The European Commission has awarded Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) a PLN 290 million (almost EUR 64 million) funding from the CEF for the preparation of the 140 km Warsaw – Łódź HSR construction.
PLN 350 million (EUR 79 million) is the estimated value of the project of which 85 per cent is the European Union co-financing.
The funded project includes the development of full design documentation necessary to begin construction of two sections of the line from Warsaw West to the junction with railway line No. 11 (LK11) in the area of the planned CPK transport hub and from the junction with LK11 to the Łódź Niciarniana railway station.
“The Warsaw – CPK – Łódź section is crucial for the entire CPK railway system. It will soon provide access not only to the new airport, but also to Poland’s main transfer station. CPK’s win in the CEF competition secures the funds for this project,” Mikołaj Wild, CEO of CPK said.
The scope of the task, for which the EU has granted funding, includes, among other things, the execution of a complete construction project, the acquisition of water permits and location decisions, which precede the application for a construction permit.
Design work is already well advanced for the Warsaw – Łódź HSR construction. The documentation for the Warsaw – CPK section has been prepared since November last year by the consortium of Biuro Projektów “Metroprojekt” and Sud Architekt Polska. The design of the further section of the line from the CPK node to Łódź was awarded to a consortium of Egis Poland, Egis Rail and Jaf-Geotechnika.
“The CPK airport, together with the new high-speed line between Warsaw and Łódź, is an important part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the EU’s strategic transport infrastructure. It is very good news that the European Commission has consistently kept it on the list of its priorities to be co-funded from Community funds,’” Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Marcin Horała, Government Plenipotentiary for CPK said.
The Warsaw – Łódź section will be part of railway line No. 85, called “spoke” No. 9. Together with a further section from Łódź to Wrocław and Poznań, they will form the so-called “Y” high speed line. In the first stage, trains running on this route will be able to reach an operational speed of up to 250 km/h, and up to 350 km/h in the future (design speed).
As a result of the investment, the travel time between Warsaw and Łódź will be reduced to around 45 minutes (today it takes twice as long to complete this route by train). Passengers will be able to reach the CPK airport from Warsaw in around 15 minutes and from Łódź in around half an hour.
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