Transport in Poland - Railways

Railways

Poland is served by an extensive network of railways. In most cities the main railway station is located near a city centre and is well connected to the local transportation system. The infrastructure is operated by PKP PLK ( PKP-Polskie Linie Kolejowe : PKP-Polish Rail Lines), part of state-run PKP Group. The rail network is very dense in western and northern Poland, while eastern part of the country is less developed.

The only high speed rail line (though by most definitions, real high speed rail only includes speeds over 200 km/h) in central-eastern Europe is the Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa (CMK), the Central Railway Route. It has a length of 223 km (139 mi), and was built in 1971 – 1977; it links Warsaw with Kraków and Katowice. Trains on the CMK achieve speed up to 160 km/h (some sections allow up to 200 km/h, but the rolling stock has not yet been adapted to handle higher speed). On 11 May 1994, the Italian train Pendolino broke Polish speed record, going on the CMK at 250 km/h.

Other high speed lines:

• Warsaw – Kutno – Poznań – (Berlin) (160 km/h)
• Warsaw – Siedlce – Terespol – (Minsk) (160, 120 km/h) – being upgraded to 160 km/h
• Warsaw – Puławy – Lublin (120, 140 km/h)
• Opole – Wrocław (160 km/h) and further upgraded via Legnica to Berlin and Hamburg

Projects The Warsaw – Gdańsk – Gdynia line is being upgraded to allow speed up to 200 km/h, and the Warsaw – Łódź line is being upgraded to allow speed up to 160 km/h (in order to bind together the Warsaw – Łódź agglomeration). There are long term plans to construct a new high speed line (350 km/h) from Warsaw to Poznań and Wrocław with forks in Łódź and Kalisz.

The PKP Group is the fourth largest railway throughout Europe. Trains are run by its different subsidiaries.