Polskie Koleje Państwowe
| Polskie Koleje Państwowe Spółka Akcyjna
|
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Spółka akcyjna |
| founding | 1926 / January 1, 2001 |
| Seat |
Warsaw Poland
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| management |
Chairman of the Board : Krzysztof Mamiński |
| Number of employees | 70,000 (2015) |
| sales | 9676 million zlotys (2009) (approx. 2.480 billion euros) |
| Branch | Railway company |
| Website | www.pkp.pl |
The Polskie Koleje Państwowe (in full: Polskie Koleje Państwowe Spółka Akcyjna ; abbreviation: PKP SA; "Polish State Railways AG") are the largest railway company in Poland .
history
Start of rail traffic in Poland
Poland was in the 19th century when the railway came up divided . The north-west belonged to Prussia , the south as part of Galicia to Austria and Russian Poland in the east to Russia . Nevertheless, rail projects initiated by Poland were implemented at an early stage.
The two oldest sections of today's PKP network were opened on April 1, 1842 ( Breslau – Ohlau ) and August 15, 1843 ( Stettiner Bahn ) as sections of connections to Berlin (then part of the Kingdom of Prussia ). As early as November 1843, on a Polish initiative, the first section of the Warsaw-Vienna railway was opened in the Russian part of Poland as the third line and taken over by the government of Congress Poland on July 4, 1843 . Although located in the Russian Empire, the line from Warsaw to the Russian-Austrian border had the European standard gauge of 1435 mm. The Krakow-Upper Silesian Railway was the first railway line in Galicia and Lodomeria in Austria. It was founded by the city of Krakow on March 1, 1844 and went into operation on October 13, 1847. Through its connection with the Warsaw-Vienna Railway, there was a continuous rail link between the two former Polish capitals in 1848, i.e. only one year after the first continuous rail link from Berlin to the Rhine (1847). Another railway line in divided Poland (borders until 1772 and 1795) was opened by the Stargard-Posener Eisenbahn in several steps from 1848 between Woldenberg in der Neumark (today Dobiegniew ) and Posen .
The rail connection from Vienna to Krakow ran through Prussian Upper Silesia since 1849 , but from March 1, 1856 also very close to the Prussian border through Austrian territory.
The main line of the Prussian Eastern Railway from Berlin to what was then Königsberg (today Kaliningrad ) led through the provinces of Posen (Greater Poland) and West Prussia , but in both regions through areas with a small Polish population. As the first connection of today's Poland to the actual Russian network, the Warsaw-Petersburg Railway was completed in 1862 in 1524 mm gauge. In 1862 the first connection between Warsaw and the Prussian Eastern Railway was established. It connected in Łowicz to a branch line of the Warsaw-Vienna Railway and led via the border station in Aleksandrów Kujawski and Thorn ( Toruń ) to Bromberg . It was the last of the standard-gauge lines built under Russian sovereignty in divided Poland .
Prussia built several, Austria a few routes to the Russian border, which were not connected on the Russian side.
Interwar period
After regaining independence after the First World War , the Polish Ministry of Transport, founded in 1918, initially operated the railway directly. The priority here was the consolidation of the three rail networks. To this end, for example, the remaining broad gauge routes in the eastern part of the country were mm to 1435 umgespurt after the German troops during their march Arschs east had already umgespurt during the war, many of these routes. The conversion to standard gauge was completed by 1929. As early as 1921, with the gap between Kutno and the previous Prussian border station Strzałkowo, the direct Warsaw – Poznań railway was created. In addition, new rolling stock (or those used by other railway administrations) was procured. A considerable part of the vehicle fleet consisted of Prussian vehicles that came from the German Reich as reparations . The PKP, founded in 1920, was also responsible for transit traffic through the Polish corridor to East Prussia during this period until 1939 .
In the mid-1920s, in addition to various smaller network extensions, a major new construction project was tackled: In order to better connect the seaport of Gdynia to the hinterland (especially to the mining area of Upper Silesia ), an almost dead straight north-south railway line from Gdynia to Katowice , the so-called coal highway , was built. A lack of money, however, meant that the coal main line was not completed and operated by the PKP, but by Francusko-Polskie Towarzystwo Kolejowe SA (FPTK), a Polish-French company founded especially for this purpose.
In the mid-1920s, on the one hand, a strong economic upswing set in in Poland, on the other hand, relations with neighboring countries improved (temporarily), which resulted in an increase in transit traffic. The exception was the relationship with Lithuania, which found itself in a cold war with Poland after the Polish-Lithuanian War . The border (called the “ demarcation line ” by Lithuania ) was closed to all traffic until 1938.
