Koleje Dolnośląskie KD celebrated the 15th anniversary of its existence in 2023. The company started modestly, with five diesel vehicles, and in its first full year of operation (2009) sold more than 300,000 tickets. In 2023, however, 19,182,644 passengers boarded Koleje Dolnośląskie trains.

“In recent years, trains have returned, among other places, to Lubin, Bielawa, Chocianów, Świeradów-Zdrój, Mirsk and Sobótka, while Koleje Dolnośląskie buses have returned to Lądek-Zdrój, Stronie Śląskie, Syców and Góra. Nearly 200,000 Lower Silesians regained access to high-quality public transport and are no longer transport-excluded. They repay Koleje Dolnośląskie with their trust, increasingly using the services of Poland’s best regional carrier,” says Cezary Przybylski, Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.

Although passenger traffic in Lower Silesia is also served by other railway carriers, KD alone record a result several times better than… entire other voivodeships.

“The average number of train journeys in Podlaskie or Lubelskie is 2–3 trips per person per year. Lower Silesians, on the other hand, board KD trains an average of seven times a year per person. We are working to make choosing the railway as a means of transport as natural for everyone as it is in Western European countries,” says Damian Stawikowski, president of Koleje Dolnośląskie.

New KD routes

In 2022, Koleje Dolnośląskie connections from Wrocław to Świdnica via Sobótka and to Chocianów made their debut. The towns of Lądek-Zdrój and Stronie Śląskie were also added to the network. In 2023, Świeradów-Zdrój joined the railway network, while Góra and Syców were served by KD buses. The towns reached by bus will soon receive railway connections. Lines to these locations will be restored thanks to PKP PLK (Syców) or the Dolnośląska Służba Dróg i Kolei (Góra, Lądek-Zdrój and Stronie Śląskie).

Each newly opened route enables several thousand passengers a month to use a railway connection. On the line to Świeradów-Zdrój, more than 6,000 passengers travelled to the Jizera Mountains in just 22 days (10–31 December 2023).

“Every route that was recklessly closed at the turn of the century is important. The railway works like the bloodstream in an organism—bringing passengers from peripheral lines to the main railway routes makes the entire system function properly. For five years, we have been strongly focusing on improving the railway offer in Lower Silesia, and every year we see passenger numbers grow. Train travel is the most convenient and fastest,” says Tymoteusz Myrda, member of the voivodeship board responsible for railways.

Aiming for the best

Within the next few years, railways in Lower Silesia will reach even more towns. These include Syców, Stronie Śląskie and Góra, which lie along railway lines awaiting revitalisation. The Lower Silesian Voivodeship has also taken over the line to Lwówek Śląski, where a tender is planned for works that will make it possible to restore rail traffic to the town.

As part of government programmes, trains are also expected to reach Złotoryja and Bogatynia.

“The goals of Koleje Dolnośląskie include not only new routes, but also improving the service on existing lines. Between Wrocław and Legnica, and between Wrocław and Jelcz-Laskowice, the daily number of train pairs exceeds 30. Residents have therefore learned that when they go to the station, a train arrives practically immediately. On other routes from Wrocław, we exceed or approach 20 train pairs a day. This is how railways operate in countries where they are considered the best in Europe, and these are the standards we aim for,” says Wojciech Zdanowski, deputy president of Koleje Dolnośląskie.

The planned revitalisation of railway lines will mean that Polkowice will be the only Lower Silesian county capital without a railway connection. But here, too, talk of restoring services is growing louder.

“The railway plans concern not only lines leading to the capital of Lower Silesia. Polkowice and Złotoryja are to serve traffic around the Copper Basin Agglomeration, and I also dream of a Legnica–Jelenia Góra connection. Its restoration could be made possible by reopening the line on the Legnica–Złotoryja–Jerzmanice-Zdrój section, from where trains could continue to Jelenia Góra via Świerzawa and Wojcieszów or via Lwówek Śląski,” says Bartłomiej Rodak, press spokesperson for Koleje Dolnośląskie.

The plans are ambitious, which is why Koleje Dolnośląskie is already planning to expand its fleet.

“Our fleet of diesel vehicles will soon be improved, and we are continuously taking delivery of new Elfy 2 trains from the Bydgoszcz-based Pesa. If Koleje Dolnośląskie continue to develop over the next 15 years at the pace achieved during their first 15 years, we may even reach Masuria,” says Damian Stawikowski, president of Koleje Dolnośląskie, who has repeatedly stressed in interviews that he would personally like to have a connection to Giżycko: “I like spending my holidays there,” he adds with a smile.