Transport in Poland

Transport in Poland involves air, water, road and rail transportation. The country has a large network of municipal public transport, such as buses, trams and the metro. As a country located at the 'cross-roads' of Europe, Poland, with its highly developed economy, is a nation with a large and increasingly modern network of transport infrastructure.

The country's most important waterway is the river Vistula. The largest seaports are the Port of Szczecin and Port of Gdańsk. Air travel is generally used for international travel, with many flights originating at Warsaw Chopin Airport. Railways connect all of Poland's major cities and the state-owned Polish State Railways (PKP) corporation, through its subsidiaries, runs a great number of domestic and international services of varying speed and comfort. In addition to this, five out of sixteen Polish voivodeships have their own provincial rail service providers.

Rail transport

Railways in Poland
Wrocław Główny railway station, the busiest train station in Wrocław.
A PKP Intercity ED250 Pendolino at Wrocław Main Station.
Gdańsk Main Station, one of Poland's most important railway terminals
A Polish locomotive takes over haulage duty from a Deutsche Bahn unit at Rzepin on a Berlin-Warsaw Express train

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, 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 capital city, Warsaw, has the country's only rapid transit system: the Warsaw Metro.

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 Central Rail Line (Poland), Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa (CMK). It has a length of 223 km (139 mi), and was built in 1971–1977; it links Warsaw with Kraków and Katowice. Most trains on the CMK operate at speeds up to 160 km/h (99 mph), but since December 2014 new Alstom Pendolino ED250 trains operate on a 90 km section of the CMK at 200 km/h (124 mph), and improvements under way should raise the authorized speed to 200 km/h (124 mph) on most of the line. In test runs on the CMK in November 2013 a new Pendolino ED250 train set a new Polish speed record of 293 km/h (182 mph).[1]

Other high-speed lines:

Projects The Warsaw–Łódź line is being upgraded to allow speed up to 160 km/h (in order to bind together the Warsaw–Łódź agglomeration).

Plans were made to construct a new high-speed line (350 km/h) from Warsaw to Poznań and Wrocław with forks in Łódź and Kalisz.,[5] but the project was cancelled in November 2011 due to its high cost.[6]

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

Passenger transport operators

The following companies operate in Poland:

Narrow gauge railways

There are hundreds of kilometres of 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in), 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in), 785 mm (2 ft 6 29⁄32 in), and 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) narrow gauge lines in Poland. These railways are mostly in decline, some surviva as a museum or tourist railways.

Freight transport market

Broad gauge railways

LHS links southern Poland with broad gauge railways in Ukraine and other eastern countries

Except for Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa, and a few very short stretches near border crossings, Poland uses the standard gauge for its railways. Therefore, Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa (known by its acronym LHS, English: Broad gauge steelworks line) in Sławków is the longest broad gauge railway line in Poland. The line runs on a single track for almost 400 km (250 mi) from the Polish-Ukrainian border, crossing it just east of Hrubieszów. It is the westernmost broad gauge railway line in Europe that is connected to the broad gauge rail system of the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Rail system

Total: 23,420 km (14,550 mi)

As of December 2002 narrow gauge railways were no longer owned or operated by PKP. They were transferred to regional authorities or became independent companies.

Road transport

Map of planned motorway and expressway network in Poland.
A2 near Poznań, opened in 2003
Semi-trailer truck average daily traffic in 2015

Polish public roads are grouped into categories related to administrative division. Poland has 412,264 km (256,170 mi) of public roads, of which 131,863 km (81,940 mi) are unsurfaced (2011):[7]

According to national roads state agency GDDKiA in 2008 1/4 of national roads were capable of handling 11.5 tonnes per axle loads.[8]

In recent years, the network has been improving and government spending on road construction recently saw a huge increase, due to rapid development of the country and the inflow of European Union funds for infrastructure projects.[9]

Motorways and expressways

Polish motorways and expressways are part of national roads network. As of December 2012, there are 1,330 kilometres (830 mi) of motorways (autostrady, singular - autostrada) and 1,144 km (710 mi) of expressways (drogi ekspresowe, singular - droga ekspresowa).

Motorways in Poland, 1,330 km (830 mi) (2012):

A1 | A2 | A4 | A6 | A8 | A18

Expressways in Poland, 1,144 km (710 mi) (2012):

S1 | S2 | S3 | S5 |

S6 | S7 | S8 | S10 | S11 | S12 | S14 | S17 | S19 | S22 | S51 | S61 | S69 | S74 | S79 | S86

Air transport

Location of main airports in Poland, with number of passengers served in 2014
Terminal 2 of the Warsaw Chopin Airport
Copernicus Airport Wrocław - interior of the terminal T2
New terminal at Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport

The most important airport in Poland is Warsaw 'Frederic Chopin' International Airport. Warsaw's airport is the main international hub for LOT Polish Airlines.

In addition to Warsaw Chopin, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków and Poznań all have international airports.

In preparation for the Euro 2012 football championships jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine, a number of airports around the country were renovated and redeveloped. This included the building of new terminals with an increased number of jetways and stands at both Copernicus Airport in Wrocław and Lech Wałęsa Airport in Gdańsk.