Second World War
The Second World War brought with it the dissolution of the PKP. After the occupation of Poland , the Deutsche Reichsbahn placed the railway lines in the so-called General Government under the general management of the Eastern Railway (Gedob) on November 1, 1939 . During the fighting and immediately afterwards, many tracks and vehicles were destroyed; the rail network was re-gauged several times - depending on the front location - to Russian or European gauge. The deportations to concentration camps took place mainly by train.
After 1945
The PKP was re-established soon after the Polish administration was reestablished. In the communist era, Poland became a transit country again; However, since the leadership of the Soviet Union at that time doubted the political reliability of the People's Republic of Poland , they tried to change this situation. This was expressed, for example, in the opening of a railway ferry line from Mukran on Rügen (then GDR ) to Klaipėda in Lithuania (then Soviet Union ), which served Poland . Military transit traffic between the GDR and the Soviet Union remained important. In south-eastern Poland there is a broad-gauge Russian railway called Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa (LHS) from the border with Ukraine to Sławków Południowy , which extends far inland .
After the collapse of the Soviet Union , the PKP tried to expand the transit routes, especially those via Poznan and Warsaw.
After 1989
Restructuring and privatization
The first steps towards privatization were taken in 1990 with the first privatization law, through which a number of subsidiaries were established in which the PKP should hold 51%; The first companies founded in this way were in the areas of logistics (Trade Trans, Kolsped, Polcont, Chem Trans Logistic), the manufacture and installation of traffic control and signaling systems (Adtranz ZWUS Signal Katowice, KZL Bydgoszcz, Koltel) and in peripheral activities such as publishing and printing active. In 1991 and 1992, a total of 80 additional subsidiaries in the areas of maintenance, spare parts production, engineering and construction were outsourced and the workforce was reduced considerably. In 1997 the entire traction area was finally outsourced. This was followed by the spin-off of the areas of passengers, freight and infrastructure (whereby traction and freight were merged again in 1999).
PKP has been a stock corporation since January 1, 2001 . It is structured as a holding company and divided into a total of 24 companies. The most important are the PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (tracks and infrastructure), PKP Cargo (freight traffic) and PKP Intercity ( long-distance passenger traffic). PKP SA itself is owned by the Polish state. The law also created the Railway Transport Authority ( Urząd Transportu Kolejowego ) as the regulatory authority responsible for traffic regulation and engineering, railway supervision and traffic safety. Poland is sticking to the pace set by the EU in liberalizing freight transport. From January 1, 2008, inland freight transport was liberalized. Local public transport was also spun off from the PKP Group as Przewozy Regionalne SA (PR) and in 2008 all shares were transferred to the 16 voivodships . PKP no longer holds any shares in the company.
After a loss of 674 million zlotys in 2009, the PKP were in debt in 2010 with 5 billion zloty or 1.25 billion euros. The following subsidiaries are therefore to be privatized in the near future: PKP Cargo, PKP Energetyka, Przedsiębiorstwa Napraw Infrastruktury and the PKP shares in Bombardier Transportation . By selling unused properties, the PKP improve their balance sheet.
The PKP today
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Even after the strong growth in private transport in Poland, the PKP play an important role in the Polish transport system .
organization structure
PKP SA is a public limited company whose shares are 100% state-owned. PKP SA is currently owned by numerous subsidiaries, such as:
- PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe SA - operator of the railway infrastructure
- PKP Cargo SA - freight transport
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PKP Intercity SA - long-distance passenger transport
- WARS SA - sleeping and dining car
- PKP Szybka Kolej Miejska w Trójmieście Sp. Z oo - S-Bahn in the Tricity ( Gdańsk , Gdynia and Sopot )
- PKP Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa Sp. Z oo - infrastructure operator and railway company on the broad-gauge line based in Zamość
- PKP Energetyka SA - traction power supplier
- TK Telekom Sp. Z oo - telecommunications
- PKP Informatyka Sp. Z oo - IT services
Line network
International connections
In addition to regional traffic, the most important role is played by transit traffic from the seaport cities of Szczecin and Gdansk to the Czech Republic , Slovakia and Southeast Europe .
The east-west transit traffic mainly uses the route from Frankfurt (Oder) via Poznan and on to Warsaw , u. a. with the Berlin-Warszawa-Express , a Eurocity, which runs daily with four pairs of trains between the two capitals. East of Warsaw, the east-west axis mainly includes the routes to Brest (- Minsk - Moscow ), Suwałki on the border with Lithuania (- Kaunas - Riga / - Vilnius ) and Kovel in the Ukraine (- Kiev ). The connection from Warsaw to Vilnius was operated as a long-distance bus route for several years under the name Autobus-Intercity .
