This is the last section of the international route from Przemyśl that electric trains could not use. Once the work, worth PLN 70 million, is completed, travel options will expand and freight transport conditions will improve.
In 2020, trains will travel to Zgorzelec without the need to replace electric locomotives with diesel ones in Węgliniec. The design work has already been completed, and work began in September on the approximately 30-kilometre route. (It began on the Węgliniec–Pieńsk section and will later continue from Pieńsk to Jędrzychowice).
The contractor is using materials collected earlier. In Pieńsk, there are concrete and metal structural elements needed to suspend the overhead line. The work will not cause an interruption in traffic. Trains will run on one of the two tracks.
As part of the project, in addition to installing the structures and suspending the overhead line, two traction substations will be built in Pieńsk and Zgorzelec. Their task will be to ensure an adequate power supply for the electrified line.
How much will electrification cost?
The Węgliniec–Zgorzelec line is the last non-electrified section of the E 30 railway corridor from Przemyśl through Rzeszów, Kraków, Opole and Wrocław. The value of the “Electrification of railway lines No. 274 and 278 on the Węgliniec–Zgorzelec section” project is PLN 70 million, including PLN 59.5 million in funding from the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
What will it achieve?
Once the work is completed, the line’s capacity will increase. Conditions for passenger services will improve, both for regional and long-distance traffic.
Freight traffic will also benefit—cargo transport will become more efficient and faster, and therefore more competitive compared with road transport. More freight carried by rail will relieve road traffic routes, improving safety on the roads.