Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa
Encyclopedia
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
line in Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's capital city of Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. The line, together with its two branches, links Warsaw with the municipalities of Michałowice, Pruszków
Pruszków
Pruszków is a town in central Poland, situated in the Masovian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in Warszawa Voivodeship . Pruszków is the capital of Pruszków County, located along the western edge of the Warsaw urban area...
, Brwinów
Brwinów
Brwinów is a town in Pruszków County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, about 25 km from the centre of Warsaw; according to the 2008 records Brwinów has 12131 inhabitants....
, Podkowa Leśna
Podkowa Lesna
Podkowa Leśna is a town in Grodzisk Mazowiecki County of Poland and located on the Łowicko–Błońska Plain within the territory of the Młochowskie Forests. City status - from January 1, 1969. The city also has the status of gmina, meaning "commune"...
, Milanówek
Milanówek
Milanówek is a town and a seat of a separate commune in Poland. Located in the Grodzisk Mazowiecki County near Warsaw, it is often considered an outlying suburb of the capital of Poland but is in fact an independent entity administratively and culturally. Milanówek is however part of wider Warsaw...
and Grodzisk Mazowiecki
Grodzisk Mazowiecki
Grodzisk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 26,881 inhabitants in 2006. It is 30 km. southwest of Warsaw.Between 1975 and 1998 it was situated in the Warszawa Voivodeship but since 1999 it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Grodzisk Mazowiecki...
to the south-west of Warsaw.
History
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In 1924 the company received a concession from the ministry of transport to build a private railroad from Warsaw through Grodzisk Mazowiecki to Żyrardów, under the condition that it would be run least 2 kilometers from the existing line of the former Warsaw-Vienna Railway
Warsaw-Vienna Railway
The Warsaw-Vienna Railway was a railway system which operated in Congress Poland, a part of the Russian Empire, from 1845 until 1912, when it was nationalized by the Russian government...
owned by the Polish State Railways (PKP). The work began in Komorów
Komorów, Pruszków County
Komorów is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Michałowice, within Pruszków County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately south-east of Pruszków and south-west of Warsaw.The village has a population of 5,136....
and proceeded simultaneously in two directions. In 1927 a 32.4 kilometers long standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
line electrified at 650 V DC with overhead wire was opened, linking Grodzisk Mazowiecki with the center of Warsaw. The line was connected with a 3 kilometer long non-electrified technical line with national rail system in Komorów, 24 kilometers of the line between Podkowa Leśna and Warsaw consisted of double track, the four kilometers long segment of the line leading to railroads final station in Warsaw at Marszałkowska Street was embedded in the city streets. The railroad operated 20 four-axle electric railcars produced by the English Electric Company at Preston, capable of traveling with a speed of up to 70 km/h, along with 20 unpowered passenger cars.
In 1932 the line was extended in Grodzisk Mazowiecki to reach Grodzisk Mazowiecki PKP station and a short branch line was built in Włochy just outside Warsaw, likewise linking with the Włochy PKP station. In 1936 a branch line was opened from Podkowa Leśna to Milanówek with PKP station there. Before the outbreak of World War II work was initiated on the construction of second line from Komorów to Nadarzyn
Nadarzyn
Nadarzyn is a village in Pruszków County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Nadarzyn...
and Mszczonów
Mszczonów
Mszczonów is a town in Żyrardów County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 6,310 inhabitants .The town had a Jewish community, and it was once the center of the Hasidic Amshinov dynasty...
.
The Elektryczna Kolej Dojazowa in 1939 carried 4000 passengers a day and run trains every 10 minutes during rush hours. Its core business has not yet reached profitability, however the company made money reselling real estate which gained in value significantly due to the railroad.
During World War II the railroad remained operational during most of the German occupation albeit only on part of the line. In 1947 the company was nationalized by the Soviet installed communist government and in 1951 placed under the administration of the Polish State Railways and renamed to Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa (Warsaw Commuter Rail), however the line retained a narrower loading gauge
Loading gauge
A loading gauge defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads to ensure safe passage through bridges, tunnels and other structures...
and its specific electrification system while the national rail network uses 3 kV DC. During the 1960s the line was gradually trimmed at its and ends and in Warsaw moved to newly built tracks in the cutting of western part of the Warsaw Cross-City Line
Warsaw Cross-City Line
Warsaw cross-city line is a 7 km railway line crossing downtown Warsaw in the East-West direction. Opened in 1933 and electrified in 1936, it initially had two tracks, with additional two added in 1949...
. In 1972 the almost half-a-century old English Electric railcars were replaced by new PKP class EN94 EMU
EMU
-Australia:* Emu Bay, South Australia, on Kangaroo Island* Emu Brewery, historic site in Perth* Emu Creek, near Aurukun, Queensland* Emu Downs Wind Farm, Western Australia, 200km north of Perth...
s produced by Pafawag
Pafawag
Pafawag is a Polish locomotive manufacturer based in Wrocław. The company became part of Adtranz in 1997 as Adtranz Pafawag, and in 2001 part of Bombardier Transportation...
in Wrocław designed specially for the line.
