Poland is the most important railway market in Eastern Europe both in the freight and in the passenger railway transport sector, and in the past years, especially through European funds, it has carried out a series of important projects for the railway sector. In 2009, the national railway market recovered much more dynamically than estimated, while many European markets faced the effects of the economic crisis. The annual volume of all products and services in the Polish railway sector amounted to (in the period 2010-2012) EUR 2.4 Billion and is estimated to register annual increases of 2.7%, reaching 2.9 Billion by 2016, as shows a study elaborated by SCI Verkehr GmbH (“The Polish Railway Market”). Although the passenger transport sector experienced decreases, due to investments in the transport infrastructure and modernisation of the rolling stock fleet, the number of passengers will constantly increase in the next years.
According to the Development Strategy 2030, published at the beginning of the year, the most important challenge in the passenger transport sector is the modernisation of the rolling stock fleet and the purchase of new coaches, projects which will contribute to the increase of the number of passengers. In the period 2003-2010, the number of carried passengers reached 260-290 million, and with the market opening (in 2007) the new operators competed successfully with PKP. Therefore, the market structure has changed since 2010, including two companies of PKP Group, seven local companies, and two companies held by DB, Arriva RP Sp. z o.o. (part of Arriva Group, held by DB).
For the consolidation and modernisation of the transport system, the main indicators for the actions to be implemented are determined by the dimension and structure of future demand of the passenger and freight transport. Therefore, the passenger traffic will generally register significant increases in the international traffic sector; compared to the figures in 2010, it will increase by 27-35% until 2020 and by 58-86%% in 2030, and national long-distance services are estimated to increase by 20-28% until 2020 and by 40-57% until 2030. As regards the modes of transport, the railway sector will only increase by 3-5% (in 2010-2020) and, for 2030, after the execution of the projects for improvement of the services quality and the execution of a high-standard railway system, the increase will be considerable: 100-120%.
Compared to air traffic, the potential opening of the central airport (CPL) could affect the increase of air traffic, but the final decision will depend on factors such as the implementation of the high-speed line project (“Y” line), transport demands, the economic situation etc.
According to the most recent study elaborated by the Polish Office of Rail Transportation (“Polish railway market in 2011”), 2011 was the first year of increase (of the past three ones) of the performance of the passenger railway transport, the operators transporting 264.5 million passengers, 1% more than in 2010, and the traffic registered an increase of 1.4%. The regional transport increased by 1.4%, and the international one by 11%.
Rolling stock purchase, solution for quality increase
The quality of services provided by railway companies has improved as operators have become aware of the need to allocate investments in the rolling stock. The fundamental problems of passengers refer to comfort conditions and adequate ser-vices, and to the fact that the rolling stock is worn and transport operators reduced repair, modernisation and maintenance expenses.
Under these circumstances, the development strategy underlines the importance of granting the support by subsidies, for the rolling stock modernisation and purchase. “In the next period, the strategic challenge aims at consolidating the role of the railway transport within an integrated transport system. The railway competitiveness must increase compared to the other modes of transports, in terms of safety and comfort. This goal will be reached through the investment programmes, organisational and technological changes, and the change of programmes will create opportunities for the provision of competitive services”, the document stipulates.
In the next years, intercity services and those provided in the crowded areas will register the most dynamic development: intercity, due to the capacity of connection to the most important cities of Poland, and railway transport services in crowded spaces will become important, especially due to the congestion of road traffic. The competitiveness optimisation will be ensured by integration with the other modes of transport, and rolling stock will be purchased to answer mobility needs.
“As regards intercity services, upgraded or new trains will be put into service in the period 2015-2020. The trains will be able to run on modernised lines at 200 km/h. Subsequently, locomotives capable to reach these speeds will be purchased. The selection of the new rolling stock will reflect the needs of different subsystems, the modern vehicles fulfilling several requirements: the locomotives will have to be adapted to the speed limits defined by the individual sections of the modernised network, and carriages will have to comply with all types of passenger and technological needs”.
The projects of modernisation and purchase of new vehicles will be financed from the operators’ own funds and from public funds.
Poland and the EU
In 2011, across the EU, the railways carried 8.448 billion passengers, 0.3% more than in the previous year, and the traffic reached 405 billion passenger/km after a 0.25% increase.
The number of passengers increased by 11.2% only in 2004-2005, and, despite the fact that in 2009 the traffic decreased, in the next two years the transport increased again (until 2011 the number of passengers increased by 1.7%).
As regards the number of licences, in 2010, approximately 500 companies were authorised to perform passenger transport in EU, an increase from 2009.
In Poland, 34 licenses were issued (34 entities in 2011). In Europe, only Germany and Great Britain had a higher number of entities authorised to provide railway passenger transport services (Germany-320, UK-44).
The transport increase in Poland has oscillated, just like in France and Hungary. Germany ranks first among the states with the highest indicator of the number of passengers, and, together with France and Great Britain, they represent 60% of the Europe’s market share, while Poland holds 3.13%.
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