Record number of train journeys in Poland last year

A record 58.9 million journeys were made on PKP Intercity, Poland’s main long-distance train operation, last year. That was almost 10 million more than the previous annual high of 49.6 million, set before the pandemic in 2019.

While some Covid restrictions were still in place in early 2022, by May a monthly record of 5.26 million journeys were made with PKP Intercity. Subsequent months brought further growth, peaking with 6.5 million journeys in August during the summer holiday season.

The growth may be down to investment in new rolling stock, the introduction of a special promotion allowing the purchase of tickets at low prices, and the rise in prices of fuel, which encouraged Poles to switch to public transport, reports industry news service Obserwator Logistyczny.

Last year also saw millions of refugees from Ukraine cross into Poland, with PKP Intercity offering them free tickets on its services in the months after Russia’s invasion. On 1 April, the operator announced that up to that point 1.1 million Ukrainians fleeing the war had made use of the free tickets.

Meanwhile, Poland’s largest train operator in terms of passenger numbers, Polregio, which focuses on smaller local and regional connections, also saw a boom in travellers last year.

By the end of October 2022, 72 million journeys had been made with Polregio, more than in the same period of 2019. The operator’s CEO, Artur Martyniuk, predicted that the figure would reach 100 million by the end of the year, significantly more than the annual record of 89 million in 2019.

PKP Intercity’s boss, Marek Chraniuk, expects passenger numbers to continue “significantly improving” in upcoming years thanks to further investment in the rail network.

In January 2022, the operator announced that it was increasing the funds it would invest by the end of the current decade from 19 billion zloty (€4.1 billion) to 27 billion zloty (€5.8 billion), of which 24.5 billion zloty will be spent on rolling stock and 2.6 billion zloty on infrastructure.

The company plans to run around twice as many trains in 2030 as today. By then, the operator’s trains are to have been largely replaced or modernised, including being tailored to the needs of different groups, such as people with disabilities and those travelling with children.

PKP also wants train travel with a speed of 160-250 km/h to become the norm. Currently, the fastest trains on Polish tracks are Italian-made Pendolinos running between the largest cities at speeds of around 160-200 km/h, though they are able to reach 250 km/h.

“Our goal is to popularise train travel as much as possible,” says Chraniuk. “The past year has shown that we are on the right track…[and] thanks to investments in rolling stock and infrastructure…the fashion for rail will become even more widespread.”

PKP also, however, faces challenges from rising energy prices. Today the firm announced a 17% increase in ticket prices, blaming “growing operating costs, resulting primarily from higher electricity prices”.

Main photo credit: M. M. Czarnecki/Flickr (under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.