Airports

The Polish airline market was until 2004 a closed market, with bilateral agreements between countries served from the national hub – Warsaw. The regional airports were mostly serving as spokes, and were controlled by PPL, the state-owned airport authority. However, in the 1990s it was decided to deregulate the airport market and abolish the dominant position of PPL. Nearly all local airports (apart from Zielona Góra airport) became separate companies, with local governments involved in their management, which led to the partial decentralisation. Soon after opening of Polish sky for competition, flights “avoiding” the Warsaw hub became more common.

There are twelve passenger airports in operation, and there is also an airport Heringsdorf in German village Garz, 7 kilometers from Polish seaside spa Świnoujście.

International airports

List of airports in Poland The following are the largest airports in Poland (In descending order for 2013):

Domestic:

Airports with paved runways: Total: 84 (2005)

Airports – with unpaved runways: Total: 39 (2005)

Heliports: 2 (2005)

Water transport

Ferries of Polish company Unity Line in the city of Szczecin
Gdynia's main municipal marina

The country's most important waterway is the river Vistula. The largest seaports are the Port of Szczecin and Port of Gdańsk.

Marine transport in Poland has two main sub-groups, riverine and seaborne. On the Baltic Sea coast, a number of large seaports exist to serve the international freight and passenger trade; these are typically deep water ports and are able to serve very large ships, including the ro-ro ferries of Unity Line, Polferries and Stena Line which operate the Poland – Scandinavia passenger lines.

Riverine services operate on almost all major Polish rivers and canals (such as the Danube–Oder and Elbląg canals) as well as on domestic coastal routes.

Waterways

Poland has 3,997 km (2,480 mi) of navigable rivers and canals (as of 2009).

Ports and harbors

Merchant marine

Total: 57 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,120,165 GRT/1,799,569 tonnes deadweight (DWT)

Ships by type: bulk 50, cargo 2, chemical tanker 2, roll-on/roll-off 1, short-sea passenger 2 (1999 est.)

Municipal transport

City bus in Warsaw, manufactured by Polish company Solaris

Bus

Most Polish towns and cities have well developed municipal bus services. Typically, a city possesses its own local bus service, however, in some cases they have private competitors operating on certain lines upon the agreement with local authorities.

Until the 1990s, interurban connections were operated by a single, state-owned company PKS. Since then, it has been broken into a number of independent national and municipal enterprises. In addition, several private operators emerged. There are two classes of service distinguished by vehicle length:

While they often use the same bus stops, they tend to use different stations.

Tram

Bombardier tram in Kraków

Bigger cities run dense tram networks, which are the primary mean of public transport. Currently, there are 14 systems serving over 30 cities including Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Katowice, Kraków, Łódź, Poznań, Szczecin, Warsaw and Wrocław, with the total track length varying from 200 km (120 mi) (Silesian Interurbans) to less than 10 km (6 mi) (Tramways in Grudziądz). A new network has been constructed in Olsztyn in 2015. See the list of town tramway systems in Poland

Since the 1990s, a number of cities attempts to upgrade certain parts of their networks to the light rail standard (called szybkie tramwaje, En. fast trams). The most notable investments are Poznań Fast Tram and Kraków Fast Tram with the underground 1.5 km (0.9 mi) premetro section.

Trolleybus

Trolleybuses can be found in three cities: Gdynia (with some lines reaching Sopot), Lublin and Tychy.

Rapid transit

The first metro line was opened in Warsaw in 1995. Part of the second line was opened in 2015. This is part of the country's rail transport infrastructure. There are no official plans to build metro in other cities due to the lack of funds, but there is an ongoing debate whether they should be built, especially in Kraków.

Pipelines

(2006 est.)

See also

References

  1. ↑ 'Bariera 300 km/h nie padła. Na koniec testów 293 km/h,' Rynek Kolejowy, 2013 11 24, http://www.rynek-kolejowy.pl/49466/bariera_300_km_h_nie_padla_na_koniec_testow_293_km_h.htm
  2. ↑ 'Polish Pendolino launches 200 km/h operation,' Railway Gazette International, 15 December 2014, http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/passenger/single-view/view/polish-pendolino-launches-200-kmh-operation.html
  3. ↑ 'Pendolino z Trójmiasta do Warszawy,' http://www.trojmiasto.pl/wiadomosci/Pendolino-z-Trojmiasta-do-Warszawy-Wiecej-pytan-niz-odpowiedzi-n71010.html
  4. ↑ ';Jeszcze szybciej z Warszawy do Gdańska,' Kurier Kolejowy 9 01 2015 http://www.kurierkolejowy.eu/aktualnosci/22716/Jeszcze-szybciej-z-Warszawy-do-Gdanska.html
  5. ↑ In brief: High Speed Rail will invade Poland by 2020, Transport Expertise Association, Matthieu Desiderio, 11 June 2008.
  6. ↑ 'Polish High Sped Rail Project Cancelled,' Railway Gazette International, 08 December 2011, http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/infrastructure/single-view/view/polish-high-speed-rail-project-cancelled.html
  7. ↑ Transport - activity results in 2011 Główny Urząd Statystyczny
  8. ↑ GDDKiA (in Polish)
  9. ↑ Adisa Banjanovic, Improving Poland's transport infrastructure
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