First location decision issued for the High-Speed Rail line between Warsaw and Łódź
The construction of the high-speed line between Warsaw, the CPK Airport and Łódź is moving closer. Centralny Port Komunikacyjny has obtained the first of the location decisions required for this section of the railway. The document, issued by the Mazovian Voivode, concerns the stretch in the vicinity of Warszawa West station.
The entire section covered by the location decision is approximately 1 km long, part of which runs in a tunnel near Warszawa West. This segment is of key importance: it will form the outbound route from Warsaw towards the CPK Airport and Łódź, where work is already underway on the long-distance tunnel. The Warsaw–Łódź route forms part of the so-called “Y” line of the High-Speed Rail (HSR) network, for which CPK is responsible.
The section included in the location decision will connect directly to the track layout built by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe, which takes the current CPK investment into account. Design work for the 140-kilometre HSR section between Warsaw and Łódź is nearing completion. CPK has already submitted 8 of the 12 planned applications for location decisions. The company also holds all environmental decisions and 9 of the 14 water-law decisions.
The Warsaw–Łódź section was the first included in the Railway Voluntary Acquisition Programme. CPK has already acquired over 151 plots (159 ha), with more than 95 percent of eligible owners taking part.
As part of the Warsaw–Łódź HSR project, CPK plans a total of eight tender procedures: six for the main construction works and two covering traffic control systems (SRK), telecommunications and the overhead contact line.
Thanks to the construction of the Warsaw–Łódź HSR line, the travel time between the two cities will fall to around 40 minutes (currently around 70). Passengers will reach the CPK Airport from Warsaw in under 20 minutes. Once the entire “Y” line is completed, journeys from Poznań to Warsaw will take just under 1 hour 40 minutes (instead of around 2 hours 20 minutes today), and the same from Warsaw to Wrocław – less than half the current travel time.
The Warsaw–Łódź section, whose design work has received EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF 2), is scheduled to open at the end of 2032, simultaneously with the CPK Airport. According to the timetable, the HSR sections from Łódź via Sieradz to Wrocław and Poznań should be commissioned by the end of 2035. The Council of Ministers has allocated over PLN 76 billion for CPK railway investments by 2032 – around two-thirds of the current CPK Multinnual Programme.