Poland’s Minister of Infrastructure, Darius Klimczak, has announced that by the end of this year rail infrastructure tenders worth PLN 17.5 billion (EUR 4 billion) will be launched.

2024 is a record year in terms of rail investment as the rail infrastructure manager PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PKP PLK) issued tenders with a total value of PLN 13 billion (EUR 3 billion).

According to the minister, this year, PKP PLK signed more than 240 contracts including 61 contracts financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (KPO) for a total value of PLN 15 billion (EUR 3.45 billion) of which PLN 5 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) is the financing coming from the KPO.

“Railways is the transport of the future. That is why we want to invest more and more in the Polish railway, so that it brings the results expected by passengers. More and more people have access to the railway, more and more people choose this mode of transport. More and more people also notice the positive changes taking place in rail transport. PKP Intercity has transported 68 million passengers since the beginning of the year, which is more than during the whole of last year. And this year is to end with the number of 80 million passengers transported,” the Minister of Infrastructure said at the 14th Railway Congress.

In October, PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe launched rail infrastructure tenders with a total value of PLN 11.8 billion (EUR 2.7 billion) for projects covering the modernisation of the existing tracks as well as the construction of new links to provide additional connections and capacity.

This summer, the Ministry of Infrastructure has reviewed all planned rail projects, and a managing scheme was decided for these projects so that they would benefit effective financing from the KPO. This change applies only to ineffective tasks which would lead to increased unjustified costs.

Another important decision was a reform to strengthen cooperation and consolidation of rail companies and incorporating them into the Ministry of Infrastructure.

“In order to be able to think comprehensively about rail transport, it was necessary to consolidate all PKP companies in the Ministry of Infrastructure, because previously they were scattered across several ministries. I managed to organise this system, and after the return of the CPK company to the Ministry of Infrastructure from 1 July this year, where the rail component plays a huge role, we can finally talk about the consolidation of rail transport in Poland,” Dariusz Klimczak said.

In July, the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, and the Minister of Infrastructure announced that due to issues to implement projects and several delays, it was agreed to bring CPK under ministry’s umbrella.