The reopening earlier this year of a short branch line in the Sudety mountains is the latest indication of significant progress being made to enhance regional passenger services in the Dolnośląskie region of southwest Poland. Mike Bent reports.
The relaunch of passenger trains on June 14 over the 17 km branch from Jelenia Góra to Karpacz — 25 years almost to the day since the line was closed — was a milestone in the progress being made in developing the local rail network in southwest Poland.
The revival of passenger trains over the short but highly scenic branch close to the Czech border in the Sudety mountain range is a reflection of the growing importance that local control of the region’s railways has become in the past 20 years.
Dolnośląskie and its rail operator
Bordering the Czech Republic and Germany, the Dolnośląskie voivodship has an area of 19 947 km2 and, as of 2023, was home to 2∙9 million people. The provincial capital is Wrocław, population 674 132, while in 2021, Dolnośląskie’s GDP was €62bn, making it the third most economically significant province in Poland.
Today, the provincial rail network is 1 780 km long, of which 1 080 km are electrified. As in much of the rest of eastern Europe, rail’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed in the post-Communist era. In the 1990s, state railway PKP reduced service levels on the least profitable routes as a prelude to complete closure. By the turn of the millennium, 40 sections of line had been closed, and barely 50% of the voivodship’s rail network was still used by passenger trains. Between 2000 and 2004, many of the routes that had so far survived saw passenger services reduced in frequency. Within the province, there was growing concern about the future, and about PKP’s management of the network.
One of the first actions undertaken by the provincial authority to stem the rot was to take over responsibility for the management of certain railways, including some of those that had been abandoned. Local body Dolnośląska Służba Dróg i Kolei we Wrocławiu had hitherto only been responsible for the upkeep of some provincial roads, but in 2009 it became responsible for managing the railway from Wrocław Zakrzów to Trzebnica.
Market changes
Meanwhile, the Polish rail sector was also changing with the times in the first decade of the new century, a trend spurred on by accession to the EU.
PKP was restructured following the September 8 2000 Railway Act. This created separate operating companies (such as PKP Intercity and Przewozy Regionalne) to handle different types of service, and an infrastructure manager, PKP PLK. Subsequent legislation in 2001 enabled the provinces to order and purchase new passenger rolling stock, and then lease it to members of the PKP group. On January 1 2004, the voivodships gained the right to establish their own train operating companies, or to invite tenders for outside operators. The latter option was only chosen by Kujavsko-Pomorskie, which in December 2007 awarded a contract to Arriva RP to provide services on the province’s non-electrified lines.
In Dolnośląskie, the region chose on December 28 2007 to establish its own provincial train operating company. Koleje Dolnośląskie’s first train departed from Kłodzko Główne at 04.18 on 14 December 2008, bound for Legnica, which is where the company’s head offices are situated. This was the first rail service in Poland to be operated by a provincial authority without any involvement from the incumbent.
The voivodship then set about restoring passenger rail services on lines from which they had recently been withdrawn by Przewozy Regionalne. The first was the 52 km route between Kłodzko and Wałbrzych, where passenger trains resumed over what had been a freight-only line on January 5 2009. This line had lost its sparse passenger service on March 31 2006, but now, almost 20 years later, the infrastructure has been renewed and it is being considered for electrification.
The next reopening, on September 20 2009 was the 20 km route from Wrocław Psie Pole to Trzebnica, which had lost its regular passenger trains on June 21 1991, freight continuing until December 2 1999.
Meanwhile, the voivodship had also been active in the Sudety mountains. Here, the cross-border line from Szklarska Poręba Górna to Harrachov had formed a through route from Jelenia Góra to Tanvald and Liberec in the Czech Republic. Passenger services across the Polish-Czech border were withdrawn in 1945, the catenary being deemed Soviet property and duly removed for reuse in Russia. The track remained, prompting a 1992 attempt at revival of the line, and a special train on July 5 2002 to mark the centenary of the railway.
Reconstruction, involving investment of around 14m złoty, resulted in a reinauguration of the line on July 2 2010. Services from the Czech side to Szklarska Poręba Górna were initially operated by GW Trains, and thence to Jelenia Góra by PKP Intercity and Przewozy Regionalne. The majority of the 15 km route lies within Poland, and just 170 m is in the Czech Republic.
More recently, passenger services were reintroduced over the 16∙5 km from Gryfów Śląski to Świeradów-Zdrój in December 2023; this line had lost its passenger services in February 1996, freight traffic continuing for two more years.
A thriving network
Over the past 15 years, DSDiK has continued to expand its activities as a rail infrastructure manager. It is now responsible for 23 sections of railway totalling approximately 240 km, some of which make up parts of longer routes still managed by PKP PLK.
