The centre controls train traffic at five stations from a single location. Now, operating the several-dozen-kilometre route from Miłkowice to Zebrzydowa requires only two traffic controllers—instead of 12 signal-box crews. The construction of the system is one element of the modernisation of the E-30 main railway line running from Opole to the country’s western border.
The new equipment controls all railway traffic between Miłkowice and Zebrzydowa. Traffic controllers from Bolesławiec also direct traffic at the stations in Chojnów and Okmiany. Thanks to modern monitoring, trains will run faster and more reliably. Safety at railway crossings will also improve.
The technical parameters will allow passenger trains to travel at 160 kilometres per hour and freight trains at 120 kilometres per hour. On their monitors, the controllers observe train traffic at individual stations and can intervene immediately in emergency situations. Instead of operating everything with manual levers, they now only need to click a mouse. The computer sets the route, so human error is no longer a factor.
Station renovation coming soon
The modern railway traffic control centre, new platforms and an underpass are not the end of PKP’s investments in Bolesławiec. The station building will finally be renovated. As Tadeusz Szulc, director of PKP’s Real Estate Management Branch, promises, the exterior façade will be renovated and the interiors repainted by mid-April. The station toilets are currently being rebuilt. The owner of the station, PKP Nieruchomości, is looking for tenants willing to lease premises and open a shop, restaurant or passenger bar at the station.
(PKP Bolesławiec information/GA, KG video)