Transport in Poland

The transport in Poland involves air traffic, waterways, and railroads.

As a country located at the 'cross-roads' of Europe, Poland, with its developed economy is a nation with a large and increasingly modern network of transport infrastructure.

The Polish highways networks has been viewed in the past as chronically underdeveloped and lacking in basic modern infrastructure. After the fall of communism and after joining the European Union, this situation is rapidly changing for the better and in the next decade Poland plans to have a very modern network of highways. 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 PKP corporation, through its subsidiaries, runs a great number of domestic and international services of varying speed and comfort. In addition to this most Polish voivodeships have their own provincial rail service providers. Many major Polish cities have rapid transit systems (typically tram networks) and public transport is available in most areas throughout the country.

Roads

Polish motorway network. Existing sections are marked in green, those under construction in red, grey lines mark planned sections

The S6 'Tricity' Expressway in Pomerania

The road infrastructure of Poland needs more development according to the European Union. As of 31 December 2009, there are 916 kilometres (570 mi) of motorways (autostrady, singular – autostrada); 606 km (380 mi) of expressways (drogi ekspresowe, singular – droga ekspresowa), and an extensive network of other roads (of which about 1,200 km (750 mi) are dual carriageways) connecting all major cities.

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. Currently, three major motorways (A1, A2 and A4) spanning the entire country are being built. Many sections are under construction (contracts signed, construction in progress) and almost all remaining parts are contracted to be finished by mid-2012 (before Euro 2012). The only exception is the Warsaw–Belarus connection which is scheduled to be built later. By the end of 2012, 8 of the 10 largest Polish cities (Gdańsk, Poznań, Wrocław, Łódź, Warsaw, Kraków, Katowice, Szczecin) will have a motorway connecting them with the motorway network of Europe.

Polish public roads are grouped into categories related to administrative division. Poland has 383,313 km (238,180 mi) of public roads, of which 122,080 km (75,860 mi) are unpaved (2008):

• National roads (Classes A, S, GP and exceptionally G): 18,520 km (11,510 mi)
• Voivodeship roads (Classes A, S, GP and exceptionally G): 28,536 km (17,730 mi), 61.4 km (38 mi) unpaved
• Powiat roads (Classes G, Z and exceptionally L): 126,924 km (78,870 mi), 12,539 km (7,790 mi) unpaved
• Gmina roads (Classes L, D and exceptionally Z): 209,333 km (130,070 mi), 109,478 km (68,030 mi) unpaved

Main article: Highways in Poland

Polish motorways and expressways are part of national roads network.

Motorways in Poland, 916 km (570 mi) (2009):

A1 | A2 | A4 | A6 | A8 | A18

Expressways in Poland, 628 km (390 mi) (2009):

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 2010

Terminal 1, Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport

Model of new terminal (under construction) at Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport

Main article: List of airports in Poland

The most important airport in Poland is Warsaw 'Frederic Chopin' International Airport. Warsaw's airport is the main international hub for LOT Polish Airlines and currently serves as the destination for around 75% of all major international flights into Poland. With the development, and upcoming privatisation of LOT in 2011, the airport is hoping to see yet more routes opened to destinations around the globe.

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

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

National airlines:

• LOT Polish Airlines
  • EuroLOT (subsidiary)
  • LOT Charters (subsidiary)
• OLT Jetair

Airports

The Polish airline market was until 2004 a classical case of 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, state-owned airport authority. However, in the 90-ties it was decided to deregulate the airport market and abolish the dominant position of state-owned airport manager, PPL. Nearly all local airports, apart from Zielona Góra airport, became separate companies, with local governments involved in their management, what led to the partial decentralisation. Soon after opening of Polish sky for cometition flights “avoiding” the Warsaw hub became more often.

There are currently 12 passenger airports in operation, and there is also an airport Heringsdorf in German village Garz , 7 kilometers from polish seaside spa Świnoujście.

However, the rapid development (8 % of increase of passengers served at Polish airports in 2008 compared to 2007) of the unsaturated market and the existence of vast areas of land, not covered by airports within 100 kilometers of journey, allow to assume that many new airports could be necessary to properly serve this land pupulated by appox. 38,2- 35,8 million inhabitants. Especially the area of eastern Poland should be better penetrated by airline traffic. There is a network of secondary airports that could be used, but lack of capital and expertise prohibit their utilisation (case of Biała Podlaska Airport at the Belarussian border).

Main airports: Following are the largest airports in Poland, with passenger and cargo traffic flow (2009):

• Warsaw Frederic Chopin International Airport, 8,282,035 passengers and 50,143 tonnes of cargo per year.
• Kraków Jana Pawła II International Airport, handles 2,661,294 passengers and 4,175 tonnes of cargo.
• Katowice International Airport, handles 2,301,375 passengers and 7,589 tonnes of cargo.
• Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa International Airport, handles 1,890,925 passengers and 4,016 tonnes of cargo.
• Wrocław Mikołaj Kopernik International Airport, handles 1,324,483 passengers and 989 tonnes of cargo.
• Poznań International Airport, handles 1,248,764 passengers and 2,150 tonnes of cargo.
• Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, handles 383,170 passengers and 557 tonnes of cargo
• Łódź Władysław Reymont Airport, handles 312,225 passengers 2 tonnes of cargo .
• Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport, handles 276,582 passengers and 873 tonnes of cargo.
• Bydgoszcz Ignacy Jan Paderewski Airport. handles 264,528 and 520 tonnes of cargo.

Number of airports in Poland – 123 (1999 est.)

