Concepts of construction of high-speed rail in Poland in context to the European high-speed rail networks

Abstract

The article is devoted to issues related to the projects of construction of new high-speed rail (HSR) lines in Poland. The country, just like several other in Central and Eastern Europe, was going through a socioeconomic transformation period after 1990 and in its first phases, it had no conditions for construction of new HSR lines, but already in mid-1990s it reported aspirations for a further time perspective for modernisation of its own rail network by building new HSR lines. In years 2005–2008, the most mature and feasible project involving construction of new HSR line Warsaw – Łódź – Poznań/Wrocław (the Y HSR line for short) and modernisation of the Central Rail Line (CRL) was prepared and started. The project was the main subject of this article although its implementation was suspended in 2011 for a variety of reasons. In parallel to the initiative of the Baltic Countries of 2008, an international project for new HSR line Rail Baltica was born as a desire to build a new normal-track line connecting Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, through Białystok and Warsaw, with Berlin, which Poland applied for, which is also discussed in the article. In 2017, there was a substantial change in Poland regarding the HSR construction projects as part of a new concept for construction of a Solidarity Transport Hub (STH) near Warsaw. The concept did not enter the implementation phase by the end of 2021 and its basic principles and the critical remarks addressed to it have been presented in this article. However, the substantial part of this article was devoted to the discussion of the expected transport effects of the construction of HSR line Warszawa – Łódź – Poznań/Wrocław and the modernisation of the Central Rail Line as well as the potential socioeconomic effects that may arise in connection with its implementation, still treating it as the core project for changing the arrangement of the Polish rail network.