The inaugural journey, combined with a ceremony at the railway station in Chocianów, took place on 6 December.

“We are implementing the long-term strategy of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship Board to reclaim disused railway lines and restore passenger services on them, giving an ever-wider group of Lower Silesia residents access to rail travel,” says Tymoteusz Myrda, a member of the voivodeship board responsible for railways.

A secondary, but very important line

The railway network does not operate in a binary way. Increasing the number of connections and destinations even by a few percent can result in passenger flows increasing several times over. Examples of such situations can also be found in Poland, where the opening of the line from Wrocław to Trzebnica, or a slight increase in the number of train pairs on the route from Poznań to Wągrowiec, generated passenger flows numbering in the thousands. Rail travel is faster and more comfortable than travelling by car.

Residents of Chocianów will now be able to benefit from the advantages of rail travel—it is the second municipality in Polkowice County to gain access to services operated by Koleje Dolnośląskie.

“Cooperation builds, and cooperation at many levels has led to the return of a train to Chocianów after 22 years,” said Elżbieta Witek, Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, who attended the inaugural Koleje Dolnośląskie journey.

The opening of the line to Chocianów is another investment by the Lower Silesian Roads and Railways Service. This unit of the Marshal’s Office already manages railway lines to Trzebnica, Bielawa and Jakuszyce, and from 11 December the line to Chocianów, which it manages, will join the network of connections.

The inaugural train to Chocianów carried not only representatives of the Sejm, but also local government officials from across the former Legnica Voivodeship.

“I promised that during this term, Koleje Dolnośląskie trains would arrive in Chocianów. Today is that day; scheduled trains will arrive in Chocianów this coming Sunday. I am immensely pleased with this event—we are adding our wonderful municipality to the railway network of Lower Silesia after 22 years,” says Tomasz Kulczyński, mayor of Chocianów.

Koleje Dolnośląskie on track for a record year

“2022 will be a record year both in terms of the number of passengers and the number of kilometres we have travelled, mainly on routes in Lower Silesia,” says Damian Stawikowski, president of Koleje Dolnośląskie.

The route to Chocianów is making its debut in the KD network. From December, trains in their yellow-and-white livery will also reach Wołów and Ścinawa—the former after an absence of nine years.

Next year, Koleje Dolnośląskie will celebrate its 15th anniversary. The company began with contracts for secondary routes, covering 800,000 kilometres a year in 2009; in 2023, its planned operating performance is 12 million kilometres.

Fare changes

As a result of harmonising its fare structure with another regional carrier in Lower Silesia, ticket prices will rise by an average of 3% with the new timetable from 11 December. For single tickets, the differences on most routes will amount to several dozen groszy.

For example, from Sunday, the connection from Wrocław to Jelcz-Laskowice will cost passengers PLN 12.10 instead of PLN 11.70. On longer routes, such as Wrocław to Bolesławiec, the price will rise by PLN 0.90.

“Polregio proposed the fare change, and because we operate interchangeably on many routes—for example, from 11 December on the route to Głogów via Wołów—we must introduce similar rates in our fare system as well,” says Bartłomiej Rodak, press spokesperson for Koleje Dolnośląskie.

Monthly ticket prices will likewise rise by 3%. The biggest price change concerns the weekend ticket in the Weekend with KD offer. Passengers wishing to travel without limits from Friday afternoon until Sunday will pay PLN 59 for the ticket instead of PLN 49, as before.

The introduction of the new rates is also required because of the exchange-rate difference against the Czech koruna; tickets for connections to the Czech Republic will therefore increase by approximately 10%.