Airports – with paved runways: Total: 84 (2005)

• over 3,047 m: 4
• 2,438 to 3,047 m: 29
• 1,524 to 2,437 m: 41
• 914 to 1,523 m: 7
• under 914 m: 3

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

• 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
• 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
• 914 to 1,523 m: 13
• under 914 m: 21

Heliports: 2 (2005)

Marine

Ferries of Polish company Unity Line at the Port of Świnoujście

Gdynia's main municipal marina

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 3,812 km (2,370 mi) of navigable rivers and canals (as of 1996).

Ports and harbors

• Port of Gdańsk (Polferries: Gdańsk — Nynäshamn / Ystad)
• Port of Gdynia (Stena Line: Gdynia — Karlskrona / Gothenburg and Finnlines: Gdynia — Helsinki / Rostock)
• Port of Szczecin-Świnoujście (Polferries: Świnoujście — Copenhagen / Ystad / Rønne and Unity Line: Świnoujście — Ystad / Trelleborg)
• Port of Ustka
• Port of Kołobrzeg

Merchant marine

Main article: Polish Merchant Navy

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

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

Railways

Main article: Rail transport in Poland

See also: High-speed rail in Poland

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.

A PKP Intercity train in Kraków

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

An electric multiple unit of Koleje Mazowieckie approaches Siedlce West station

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.

Passenger transport market

The following companies operate in Poland:

• PKP Intercity – qualified passengers trains (express, intercity, eurocity, hotel and TLK)
• Przewozy Regionalne – regional passengers trains (normal and fast train)
• Koleje Mazowieckie – local trains in Mazovia
• Tricity SKM – fast urban railway in Tricity
• Szybka Kolej Miejska (Warsaw) – suburban railway in Warsaw agglomeration
• Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa – suburban railway in Warsaw agglomeration
• Arriva RP (owned by Deutsche Bahn) – part of the local train traffic in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
• Koleje Dolnośląskie – part of the local train traffic in Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Narrow gauge railways

Those railways marked (M) are museum or tourist railways only, and play no role in the transport market:

• (M) Ełcka Kolej Wąskotorowa – Narrow Gauge railway in Ełk
• Gnieźnieńska Kolej Dojazdowa – Narrow Gauge railway in Gniezno
• (M) Górnośląskie Koleje Wąskotorowe – Upper Silesian Narrow gauge railway
• Gryficka Kolej Dojazdowa – Narrow gauge railway in Gryfice
• Kaliska Kolej Dojazdowa – accessible Narrow gauge railway in Kalisz
• Krośniewicka Kolej Dojazdowa – accessible Narrow gauge railway in Krośniewice
• (M) Nałęczowska Kolej Dojazdowa – accessible Narrow gauge railway in Nałęczów
• Przeworska Kolej Dojazdowa – accessible Narrow gauge railway in Przeworsk
• (M) Rogowska Kolej Wąskotorowa – Narrow gauge railway in Rogów
• (M) Sochaczewska Kolej Muzealna – museum railway in Sochaczew
• (M) Starachowicka Kolej Dojazdowa – Narrow gauge railway in Starachowice
• Śmigielska Kolej Dojazdowa – Narrow gauge railway in Śmigiel
• (M) Średzka Kolej Dojazdowa – Narrow gauge railway in Środa Wlkp.
• (M) Świętokrzyska Kolej Dojazdowa – Świętokrzyska Narrow gauge railway
• (M) Żnińska Kolej Powiatowa – Żnin district railway
• (M) Żuławska Kolej Dojazdowa – Żuławska Suburban Railway

Freight transport market

• PKP Cargo
• PKP LHS – Metallurgic Broad Gauge Line
• PTK Holding SA – The Railway Transportation Holding in Zabrze
• Przedsiębiorstwo Transportu Kolejowego i Gospodarki Kamieniem Rybnik – The Railway Transport and Stone Management Company in Rybnik
• CTL Logistics
• PCC Rail Szczakowa – Rail Szczakowa website – part of the German concern PCC AG
• Kopalnia Piasku Kotlarnia – The Kotlarnia sand mine
• Kopalnia Piasku Kuźnica Warężyńska – The Kuźnica Warężyńska sand mine
• Orlen KolTrans
• Lotos Kolej
• Nadwiślanski Zakład Transportu Kolejowego- Vistula Rail Transport Company]

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)

• standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) : 21,639 km (13,450 mi) (11,626 km (7,220 mi) electrified; 8,978 km (5,580 mi) double track)
• broad gauge 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ⁵⁄₆ in) : 646 km (401 mi)
• narrow gauge (various) : 1,135 km (710 mi) various gauges including 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in), 785 mm (2 ft 6 ⁹⁄₁₀ in), 750 mm (2 ft 5 ¹⁄₂ in), and 600 mm (1 ft 11 ⁵⁄₈ in) (1998)

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.

Rail links with adjacent countries

• Same gauge:
  • Czech Republic
  • Germany
  • Slovakia
• Break-of-gauge – 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)/1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ⁵⁄₆ in)
  • Lithuania
  • Belarus
  • Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast)
  • Ukraine

Municipal transport

City bus, manufactured in Poland by Solaris

Bus

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

Until 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:

• autobus — longer vehicles (12.0 m and more),
• bus — shorter vehicles with smaller capacity, very popular on local connections, run by individual persons and smaller companies.

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 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 is being constructed in Olsztyn. See the list: List of town tramway systems in Europe#Poland

Since 1990s, a number of cities attempts to upgrade certain parts of their networks to the light rail standard (called szybkie tramwaje, eng. 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.

Metro

The first and currently the only metro line was opened in Warsaw in 1995. The second line is under construction. 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.

See: Warsaw Metro

Pipelines

• Crude oil and petroleum products 2,280 km (1,420 mi)
• Natural gas 13,500 km (8,390 mi)

(2006 est.)

See also

• Bridges of Poland
• Ports of the Baltic Sea

External links

• Rail Map: Poland (PDF) Most minor lines omitted
• Road Map: Poland