Planning works for the railway line from Katowice to Ostrava
The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) has announced the completion of the verification and successful settlement of EU funding for pre-project works on the Katowice–state border railway line. The beneficiary of the €1.75 million grant is the company Centralny Port Komunikacyjny, implementing the Port Polska investment programme.
The funding obtained under the CEF “Connecting Europe” instrument allowed for a reimbursement of 50% of eligible costs. All activities stipulated in the agreement were completed on schedule. They fully covered seven pre-project tasks, including:
- Conducting a natural environment inventory;
- Preparation of the Technical, Economic and Environmental Study (STEŚ);
- Development of the programme-spatial concept (KPP);
- Preparation and submission of the Environmental Conditions Decision application.
The railway line connecting Katowice, the Polish–Czech border, and Ostrava is a cross-border project and forms a key element of the core network of the European TEN-T transport network (Baltic–Adriatic Corridor).
Construction of this line will enable fast international connections linking, among others, Katowice and Warsaw with Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. Once completed, travel from Warsaw to Vienna is expected to take approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes. Travel between Vienna and Katowice will take about 2 hours and 20 minutes, between Katowice and Prague around 2 hours and 30 minutes, and from Katowice to Ostrava approximately 35–40 minutes.
The construction of this 60-kilometre section on the Polish side will also significantly reduce travel times within the Silesian Voivodeship, providing direct rail connections between Katowice and towns such as Żory and Jastrzębie-Zdrój:
- Katowice–Żory: travel time reduced from 90 minutes to 20 minutes
- Katowice–Rybnik: from 45 minutes to 24 minutes
- Katowice–Wodzisław Śląski: from 60 minutes to 38 minutes
- Katowice–Jastrzębie-Zdrój: approximately 35 minutes (currently, Jastrzębie-Zdrój has no rail connections)
In November 2025, the company Centralny Port Komunikacyjny, implementing the investment, received additional funding of nearly PLN 80 million from the CEF 2 “Connecting Europe” instrument, this time for design works.
The Katowice–state border line will be constructed to High-Speed Rail standards, with an operational speed of up to 250 km/h, including necessary branch lines to Żory, Rybnik, Jastrzębie-Zdrój, and Wodzisław Śląski. The design works, ongoing since mid-2023, are being carried out by a consortium comprising Dohwa Polska, Dohwa Engineering, and Korean Railways. The process of obtaining the environmental decision is currently in an advanced stage.