Hundreds of Millions of Zlotys in Subsidies for KD. EU Funds Are Transforming Lower Silesian Railways

Eighteen years ago, when five white-and-yellow Koleje Dolnośląskie trains began operating on Lower Silesian tracks, they were one- and two-car diesel vehicles. Today, the company is counting down the weeks until the hundredth vehicle arrives from Bydgoszcz to join its rolling stock fleet.

– Nearly PLN 2.5 billion has been allocated to railway initiatives in our region. These are funds that allow us to revitalize lines on which trains purchased also with the support of EU funds operate. This is how what I often say is becoming a reality: Lower Silesia is the infrastructural heart of Poland – said during the latest press conference on EU funding for KD Paweł Gancarz, Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.

However, the history of EU support for Lower Silesian trains goes back much further.

Five trains to start with

The SA135 vehicles (three units), SA106 and SA132 transferred to Lower Silesia by the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in 2008 also did not arrive without subsidies.

– As the Marshal’s Office, we also obtained funding to purchase rolling stock initially used by Przewozy Regionalne and later by Koleje Dolnośląskie. Apart from four vehicles, the purchase of every KD unit was supported by EU funds – says Wojciech Zdanowski, currently Vice-President of Koleje Dolnośląskie, but in 2008, when the company was established, a director at the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Together with Agnieszka Zakęś, they are known as the godparents of KD.

The 31WE, the first electric trains in KD’s rolling stock fleet, came to Lower Silesia with support from the Regional Operational Programme for 2007–2013. The same was true of the 36WE three-car units, whose purchase was financed by the same programme. Another batch consisted of five 31WE units. The funds came from the Infrastructure and Environment Operational Programme, at the time the largest programme intended to facilitate access to low-emission transport.

– Later came purchases of five-car 45WE units, followed by hybrids and the entire batch of Elf trains. One of these Elfs, which will arrive from the PESA factory in Bydgoszcz in May this year, will be the hundredth vehicle in our rolling stock fleet – says Damian Stawikowski, President of Koleje Dolnośląskie.

Deliveries of 10 Elfs from the “Purchase of 10 five-car electric multiple units” programme, financed by the National Recovery Plan, are currently under way. The tenth vehicle from this programme will be delivered in March.

A maintenance hall and 55 Elfs

The Elfs are beginning to make up the majority of the Koleje Dolnośląskie fleet – at present, the Bydgoszcz manufacturer and the company have contracted the construction of 55 such trains. They are serviced in a modern hall in Legnica, which was built… thanks to EU funding.

– Koleje Dolnośląskie is approaching the level of one hundred vehicles in its rolling stock fleet, and only four of them were purchased without support from European Union funds. The average level of co-financing across all EU projects of Koleje Dolnośląskie exceeds 70 percent. And let us not forget that we reach Karpacz, Chocianów and Bielawa on tracks managed by the voivodeship, which are also co-financed by European Funds – says Michał Rado, Deputy Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship responsible for railways.

In recent years alone, EU funds amounting to more than PLN 1.3 billion have supported the purchase of rolling stock and construction of the maintenance hall. This funding made it possible to build the new hall and purchase or order 40 trains.

– We are financing the purchase of 10 eco-diesel trains from our own railway funds, that is, diesel trains which under the new rules cannot receive an EU subsidy, even though their emissions per passenger are dozens of times lower than those of cars or even older diesel vehicles. However, I hope that programmes to finance eco-diesel trains will emerge – says Damian Stawikowski, President of Koleje Dolnośląskie.

The company is also looking for a solution that will ensure that non-electrified lines are served by modern rolling stock. That is why proceedings are under way to select contractors for prototypes of vehicles with electric and a second, zero-emission power source. This could be battery power, a supercapacitor or hydrogen engines.

Over the next few years, we will probably see two or four prototypes of modern trains – and they will likely receive funding from EU resources.