A conference attended by Grzegorz Oleś, president of the Committee for the Defence of Lower Silesian Railway Lines, was held on 10 June at BOK-MCC. Participants included Piotr Roman, president of Bolesławiec and of the Polish side of the Nysa Euroregion, Jerzy Zieliński, secretary of Bolesławiec and head of the working group dealing with railways in the ERN, as well as local-government officials from Zgorzelec, Bogatynia, Głogów, Lubań, Lwówek Śląski, Pieńsk and Sulików.
The meeting was opened by President Piotr Roman. “We want to discuss the use of the E 30 line [przebiegającej od granicy z Niemcami (m.in. przez Bolesławiec, Wrocław, Opole, Katowice, Kraków, Przemyśl) do granicy z Ukrainą – przyp. „ii”], a line that has lost a great deal of importance,” he said. “I remember the days when many more trains ran on this railway line, including international trains. Today our region has no connection with Warsaw. And the successive ministers’ answers as to why this happened are truly astonishing. One of them was: the connection cannot be launched because there are no locomotives in this area.
“Another problem is that with every new provincial government we have to explain from scratch why it is so important for the connection from Wrocław to Berlin to run through Lower Silesia rather than through Lubusz Land,” Roman continued.
The head of the Polish side of the ERN also mentioned other railway absurdities: constant timetable changes and the fact that it is impossible to buy a ticket to Berlin at Bolesławiec railway station. “PKP has split into various companies and little companies. I remember how we once wanted to collect overdue property tax,” the president said. “For several months we determined which company it should be collected from. Only when we used a firm that threatened to seize the president’s car did the money suddenly appear in the City Hall’s account.
Jerzy Zieliński then spoke. Among other things, he mentioned that the Dresden–Wrocław connection would be operated by a German company until 2018. “It is not known whether these trains have certification allowing them to run on Polish tracks,” he stressed. “Trains operated by Koleje Dolnośląskie cannot enter the station in Goerlitz because they do not have German certification. And it concerns 800 metres. According to the German side, however, this problem may be resolved at the earliest around the turn of 2018 and 2019.
“Railway works on the outskirts of Wrocław are starting this year and will last eight months,” Zieliński continued. “The German company is announcing in advance that if the disruptions cause the operating speed over the entire section to fall below 80 km/h, it will withdraw from the arrangement. Yet we are currently experiencing a renaissance on the E 30 line in terms of connections to the capital of Lower Silesia. Huge numbers of people travel by train. It is not known how many will give up this means of transport during those eight months. Certainly, not everyone will want to travel from Bolesławiec to Wrocław for one hour and 50 minutes.
He appealed: “I would like us to fight for the restoration of long-distance connections in our region and for railway companies to supplement the network of intra-regional connections.
Grzegorz Oleś presented proposals for railway changes that should be introduced:
- “Restoration, on a daily basis, of the TLK I-36200/1 ‘Pogórze’ railway connection on the Przemyśl–Wrocław route and extension of its route to Zgorzelec (Lubań)” or “Daily extension of the TLK I-36104 Przemyśl–Wrocław train route to Zgorzelec (Lubań)”
- “Launching a daily railway connection from Zgorzelec (Lubań), Bolesławiec and Legnica to Poznań, Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk and Gdynia by extending the routes of TLK I-65101 ‘Mieszko’ or TLK I-65107 ‘Bachus’ Wrocław–Gdynia trains from Zgorzelec (Lubań)”
- “Restoration, on a daily basis, of a railway connection linking Zgorzelec, Bolesławiec and Legnica with Warsaw by extending the routes of TLK I-16111 ‘Wrocławianin’ Warsaw–Wrocław or TLK I-16103 ‘Pogoń’ Białystok–Wrocław trains to Zgorzelec (Lubań)”
- “Daily extension of the TLK I-36102 ‘Wyspiański’ Kraków Płaszów–Wrocław Główny route to Jelenia Góra and transferring its carriages at Wrocław Główny station to the TLK I-16100 ‘Śnieżka’ Warsaw Wschodnia–Jelenia Góra train” or “Daily extension of the TLK ‘Dolnoślązak’ Przemyśl–Wrocław route to Jelenia Góra”
- “Introducing a new daily IR railway connection from Szczecin via Zielona Góra, Wrocław and Katowice to Kraków” or “Extending the operating period of the TLK ‘Pirat’ Kołobrzeg/Świnoujście–Bielsko-Biała train and changing its route to Kraków via the Koniecpol bypass through Częstochowa Stradom.”
Oleś also spoke about railway absurdities and about how he is treated by representatives of PKP companies:
He added: “When I hear PKP say that railways in Lower Silesia are constantly developing, it makes me furious. They are developing, but not in the direction they should. We are constantly negotiating with railway companies and trying to talk to them. I am sad that we met today in such a small group. This only shows that some local-government officials are not particularly interested in the issue. Let’s meet again in a month or two. Perhaps someone from PKP Intercity will actually come?
We will return to this subject.
(information: GA)