Further south is the east-west transit route from Cottbus (border crossing Forst (Lausitz) ) via Żagań , Breslau , Katowice and Krakow to Przemyśl , also on the Ukrainian border. Until the timetable change in December 2014, the Eurocity “Wawel” (Hamburg–) Berlin – Cottbus – Breslau (–Krakau) operated here.
Limit to broad gauge
Since the countries east of Poland use a different gauge , the engineer Ryszard Suwalski developed the automatic gauge change system SUW 2000 . This was used to equip direct trains to Lithuania and Ukraine from time to time, which saves a lot of time. After a long break in operation, SUW trains operated by PKP and Ukrsalisnyzja are now running again between Wroclaw and Lviv .
Route network
Some routes are being expanded, such as the Frankfurt (Oder) –Poznań – Warszawa – Terespol, Świnoujście - Szczecin (–Warszawa), Poznań – Wrocław – Katowice, Šeštokai (LT) –Suwałki – Warszawa, Przemyśl – Kraków – Katowice and routes Warszawa – Katowice. In the long term, new lines from Gdansk to Warsaw, from Warsaw to Terespol, from Warsaw via Łódź to Wroclaw and Poznan (300 km / h) as well as a bypass route east around the Upper Silesian industrial area are planned as part of the Warsaw-Prague connection.
A new line from Warsaw south to the cities of Krakow and Katowice serves domestic long-distance traffic .
PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe has completely electrified and expanded the so-called Lower Silesian Freight Mainline for cross-border freight traffic on the east-west route. The axis leads from Breslau via Miłkowice and Węgliniec to Germany and connects to the network in Germany, bypassing the greater Berlin and Dresden areas.
PKP train types
Long-distance transport
PKP operates long-distance trains under the following class names:
- EuroCity (EC): Trains in international traffic on the most important long-distance routes - reservation required,
- Express InterCity Premium (EIP): high-speed trains in national traffic, are served by modern and comfortable multiple units ( Pendolino ) of PKP Intercity - reservation required
- Express InterCity (EIC): trains in national traffic on the most important long-distance routes, operated by the latest carriages, with air conditioning, often also with Wi-Fi - reservation required,
- Intercity (IC): The IC brand is a new train category introduced from December 2014. It includes new or modernized vehicle material, which is equipped with ergonomic seats, air conditioning and telephone signal amplifiers. In addition, trains in the IC category have a bar or dining car. In terms of price, the train category is to be equated with the TLK trains
- Twoje line JSC (TLK) : cheap - fast trains and - night trains over long distances - upon reservation in 1st class, in March / April 2013, the TLK trains upon reservation in 2nd class. The trains in this category have had no bar or dining car since December 2014, but only a “SnackPoint on the train”. In the long term, this brand should disappear completely, says Zuzana Szopowska, press spokeswoman for PKP Intercity.
Regional and local transport
Regional transport was spun off from PKP as Przewozy Regionalne (PR) and therefore no longer belongs to the PKP group.
The following names for train classes are common in Poland:
- Regioekspres: (express train) of the regional transport company, operated by the latest cars, with air conditioning and Wi-Fi
- Interregio: (express train) of the regional transport company
- Regio (formerly osobowy ): Local train in local traffic
The local trains are only officially called Regio . Unofficially, they are still called osobowy (passenger trains ) by travelers (and many PKP employees ).
Price system in Poland
In principle, there is a strongly degressive price system on Polish trains. A global price system is used on special international connections, for example the Berlin-Warszawa-Express (only to a limited extent since June 14, 2009) and the IC night bus Warsaw-Vilnius , whereby separate tickets have to be purchased for pre-carriage and post-carriage. Sections of the long-distance and local transport companies are charged separately. International tickets are valid for both companies.
electrification
The electrification of the PKP lines began in 1936. Direct current with a voltage of 3 kV is still used today. On January 1, 2011, of the 19,276 km of route operated by PKP, 11,481 km were electrified. In the substations, the electricity required is taken from the public medium-voltage network operated at 15 kV, transformed down to 3 kV and rectified.
See also
Web links
- PKP website ( Polish )
Individual evidence
- ^ "Polska - koleje" , on: Encyklopedia Gutenberga online , accessed on November 29, 2018.
- ↑ Annual Report 2009 (PDF; 12.4 MB)
- ↑ Rzeczpospolita, November 23, 2010, p. B5
- ↑ http://intercity.pl/pl/site/dla-pasazera/informacje/nasze-pociagi/intercity/
- ↑ http://www.rynek-kolejowy.pl/54957/tlk_bez_wagonow_barowych.htm