Improving access to seaports is one of the priorities of Polskie Linie Kolejowe. How will the port program be implemented?
Ireneusz Merchel, CEO of PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A.: Improving access to seaports is one of the priorities of PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. By the end of 2020, PLK intends to implement the so-called port program, which covers seaports in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Szczecin, and Świnoujście. The Bydgoszcz – Tri-City route will also be modernized. These investments, with an estimated value of approx. PLN 4 billion, will increase line capacity, shorten cargo transport time, and increase the competitiveness of freight transport.
PLK has signed contracts with contractors for projects involving the improvement of rail access to the ports in Gdańsk and Gdynia. The completion of these works is scheduled for the first half of 2018. Implementation of works on the alternative transport corridor Bydgoszcz – Tri-City is planned for 2020-2022. PLK has signed a contract with the contractor for the design documentation for the sections: Kościerzyna – Gdynia, Somonino – Kartuzy, and Glincz – Kartuzy. The investment, worth nearly PLN 900 million, will be completed by 2022.
Investments around the two ports in Gdynia and Gdańsk and works on the Bydgoszcz – Tri-City route will contribute to improving conditions for intermodal freight transport. This will significantly increase the efficiency and safety of traffic on the lines “forming” the Baltic Sea – Adriatic Sea Corridor. Improving the Tri-City – Bydgoszcz connection is also a benefit for passengers, shortening travel time, improving train punctuality and traffic flow, and better service at stations and stops.
PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A., in the current perspective, assumes a significant improvement for freight transport. This includes, among other things, a good connection with Baltic ports and efficient departures from Silesia. Improving the Tri-City – Bydgoszcz route will ensure both more efficient transport of goods and better agglomeration connections. Thanks to the construction of additional tracks and the electrification of the Maksymilianowo – Gdynia Główna section, a new possibility will be created on the line connecting Bydgoszcz with the Tri-City – an alternative corridor for freight transport serving the seaport in Gdynia. Such a solution will relieve the Gdynia – Gdańsk diameter line from freight traffic and improve rail communication, which is so important for the residents of the agglomeration.
The effects of the planned works are a more comfortable and faster journey. Trains on the Kościerzyna – Gdynia Główna route will travel about 16 minutes faster than currently (the time will be reduced from 1h 16 min. to approx. 1h). Similarly, thanks to the construction of additional tracks on the most congested sections and increasing the speed of passenger trains to 160 km/h, the travel time on the Gdynia Główna – Słupsk route will be reduced by 15 minutes. The travel time on the Szczecinek – Słupsk route will be reduced by approx. 13 min. (from 1h 49 min. to approx. 1h 36 min.). Trains on the Grudziądz – Malbork route will travel about 20 minutes faster (from 1h 30 min. to approx. 1h 10 min.). Trains on the Lębork – Łeba route will travel 10 minutes faster (from 42 min. to approx. 32 min.).
Ports in Gdynia, Gdańsk, Szczecin, and Świnoujście
Projects worth nearly PLN 1.5 billion, scheduled for implementation by 2020, include the modernization, construction, and expansion of railway infrastructure as well as investments enabling the handling of growing maritime transport using rail transport. Port projects covering works on railway lines in Gdynia, Świnoujście, and Szczecin were submitted in the second CEF call.
The result of works worth PLN 850 million at the Gdynia Port railway station will be the adaptation of infrastructure parameters to the TEN-T core network standards (for freight traffic) through comprehensive track reconstruction (with the possibility of heavier trains entering) and the ability to handle 740 m long trains. Additionally, the investment will enable an increase in the safety and efficiency of rail traffic through the comprehensive reconstruction of the traffic control system and the construction of a Local Control Center at the Gdynia Port station.
Similar effects are assumed by the comprehensive modernization of ports in Szczecin and Świnoujście. The planned construction works cover both the Szczecin Port Centralny station and sections of railway lines directly connected to the station, as well as the Ostrów Grabowski container terminal groups and the Świnoujście station along with related infrastructure.
Works worth over PLN 600 million assume the comprehensive reconstruction of the track layout of the Szczecin Port Centralny and Świnoujście stations (approx. 38 km of tracks) along with the subgrade and drainage, reconstruction of the rail traffic control system and telecommunications equipment, reconstruction of 2 railway viaducts, a railway bridge, electrification of the line, and in the area of the Świnoujście commercial port’s delivery and reception tracks, the construction of three tracks with a length of 2 km.
In Gdańsk, 46 km of tracks for nearly PLN 600 million at the Gdańsk Port Północny, Gdańsk Kanał Kaszubski, Gdańsk Zaspa Towarowa, and Gdańsk Wiślany stations.
Better conditions for freight transport at the end of the perspective
PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. in the new EU financial perspective are intensifying work on freight lines. This, in addition to improving access to seaports, also includes unblocking departures from Silesia and freight corridors on the north-south axis. The infrastructure manager is carrying out works whose goal at the end of the current perspective is to nearly double the commercial speed for freight transport and achieve a network effect, i.e., the longest possible and correlated sections with parameters meeting the needs of rail customers.
Last year, the construction of a new bridge on the Martwa Wisła and the modernization of line no. 226 between Pruszcz Gdański and the port in Gdańsk were completed. The result of the work is a six-fold increase in line capacity for freight trains, an increase in their speed to 100 km/h (it was 20-40 km/h), and facilitation of navigation on the Martwa Wisła, among other things, thanks to a four-fold widening of the fairway.