First High Speed Railway Launched in Poland

<p>On this lovely 17th December afternoon I decided to add a new blog category to my blog - <a href="http://www.reinisfischer.com/railway">Railway</a>.</p><p>Railway is a transport system I have been interested ever since I can remember my self.&nbsp;</p><p>Railways (<strong>as I like to think</strong>) is a back-bone of country's economy. Railway system is a mirror which reflects economical growth and stability.<strong> On the other hand Railway has lost it's importance it had in 19th century</strong>. Railway symbolizes industrialization (<strong>again, at least for me</strong>).</p><p>Though we are living in times when importance of Railway is decreasing there are still many regions in World where Railway is just yet to be developed.&nbsp;</p><p>For a last 3 years I have been paid some interest of Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project (it's more cargo) connecting <a href="http://www.reinisfischer.com/caucasus-overview">Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey</a>. I have paid a huge interest of Rail Baltic project which should connect Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Warsaw any-time soon.</p><h2>High Speed Railway service has been opened in Poland</h2><p><img src="http://www.reinisfischer.com/sites/default/files/polandrailway.jpg&quot; alt="Railway Map in Poland" title="Railway Map in Poland" width="600" height="487"></p><p><em>Railway Map in Poland (Image source: www.railwaypro.com)</em></p><p>High speed rail service commenced in Poland on the 14th of December, 2014, with the introduction of 20 non-tilting Pendolino trainsets operating on 4 designated lines radiating out from Warsaw.</p><p>Polish State Railways started passenger service trains PKP Pendolino operating a speed 200 km/h on 80 km line Olszamowice-Zawiercie (part of railway line called CMK, from Warsaw to Cracow). Polish state railways PKP launched the high speed service under the Express Intercity Premium (EIP) brand name.</p><p>PKP Intercity is initially using nine sets a day to operate 23 EIP services from Warszawa to Gdynia, Kraków, Katowice, and Wrocław. Most operate on the core Kraków – Warszawa – Gdańsk – Gdynia route, running hourly at peak times and every 2 h off-peak. There are two Pendolinos each way per day on the Katowice and Wrocław routes. Headline journey times are 2 h 58 min from Warszawa to Gdańsk, 2 h 28 min to Kraków and 2 h 34 min to Katowice. EIP services from Warszawa to Wrocław run via the CMK trunk line, Częstochowa and Opole, taking 3 h 42 min against up to 6 h for the previous route via Poznań.</p><p>In addition to the Central Rail Line from Warsaw to Kraków and Katowice, and from Warsaw to Wrocław, the Pendolinos also operate on the 350 km (221 miles) route from Warsaw to Gdańsk and Gdynia on the Baltic Sea. In 2011-2015 the Warsaw-Gdańsk-Gdynia route is undergoing a major upgrading costing $3 billion, partly funded by the European Investment Bank, including track replacement, realignment of curves and relocation of sections of track to allow speeds up to 200 km/h (124 mph), modernization of stations, and installation of European Train Control System Level 2, which is to be completed in June 2015.</p><p>When Pendolino services started on 14 December 2014 the previous Warsaw-Gdańsk rail travel time of 4-1/2 to 6 hours was reduced to 2 hours 58 minutes by Pendolino, and will be reduced further to 2 hours 40 minutes when upgrading is completed.</p><h2>About Pendolino tilting trains</h2><p><img src="http://www.reinisfischer.com/sites/default/files/pendolino.jpg&quot; alt="A PKP Intercity ED250 Pendolino" title="A PKP Intercity ED250 Pendolino" width="800" height="600"></p><p><em>A PKP Intercity ED250 Pendolino (Image author:&nbsp;Andrzej Otrębski)</em></p><p><span><span>Pendolino is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Switzerland, China, Poland and shortly in Romania. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Based on the design of the Italian ETR 401 and the British Advanced Passenger Train, it was further developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was taken over by Alstom in 2000. The idea of a tilting train became popular in the 1960s and 1970s when various rail operators, impressed by the high-speed rail services being introduced in France and Japan, wondered how they could similarly speed up travel without building a dedicated parallel rail network (as those two countries were doing). </span></span></p><p><span><span>By tilting, the train could go around curves designed for slower trains at higher speeds without causing undue discomfort to passengers</span></span></p><p><strong>Used resources:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_Poland">http://en.wikip… href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_Poland">http://www.rail… href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_Poland">http://en.wikip… photo from:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/passenger/single-view/view/polish-pe…;