The European Commission announced it has provided EUR 411 million financing through the Cohesion Fund for the reconstruction of the railway hub in Łódź, Poland. The city has two main stations, Łódź Fabryczna and Łódź Kaliska, which currently are not connected to each other. Thus, the Cohesion Fund will finance the construction of an underground line between these two stations and to Łódź Żabieniec station in the west of the city. The project also includes the construction of two stations, Łódź Zielona and Łódź Ogrodowa. The current project should be completed in January 2022.
The project envisages a diametral tunnel which will have two directions. One will be to the north leading to the Łódź Żabieniec station and to south, to the Łódź Kaliska station. The construction of the tunnel is the next stage of works aimed at improving the Łódź Railway Junction.
Last year, PKP PLK selected the consortium comprising Energopol Szczecin and Przedsiębiorstwo Budowy Dróg i Mostów for the construction of the 7-km railway tunnel from Łódź Fabryczna station to Łódź Kaliska with underground stations being planned at the intersection of Zielona / Zachodni and Kościuszki streets and at Manufaktura shopping center. Work on the project is to start in autumn 2018 and should be completed in December 2021.
The first stage of Łódź Railway Junction project included the construction of a railway tunnel on the Łódź Widzew – Łódź Fabryczna section with a new railway station at the Łódź Fabryczna station. For this first stage, the Torpol-Astaldi-PBDiM-Intercor consortium was selected to construct a 1700m tunnel for long-distance for regional and long-distance transport services, the new building of the station, as well as the modernization of about 2,5 km of tracks in the direction of Łódź Widzew. The modern station will become the main part of a multimodal transport junction which will connect the agglomeration’s traffic and conventional railway, long-distance buses, city public transport and private car transport in the city center.
“Soon, those living in the city will be able to get across town faster and will benefit from better interregional connections, with an effective and environmentally friendly transport system. The improvement of rail transport in Łódź will also stimulate the local economy, trade and tourism,” Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu said.
Łódź is Poland’s third-largest city and a major economic centre and one of the main obstacle to the region’s transport development is this missing link between the two stations (the tunnel).
During the 2007-2013 period, the EU already invested EUR 242 million in reconstructing the Łódź railway hub and renovating the Fabryczna and Widzew stations, making Fabryczna the most modern station in the country.
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