– With the people of Lower Silesia in mind, we are developing railways throughout the region. Combating transport exclusion has always been a priority for the Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy. Once, it was difficult to dream of taking over a railway station, let alone railway routes. Today, we have taken over more than twenty lines. We were told, “what are you taking on? It will take forever.” Meanwhile, the first towns gained connections after just one year, while further ones are being restored successively,” says Marshal Cezary Przybylski.
Both railway lines being taken over by the voivodeship authorities are important for the daily lives of many thousands of Lower Silesians. Restoring railway connections will make daily travel to work and school possible, and will certainly also have a positive impact on the development of tourism in these areas.
– The current term is marked by the takeover of railway lines, their revitalisation and the fight against transport exclusion. Today, we are restoring towns such as Lwówek Śląski, Stronie Śląskie and Lądek Zdrój to the railway map. I would like to thank the mayors and the county head who joined the project to establish a bus connection that will become a railway connection in the future. The figures show how important this connection is – almost 40,000 passengers used it in the first four months,” says Tymoteusz Myrda, a member of the voivodeship board.
The takeover, revitalisation and launch of passenger railway connections are among the elements of the strategy to combat transport exclusion in the region. At the beginning of the current term, in 2018, the Lower Silesian Voivodeship authorities announced that they would take over 22 sections of railway lines in the region from PKP. In total, this amounts to more than 400 km of track, which will largely expand the transport system in Lower Silesia. As a result, residents are gaining new connections to work, school and leisure destinations, while tourists are gaining easier access to many tourist attractions in the region.
– Over the past several years, when we spoke with residents and local government officials from the Kłodzko Valley, railways were at the top of the agenda. Today, we are signing documents that will launch the process of rebuilding this line. The railway revolution in Lower Silesia is continuing, and we have no intention of stopping,” says Deputy Marshal Grzegorz Macko.
– These are moments when we can say that we are implementing a plan drawn up earlier. This is an active policy pursued jointly by the government, local authorities and the Law and Justice–Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy coalition, and it is producing visible results,” says Andrzej Bittel, the government plenipotentiary for combating transport exclusion.
Thanks to the project to acquire so many routes, railway connections will serve, among others, four Lower Silesian health resorts (Świeradów Zdrój, Lądek Zdrój, Szczawno Zdrój and Przerzeczyn Zdrój), Karkonosze National Park and the Stołowe Mountains National Park. Rail services will return to Złotoryja, Lwówek Śl., Kowary and Stronie Śląskie. Access will also become easier to remarkable historic sites, such as palaces listed as monuments of history—that is, properties in the Valley of Palaces and Gardens of the Jelenia Góra Valley. Many of these places have not been served by rail for decades.