Until the end of the year, the Road Authority of the City of Krakow will conduct a test increase in the speed of trams in the tunnel under the Main Railway Station. They will check how increasing the speed on straight lines (up to 50 km / h) will affect comfort, track safety and wear. In curves, the speed remained unchanged (30 and 40 km / h).
What will it do for passengers in the future? Will we get faster, for example, from the Mogilskie roundabout to Krowodrza Górki and further to Górka Narodowa?
Officials from ZDMK ensure that they will investigate how it will realistically affect the travel time. – We meet the conclusions of public transport enthusiasts, taking advantage of the fact that in the pandemic we have renovated the tunnel – says Michał Pyclik, spokesman for ZDMK.
The train from Katowice to Krakow will take only one hour. It will be cheaper than the highway. PKP PLK has published an outline of the timetable!
The route from Katowice to Krakow has been the Achilles’ heel of the Polish railways for years. The delayed renovation, long journey times, and a small number of connections will finally be lost. From December, the fastest trains from the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship to Wawel will take up to an hour. PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe, which is responsible for the construction of the timetable, has just published an outline of the new timetable. Although this is not yet the official timetable, which will be in force from December this year, there is a high probability that it will look like this.
1 hour – 1h 15 min tops!
The train from Katowice to Krakow actually travels on three railway lines. On the Katowice-Mysłowice section it runs along the Oświęcim-Katowice line, then joins the Mysłowice-Jaworzno Szczakowa line, and then joins the Dąbrowa Górnicza Ząbkowice-Kraków Główny line. Recently, between Katowice and Kraków, repairs were carried out on the sections between Jaworzno Szczakowa and Trzebinia and between Trzebinia and Krzeszowice. In December, everything is to be in such a state that the accelerated train from Katowice to Krakow will travel this route in about an hour, and a passenger train stopping at all stations in about an hour and fifteen minutes.
Timetable outline published – not the final one!
The timetable outline published by PKP PLK provides for 18 passenger connections a day between Katowice and Krakow. Most of them are to be serviced by Polregio, but there will also be four courses of Koleje Śląskie. The trains of the regional carrier will depart from Katowice at 6.48, 11.25, 14.48, and 18.40, and return from Kraków Główny at 8.55, 13.02, 16.18, and 20.23. Trains of Koleje Śląskie between Katowice and Trzebinia will stop at all stations (Katowice Zawodzie, Katowice Szopienice Południowy, Mysłowice, Jaworzno Szczakowa, Jaworzno Ciężkowice, Balin, and Trzebinia), and between Trzebinia and Kraków only at the Kraków Business Park station and at the Main Railway Station in Krakow.
New train lines!
In addition to passenger trains, fast trains will also appear on the route between Katowice and Krakow, most of which a few years ago were directed through Częstochowa Stradom and Lubliniec. Now a lot will travel again through Katowice, but also from Jasna Góra there will be 3 connections to Krakow. The train will return to the Katowice-Krakow route, among others former Wawel train from Krakow to Berlin. The Roztocze train to Lublin will not run from Katowice but from Bohumin. Another novelty will be the TLK Sudety train from Kraków to Jelenia Góra via Katowice, Nysa, Dzierżoniów, Świdnica, and Wałbrzych.
The price of the ticket is yet unknown!
It is not known yet what the price of the ticket for the new connection will be. However, taking into account the kilometer distance by rail between Katowice and Krakow, the price for both carriers will be similar – in Koleje Śląskie it is PLN 17 for a normal ticket and in Polregio PLN 17.10. Of course, there will also be reduced tickets. It is possible that both carriers will decide on some promotions. Even without it, the train will be cheaper than using the A4 motorway, wherefrom the beginning of October the toll will be PLN 12 at each gate. It is also worth remembering that the center of Krakow is covered by a paid parking zone, and the station is located in the very center of the city.
The final shape of the timetable is to be known in November. The new timetable will enter into force on December 13 this year.
Original article in Polish language can be found over here.
In September 2017, Massive Dynamic AG Polska (a branch of Massive Dynamic AG based in Switzerland) submitted a proposal to build an underground metro network for Krakow and the Krakow agglomeration for about 45 billion PLN on the basis of a public-private partnership. Its representatives resent the president of Krakow and his subordinate officials that for three years their actions have only discouraged the investor from actions that would largely solve transport problems in the capital of Małopolska and neighboring municipalities.
What would the project mean?
The undertaking would consist in the fact that Massive Dynamic AG will design, build and finance the metro network, then use it and earn money on it until the return on investment (analyzes have shown a return on the investment after 22 years), and then it will hand over the property to the city.
The concept proposed by Massive Dynamic AG assumed the construction of 5 metro lines with a total length of over 170 km (139 stations and 19 park & ride parking lots with a total capacity of about 6,100 parking spaces). It would be a subway network that would connect Krakow with the adjacent municipalities. 4 lines would run radially with a common point at the Main Railway Station, and 1 line would be a circumferential line.
The Numbers
It was noted that, according to preliminary arrangements with the provincial conservation authorities, the metro could run at a depth of at least 20 meters. The first 2 lines would be built within 3 years. The following ticket prices were adopted: tourists staying up to 3 days: 72-hour ticket – 54 PLN; tourists staying over 3 days: 7-day ticket – 74 PLN; students from outside the commune: monthly ticket – 82 PLN; students living in Krakow: monthly ticket – 65 PLN; people commuting to work from outside the commune: monthly ticket – 129 PLN; Krakow residents: monthly ticket – 92 PLN.
What happened?
