THE RAIL MARKET IN POLAND 2014 BROOKS MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORTS THE RAIL MARKET IN POLAND 2014 Brooks Events Ltd © 2014. All rights reserved. A Brooks Reports Publication No guarantee can be given as to the correctness and/or completeness of the information provided in this document. Users are recommended to verify the reliability of the statements made before making any decisions based on them. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any binding, cover or electronic format other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser /borrower. Cover image: Keith Fender BROOKS MARKET INTELLIGENCE REPORTS CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 4 Polish history and rail transport geography 4 Evolution of the rail network 4 Polish railway border crossings 5 A transit country 7 European TEN-T routes in Poland 7 2. GOVERNMENt 8 Ministry of Transport, Construction and Maritime Economy 8 EU-directed railway legislation 8 Coping with EU membership 9 The impact of liberalisation 9 Local government structure 10 Regulation 10 PKP – the state railway company 10 3. NATIONAL RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE 12 PKP PLK 12 Other rail infrastructure owners/managers 23 4. PASSENGER OPERATIONS 26 Long-distance 26 Local passenger transport – state-owned operators 28 Local public transport – open access and province-owned operators 32 Suburban rail developments 39 5. FrEIGHT OPERATIONS 43 Railfreight market overview 43 Freight transport – PKP subsidiaries 46 Open access railfreight operators 53 6. UrBAN PUBLIC TRANSPOrt 64 Bydgoszcz 64 Częstochowa 64 Elbląg 64 Gdańsk 65 Grudziądz 65 Gorzów Wielkopolski 66 Kraków 66 Łódź 66 Olsztyn 67 Poznań 68 Śląsk Conurbation 68 Szczecin 70 Toruń 70 Warszawa 71 Metro 71 Warszawa Tramways 72 Wrocław 73 THE RAIL MARKET IN POLAND 2014 Brooks Events Ltd©2014 3 1 INTRODUCTION Within the railway era, Poland as a political entity did not come into being until November 1918, not assuming its fully-fledged geographical entity until the creation of the republic on 17 March 1921. That entity vanished again during the Second World War, only to re-emerge in the summer of 1945 following the Potsdam Conference, having side-stepped westwards to the banks of the Odra/Oder. Forced migration of millions of people resulted in a reasonably homogeneous country from the points of view of ethnic background, religion and language. The creation of a state railway company – Polskie Koleje Państwowe (PKP) – dates from the country’s independence from Russia and Austria, granted on 11 November 1918. POLISH HISTORY AND RAIL TRANSPORT GEOGRAPHY Poland is situated almost precisely at the railway crossroads of Central Europe, traversed east to west by the Berlin to Moskva E-20 main line, and north to south by the E-65 main line from the Adriatic to the Baltic. It has a surface area of 312,685 km², and a resident population of 38.2 million. 62% of the population lives in areas classified as urban, and rural to urban migration continues apace. Urban development covers around 6% of the total surface area of the country, with burgeoning low rise suburban development encouraging commuting. There are seven metropolitan regions, each with populations within their geographical administrative areas exceeding 1 million. Warszawa and the Śląsk industrial conurbation have 2.7 million and 3.2 million inhabitants respectively. In some of these urban areas public transport accounts for over 50% of all motorised trips, though whether this is through the successful use of sustainable transport strategies or because of intolerable road congestion is a matter of conjecture. It certainly does not reflect rising car ownership levels or accessibility to a private motor vehicle. As private car commuting increases, there is also a steady increase in congestion on urban streets designed for traffic of the pre-car ownership era. This phenomenon, observed in recent years in Kraków, has a knock-on effect on the reliability of road-based public transport services, including tramways. During the first decade of the current millennium the country’s GDP grew at an average rate of 4% per annum, and in 2012 was estimated at USD 813.8 billion in total, USD 21,118 per capita (the power purchasing parity value). Poland was virtually unscathed by the 2008-09 recession and in 2010 the 3.9% economic growth rate was reckoned to be one of the best in Europe. The country enjoys A (domestic), A- (foreign) and A+ (T&C assessment) credit ratings according to Standard & Poors. EVOLUTION OF THE RAIL NETWORK Topographically, most of the country is low-lying, apart from the mountainous highlands along the Czech and Slovakian borders, rising to their greatest heights in the limestone outcrops of the Tatry Wysokie (Gerlachovsý, 2,665 m, within Slovakia), in the southeast. The hilly southern border does not present a great physical obstacle to rail communications – though during the German and Austro-Hungarian Empire eras some lines (long closed) were even built here with rack sections. The basic railway networks within present-day Polish territory were created by three countries – Prussia, Austro-Hungary, and Russia – whose boundaries came together a few kilometres east of Kattowitz (Katowice). The Prussians and Austrians favoured a gauge of 1,435 mm for their principal lines; the Russians 1,524 mm (now 1,520 mm). Prussian – German – secondary networks evolved with gauges of 1,000 mm and 600 mm, while the Russians opted for 750 mm. Poland inherited a rich network of lines of narrower gauges, some being rural feeders, others, more importantly being used for coal and sugar beet transport. Few of these lines survive today and those that do Note on exchange rates are categorised as ‘heritage’ or tourist lines. Most prices are given Warszawa gained trunk lines to Wien (completed 1848), St Petersburg via Białystok (1862) and Polish złoty (PLN). In July Moskva via Terespol (1867). Krakau (Kraków) to Berlin was completed in 1847 and Berlin to 2014 EUR1.00 was worth Königsberg (Kaliningrad) in 1853. Re-gauging took place soon after the frontier revisions that PLN 4.15. followed the First and Second World Wars. THE RAIL MARKET IN POLAND 2014 Brooks Events Ltd©2014 4 Poland: Principal rail network statistics as at 31 December 2012 Total rail Per 100 km² Electrified Single Multiple Network (3kV DC) track* track* Route-km 20,094 6.4 11,920 11,262 8,717 Note: Includes some 1,520 mm gauge lines but excludes the large number of lines of 600, 750 and 1,000 mm gauge, most of which are heritage operations. The traction and rolling stock fleet in Poland in 2011 / 2012 Vehicle type 2011 2012 Electric locomotives 1,879 1,849 Diesel locomotives 2,301 2,264 EMUs, electric railcars 1,256 1,226 DMUs, diesel railcars 210 209 Freight wagons, of which: 88,928 91,483 – covered vans 4,939 4,576 – high-sided open (coal) 58,829 58,365 – platform 11,985 11,274 – tank 8,026 8,919 – refrigerated – – – other 5,149 8,919 Coaches, of which: 7,854 7,346 – for passengers with disabilities 62 63 – sleeping cars 181 180 – couchette cars 119 113 – restaurant cars 115 104 EMU and DMU cars, of which: 4,241 3,974 – for passengers with disabilities 433 649 Other carriages 57 16 POLISH RAILWAY BORDER CROSSINGS All crossings with the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia are 1,435mm/1,435 mm gauge. Unless indicated, all crossings with Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine and the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia involve a break of gauge (1,435 mm/1,520 mm). Electrification in Germany is at 15 kV 16.7 Hz, in the northern Czech Republic and Slovakia at 3 kV DC, and in the western parts of the CIS countries at 25 kV AC. Multiple-voltage electric locomotives are required for haulage on routes linking Poland and Germany. (E) – electrified in Poland (3 kV DC). With Belarus Terespol – Brest (1,520 mm gauge continues to Terespol) (E) Czeremcha – Visoko-Litovsk Siemianówka – Svislach THE RAIL MARKET IN POLAND 2014 Brooks Events Ltd©2014 5 Zubki – Bierestovica Kuźnica − Grodno (E) With the Czech Republic Zawidów – Frýdlant v Čechách (freight only) Jakuszyce – Harrachov – (reopened 2010) Lubawka – Královec (freight only) Mieroszów – Meziměstí Międzylesie – Lichkov (E) Głuchołazy – Mikulovice Głuchołazy – Jindřichov ve Slezsku Chałupki – Bohumín (E) Zebrzydowice – Petrovice u Karviné (E) Cieszyn – Český Těšín (E) With Germany Świnoujście – Heringsdorf (reopened 2008) Szczecin – Grambow Szczecin – Tantow Kostrzyn nad Odrą – Küstrin-Kietz (E) Kunowice – Frankfurt/Odra (E) Gubin – Guben Zasieki – Forst (Lausitz) Węgliniec – Horka Zgorzelec – Görlitz Hirschfelde – Krzewina Zgorzelecka – Hagenwerder (two crossings between Görlitz and Zittau) With Lithuania Trakiszki – Mockava With Russia (Kaliningrad oblast) Skandawa – Zheleznodorozhny Głomno – Bagrationovsk Braniewo – Mamonovo (1,520 mm gauge continues to four logistics bases between Braniewo and Młynary, and the 1,435 mm gauge line continues north to Kaliningrad) With Slovakia Zwardoń – Skalité (E) Muszyna – Plaveč (E) Łupków – Medzilaborce With Ukraine Krościenko – Khyriv THE RAIL MARKET IN POLAND 2014 Brooks Events Ltd©2014 6 Malhowice – Nizhankovichi Przemyśl/Medyka – Mostyska (E) Werchrata – Rava-Ruska Hrebenne – Rava-Ruska Hrubieszów – Volodymyr-Volynskyi (LHS 1,520 mm freight only line to Śląsk industrial conurbation) Dorohusk – Jahodyn (E) A TRANSIT COUNTRY The 1,435 mm/1,520 mm break of gauge has a detrimental and slowing effect on east to west transit rail freight through Poland. Transferring payloads, usually containerised, from platform wagons of one gauge to those of another is time-consuming and increases costs. Provision of a cross-Poland 1,520 mm gauge freight line would help matters, but only if it continued west through Germany to a major freight redistribution or logistics hub.