Warsaw–Kunowice railway
| Warsaw–Kunowice railway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | in use | ||
| Locale | Poland Germany | ||
| Termini |
| ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Heavy rail | ||
| Route number | 3 | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1870 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 475 km (295 mi) | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge | ||
| Electrification | 3000 V DC | ||
| Operating speed | 160 km/h (99 mph) | ||
| |||
The Warsaw–Kunowice railway is a Polish 475-kilometre long railway line, that connects Warsaw with Lowicz, Kutno, Poznań and further to the Polish-German border at Frankfurt an der Oder.
The line is one of the longest and most important routes in Poland and is part of the European E20 (Berlin - Moscow) route.
Opening
The first calls for a railway between Poznań and Frankfurt (Oder) were in 1842 when an appeal was made to landowners along the route. However, the line did not come to fruition, due to the deposition of a decision on the matter by the government of Prussia. Eventually the line was opened in stages from 1870.
Between 1925 and 1930 the course of the section Chlastawa - Dąbrówka Zbąska changed in connection with the construction of the station in Zbąszynek. The original section of the line, built in 1870, remained active until the reconstruction of the Zbąszynek–Gorzów Wielkopolski railway as a temporary course of the line to Gorzow Wielkopolski.[1] In Poznan and Września the course of the line has also been changed over the years.
Route
The town of Września has a bypass which is used by express trains, with a number of services leaving the line to serve the station in Września and rejoin the main line again afterwards.
Modernisation
Between 1998 and 2007 the route underwent considerable modernisation because of its importance as part of route E20. The work made it possible for passenger trains to travel at 160 km/h, freight trains at 120 km/h. This involved improving the track, catenary, stations, level crossings and signalling.
Usage
The line sees trains of all categories (EuroCity, EuroNight, Express InterCity, Intercity, TLK and regional services).
- EuroCity services from Warsaw to Berlin and Gdansk to Berlin
- EuroNight services from Moscow to Paris and from Warsaw to Cologne
- Express Intercity, Intercity and TLK services along the route between Warsaw and Zbąszynek
- Regional services
- Przewozy Regionalne between Łowicz and Kutno, between Poznan and Zbąszynek, between Zbąszynek and Rzepin and between Rzepin and Frankfurt (Oder)
- Koleje Mazowiekci between Warsaw and Kutno
- Koleje Wielkopolskie between Kutno, Poznan and Zbąszynek
See also
References
External links
Media related to Railway line 3 (Poland) at Wikimedia Commons
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