In 2023, Dolnośląskie allocated 260m złoty to support local rail transport. The subsidies have borne fruit. In 2009, Koleje Dolnośląskie recorded a ridership of just over 334 000, and by 2022 this had grown to no less than 16 million. The 100 millionth passenger boarded a specially decorated train on a Zgorzelec to Wrocław Główny service on May 15 2022, and those onboard were handed discount vouchers for weekend travel.
The same year, Koleje Dolnośląskie operated 11∙5 million train-km and received 170m złoty in subsidies from the province. In contrast, nationally managed regional operator PolRegio operated just 3∙5 million train-km and received 90m złoty. PolRegio carried a record 12∙4 million passengers on its services in Dolnośląskie, 23% fewer than Koleje Dolnośląskie. The province provides 75% more funding for Koleje Dolnośląskie’s PSO services than it does for PolRegio’s, the local company being regarded as the more efficient operator.
Koleje Dolnośląskie’s growth in ridership following the (admittedly relatively small) slump during the pandemic continues. In 2023, it carried 16∙9 million passengers, rising to 19∙2 million in 2024.
Into the mountains
South of Jelenia Góra, work is in progress to restore two railways serving resorts in the Karkonosze mountains. The 40 km Line 308 runs from Jelenia Góra via Mysłakowice to Kamienna Góra, where it meets Line 299, which continues to the Czech border at Lubawka/Královec, and Line 298 to Sędzisław. It follows a very sinuous route, involving a 1 025 m long tunnel under the Kowarska Pass at an altitude of 727 m. This was inaugurated on June 5 1905, but passenger services were withdrawn in 1986 between Mysłakowice and Kamienna Góra — fortunately the tracks were not lifted. In 2010, the line could still be used at very low speeds between Jelenia Góra and Kowary, at the western end of the summit tunnel.
Since 2019 the line has become the focus of a revival project, and on June 21 2021 DSDiK acquired the infrastructure from PKP PLK. The line is now in the hands of a contractor, LZW Żórawina, which is lifting the old track in readiness for the laying of new.
Between Mysłakowice and Kowary the renovation work will be fairly easy, but beyond lies the summit tunnel. This is the hibernation home of a colony of around 200 Western Barbastelle bats, which will not be happy at sharing the bore with trains travelling at up to 80 km/h. The tunnel also has a water infiltration problem which will have to be remedied. In winter the water freezes, forming icicles. It is, however, something of a local tourist attraction and is currently used as a public footpath. Tracklaying as far as Kowary is scheduled for completion by the end of 2025, though the whole line will not be reopened until at least 2028.
The other line is the steeply graded railway from Jelenia Góra to Mysłakowice and Karpacz. Designated Line 340, this was completed in 1895 and was electrified in 1934. The catenary was dismantled by the Red Army in early 1945 and taken to the USSR for reuse. Freight traffic ceased in the 1980s, and passenger rail services were withdrawn on April 2 2000. The line was transferred from PKP PLK to DSDiK in 2021.
The 41m złoty contract for rebuilding the 7 km between Mysłakowice and Karpacz and the relevant stations was won by EFT Polska; the 9∙6 km section between Jelenia Góra and Mysłakowice is part of Line 308 and had been renovated slightly earlier at a cost of 21m złoty.
On March 6 this year the initial operational train traversed the whole line. This consisted of ten ballast wagons hauled by TrainSpeed’s SM31-009, the wagons being loaded on the site of Miłków station. This train was followed by a tamper and ballast regulator. The railway was officially reopened to passengers on June 14. On weekdays there are 12 train pairs daily, while at weekends there are 14, including four using heritage rolling stock. End-to-end journey time over the line is 18 min.
Cross-border aspiration
During the reopening ceremony at Karpacz station, the head of the Dolnośląskie provincial council, Paweł Gancarz, and his deputy, Michał Rado, who is responsible for the voivodship’s infrastructure portfolio, announced their ambitious plans for extending the railway across the border.
‘We have reached Karpacz, but the rails must not end there. A few billion złoty and we will be on the other side. I think we will find the financial resources’, said Gancarz. Rado added that ‘nothing is impossible. They say that those who want to can move mountains. We don’t want to move them. We want to bore through the mountain. We have to find a way and we will look for it.’
But to succeed, the project must first overcome opposition from environmentalists because of the proximity to a national park. In 2022, the Czech authorities announced plans for three cross-border tunnels to link Karpacz to Pec pod Sněžkou, tapping into a booming winter sports scene in the mountains on both sides of the border.
At present it is possible to drive the 40 km route between the two towns in around 45 min, but as the crow flies the resorts are just 15 km apart. A rail link would be a much faster means of transport, but significant national and EU funding would surely be necessary to bring this to fruition.