The case was transferred to the Municipal Economy Department of the Krakow City Hall. “There, after the initial meeting, I was informed about the need to be patient. From the beginning of December 2017 to the end of March 2018, I was disposed of for all kinds of contacts with the Municipal Economy Department because of the lack of time for meetings regarding the metro” – admits Marcin Boroń, president of Massive Dynamic AG Polska.
In connection with the situation, in June 2018, Massive Dynamic AG submitted a petition to the Krakow City Council, in which it renewed its proposal to build the metro. As a result, there was finally a meeting with the management of the Municipal Economy Department, where president Marcin Boroń presented the concept of the metro to officials. He declared that the company had adequate financial resources and was in talks with companies involved in tunneling (Herrenknecht), rolling stock production (Siemens), and train traffic control systems.
Officials pointed out that a Study for Collision-Free Transport in Krakow is being developed, its effect may be the construction of the 1st metro line, therefore any works related to the construction of the metro line would have to be carried out in parallel and completely independent of the route of the metro in the eastern corridor analyzed in the Study West. Officials also pointed out that 3 metro lines were planned in the Krakow Development Study. The concept would, therefore, have to be adapted to this document or changed. The representatives of the city hall also expected more specific analyzes and documents confirming the investor’s financial capacity.
In October 2018, Massive Dynamic AG submitted to the office the preliminary analysis of the investment, and two months later it sent documents confirming the financial capacity. In order to read the documents sent, including agreements with foreign partners, the investor expected the city to sign a confidentiality agreement. The contract template was sent to the office at the end of 2018.
“After sending these documents, the Municipal Economy Department began to act very slowly. After many phone calls and messages sent by e-mail, a meeting with the vice-president of Krakow, Andrzej Kulig, was finally arranged on February 12, 2019, i.e. after more than 16 months from the moment our company submitted the proposal to build the metro“ – emphasizes President Marcin Boroń. “At the meeting attended by other representatives of the office, the scope of the project was initially discussed and it was agreed that a confidentiality agreement would be prepared. Later, the office again acted very sluggishly, in my opinion, so as to discourage us from further action in this matter”.
2019 & The Mayor of Krakow
In April 2019, Massive Dynamic filed a complaint against the work of the vice-president of Krakow, Andrzej Kulig, and the Municipal Economy Department. The Mayor of Krakow, Jacek Majchrowski, found it unfounded. In response, he recalled that the proposed solutions for the metro were not in line with the spatial development study for Kraków. The president also emphasized that although the president of Massive Dynamic Polska had sent documents confirming financial credibility, officials could not read their content, because they were secured with a password along with the information that they could be read after signing a confidentiality agreement.
The president also asked attention that the proposed routes of the metro lines should be verified by professional analyzes and forecasts of traffic, as well as the locations of transfer stations/nodes so that they do not conflict with the existing development. The president also noted that the city could not afford to cooperate with one entity selected without respecting the provisions related to public procurement.
Lack of interest…
“If it were an investment under a public-private partnership, the city could have prepared a tender and started a technical dialogue with our company” – says President Marcin Boroń. “We presented the general concept of the metro lines, which could be detailed at subsequent stages of the works to meet the city’s requirements. However, about PLN 20 million would be needed to conduct detailed analyzes. We could not afford such an expense without any agreements, especially non-disclosure agreements. It is difficult to imagine that without it, we would disclose all the financial secrets of our company to the office” – he adds.
Massive Dynamic AG also submitted complaints to the Krakow City Council and tried to present its vision to the councilors at the RMK session. “Until today, however, we have not obtained consent for it” – says President Marcin Boroń.
On the other hand, the chairman of the Krakow City Council, Dominik Jaśkowiec (PO councilor), informed Gazeta Krakowsa that he would look at the matter. “We have not recently invited guests to the meetings of the Krakow City Council due to the coronavirus pandemic. If epidemiological conditions make it possible, a presentation of the subway project could be organized in September” – explains Dominik Jaśkowiec.
Krakow voted in favor of having a metro line!
In May 2014, the inhabitants of Kraków voted in favor of building the metro in a referendum. In September 2018, the city signed an agreement with ILF Consulting Engineers Polska to develop a study for collision-free transport, including metro, for 9.4 million. The contract includes a deadline for the completion of the works by the end of 2019. Just before that date, the Krakow authorities informed that the document would not be prepared on time, as the proposals for the location of underground stops for the metro (planned on the Nowa Huta – city center – Bronowice route) were negatively assessed by the conservation authorities.
Initially, the Małopolska Voivodship Conservator of Monuments Monika Bogdanowska agreed only to the metro stop at the Nowaka-Jeziorański Square, so in the vicinity of the Main Railway Station. There was no consent for stops at the Mogilskie roundabout, the intersection of Dunajewskiego, Karmelicka and Podwale streets, and the square between Karmelicka and Dolnych Młynów streets, where there is now an above-ground parking lot and a municipal park is to be built. The contractors of the study proposed new solutions for the stops and the conservation authorities approved two of them: in the area of the Mogilskie roundabout and ul. Karmelicka, but with conditions. In the case of the Mogilskie roundabout, the recommendation was that the stop should not collide with the remains of the former fortification buildings.
Half a year ago, it seemed that both parties would be able to complete all the details efficiently and by the end of June this year, the authors of the study would be able to complete the necessary work. However, there are further delays and so far the Study has not been presented…
For more details on how the proposed 5 metro lines would look like, please do check the Gazeta Krakowska article and photos.
Yours truly,
The Twisted Red LadyBug bringing you the Krakow News
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