracks will enable trains to travel at the speed of over 260 km/h.

Consideration is also given to the idea of expanding the refurbished Warsaw – Radom – Kielce route to the south via Tarnów to the border crossing in Muszyna onto Slovakia. This project fits nicely with the EU plan of connecting two railway corridors running from the west to the east (E30: Dresden – Lviv and E20: Poznań – Terespol) to the north-south line.

Read more in "Puls Biznesu"

Source: "Two-hour journey to the seaside in two years", Eugeniusz Twaróg, "Puls Biznesu", 10th May 2007