The 31WE train once opened… the main edition of Telewizja Polska’s Wiadomości. In February 2013, the machine travelled along the tracks between Zawiercie and Grodzisk Mazowiecki at 211.6 km/h, which was a Polish record among trains manufactured in the country.
This was achieved by train 31WE-001, which now carries passengers around Lower Silesia. The record-holder’s “twin brother” has undergone the first P4 inspection carried out independently in Koleje Dolnośląskie’s service hall in Legnica.
Like new
— During testing, it turned out that the vehicle performs even better than when we collected it from the factory. Technology has moved forward, but the work we carried out has produced amazing results — says Damian Stawikowski, president of Koleje Dolnośląskie.
The P4 inspection was carried out on a broader scale than required by the guidelines. That is why we have new floors and seats. In addition… 16.5 km of additional cables, half a thousand extra bolts and nuts. After visiting the vehicle’s interior, we feel as if we had entered a train that smells brand new.
— We managed to carry out the inspection in ten months, but we will learn from the experience: another 31WE train is now in the hall, and we want to complete the task in six months — says Wojciech Zdanowski, vice-president of Koleje Dolnośląskie.
The inspection was carried out after Koleje Dolnośląskie expanded its technical facilities. This was achieved with support from European Union funds and the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
— Lower Silesia is Poland’s infrastructural heart, and more and more trains are travelling on its tracks. We are reaching new places, including the railway connection to Karpacz, which will debut this year. Buses in KD colours will also be launched, on a broader scale than before and not assigned to out-of-service or revitalised railway lines — says Paweł Gancarz, marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
Inspections are currently being carried out in the service hall, including a third-level (P3) inspection of the 36WEh hybrid. Vehicle 31WE-004 is also standing there, another of the “twin brothers” of the former railway record-holder on Polish tracks. However, KD’s rolling-stock fleet continues to grow; soon, the number of Koleje Dolnośląskie trains will exceed 100.
— Investment in Koleje Dolnośląskie is producing results, because the Lower Silesian Voivodeship is the leader in Poland in terms of public-transport journeys per household. According to GUS data, only the capital city of Warsaw is ahead of us, but for statistical purposes it was excluded from the area of the Masovian Voivodeship. As a result, this indicator reached almost 70 percent here — says Michał Rado, deputy marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship responsible for railways.
The people of Lower Silesia are noticing these changes and are increasingly choosing rail travel. Every year, KD trains carry more passengers, and with new rolling stock and a greater number of service pairs, more than 22 million passengers now travel annually aboard the white-and-yellow trains.
— This is also highly valuable from an environmental perspective, because if our passengers switched to cars, they would emit additional CO2 with a market value of nearly PLN 40 million per year. This is one argument for further development, although journey times are the most important factor, because trains simply travel much faster than cars to many destinations in Lower Silesia — says Barbara Kulewicz, vice-president of Koleje Dolnośląskie.
Koleje Dolnośląskie trains operate on 1,500 km of railway routes, sending nearly 600 trains onto the tracks every day. They stop at more than 300 stations in Lower Silesia, the Lubusz and Opole Voivodeships, as well as in the Czech Republic and Germany. In total, a record 22.5 million passengers used Koleje Dolnośląskie’s services in 2024.