Mayor: “Although I have no confirmation that PKP has undertaken such an initiative, I have nevertheless invited the company’s authorities to discuss the locomotive’s future, because the area around PKP, as well as the station itself, has recently been changing very much for the better. Therefore, not only leaving the locomotive in place, but even displaying it more effectively, would be highly desirable. It is a pleasant element of railway history, and it is in our interest to preserve it, especially since it has already stood there for several decades. I hope that during the talks we will reach a full agreement with PKP. And I would like to thank you very much for the signal concerning this matter, even if it was premature, because it reflects well on the residents’ interest in our surroundings.”
Indeed, truly revolutionary changes have been taking place at the PKP main station and in its immediate and wider surroundings over the past several dozen months. After several decades, the car park in front of the station has changed, a “transport interchange” has been created, and the appearance of the area has been transformed. Thanks to PKP’s actions, similar changes are taking place both inside the station building and on the platforms.
Krakowska Street, which runs beside the station, is also changing. And the announcement that a Pendolino train will run to Jelenia Góra from December this year completes the picture of positive changes, although it does not bring them to an end.
It is also worth emphasising that the somewhat more distant surroundings—in particular, the access route to the station—already look different as well, because the old brewery, formerly the headquarters of PKS Towarowa and now the headquarters of one of the security companies, has become an attractive building following a thorough revitalisation.
Part of the vacant space at the intersection of 1 Maja and Kochanowskiego streets has also been developed with modern residential and service buildings. Intensive talks are under way concerning possible land swaps and the sale of a vacant plot at the site where older residents of Jelenia Góra remember the “Kos” shop and a house that has not existed for some time, formerly occupied by clubs for Greek refugees. In a few years, this part of the city, compared with how it looked 10 years ago, will be unrecognisable.
Jelenia Góra City Hall/ii