In 2001 with the restructuring of the Polish State Railways a separate company called PKP Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa Sp. z o.o. was created within the PKP Group
PKP Group
PKP Group is a Polish conglomerate founded in 2001 from the former single national rail operator, Polskie Koleje Państwowe. The purpose of this change was to match European Union directives of dividing transport service from rail system management and founding separate companies able to sell their...
and in 2007 taken over by a consortium formed by the Masovian Voivodeship
Masovian Voivodeship
-Administrative division:Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties : 5 city counties and 37 "land counties"...
and the municipalities through which the line runs, dropping the letters PKP from its name.
Several proposal have been made for the modernization of line, proposing alternately either switching the line to standard tram rolling stock and eventually integrating with the Warsaw Tramway system or rebuilding the line to standard rail loading gauge and converting to 3 kV electrification system in order to integrate it with the national rail network. Additionally plans have been prepared for moving the final station of the line in Warsaw to Rondo Dmowskiego at Marszałkowska Street in order to facilitate easier transfers to the Centrum
Centrum (Warsaw Metro)
Metro Centrum is a Warsaw Metro station located under the Plac Defilad square in the borough of Śródmieście, next to the Roman Dmowski roundabout, where two main streets, Marszałkowska and Aleje Jerozolimskie, intersect. It is located close to the Palace of Culture and Science and Warsaw Central...
station on the city's first metro line
Warsaw Metro
The Warsaw Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It consists of a single north-south line that links central Warsaw with its densely populated northern and southern suburbs. The first section was opened in 1995, then gradually extended until it...
and to build the line between Komorów and Nadarzyn, however as of 2011 no funds have been allocated towards any of those.
In 2004 Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa received a single prototype of a new EMU designated PKP class EN95 built by PESA in Bydgoszcz which remains in service today, however no further units of this type have been ordered. Instead in 2010 the company ordered also from PESA 14 EMUs of a completely new design, requiring in the specification the possibility to convert them to the voltage used on the national rail network.
Route
Starting as double-track from the Warszawa Śródmieście WKD terminus adjacent to the mainline Warszawa Centralna stationWarszawa Centralna station
Warsaw Central is the most important railway station in Warsaw, Poland. Its construction began in 1972 and was completed in 1975. The station, located on the Warsaw Cross-City Line, has four underground island platforms and is served by long-distance domestic and international trains of PKP...
, the line initially runs to the west alongside Warsaw's main east-west railway line before turning to the south-west on its own right of way. The length of the Warszawa Śródmieście WKD to Grodzisk Mazowiecki Radońska line is 33 km, and of the Milanówek branch 3 km.
The stations are:
- Warszawa Śródmieście WKD
- Warszawa Ochota
- Warszawa ZachodniaWarszawa Zachodnia stationWarszawa Zachodnia station is a railway and long-distance bus station in Warsaw, Poland on the border of Ochota and Wola dzielnicas. The railway station is the most westerly station on the Warsaw Cross-City Line...
- Warszawa Reduta Ordona
- Warszawa Aleje Jerozolimskie
- Warszawa Raków
- Warszawa Salomea
- Opacz
- Michałowice
- Reguły
- Malichy
- Tworki
- Pruszków WKD
- Komorów
- Nowa Wieś Warszawska
- Kanie Helenowskie
- OtrębusyOtrebusyOtrębusy is a village in Poland, in Masovian Voivodship, to the west of Warsaw in the Gmina Brwinów.- History :The first mention of Otrębusy come from Księgi Błońskie Ziemskie from 1525 and 1534. Latin spelling was used then: Otrambusche...
- Podkowa Leśna Wschodnia
- Podkowa Leśnia Główna
- Podkowa Leśna Zachodnia
Here the line splits into two single-track branches. The stations on the Milanówek branch (line 48) are:
- Polesie
- Milanówek Grudów
The stations on the Grodzisk Mazowiecki branch (line 47) are:
- Kazimierówka
- Brzózki
- Grodzisk Mazowiecki Okrężna
- Grodzisk Mazowiecki Piaskowa
- Grodzisk Mazowiecki Jordanowice
- Grodzisk Mazowiecki Radońska
There is a single-track non-electrified link between the Komorów station and the PKP rail network (Pruszków station), carrying no scheduled traffic.
Operation
The WKD is standard gaugeStandard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
and electrified at 600 Volt
Volt
The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
s DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
on the overhead system
Overhead lines
Overhead lines or overhead wires are used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains at a distance from the energy supply point...
. Train service is provided by two classes of train sets:
- Forty type EN94 six-axle articulated electric units, built from 1969-1972 in Wrocław and normally operated in pairs.
- A single type EN95 ten-axle low-floor articulated electric units, built from 2004-present in Bydgoszcz and normally operated singly.
The company has on order, 14 new units which are scheduled to arrive in 2011.
The line also possesses a vintage type EN80 four-axle electric unit, built by English Electric
English Electric
English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...
at Preston in 1927, and a small diesel shunter, obtained second hand from PKP.
On the main line, trains operate every 15 minutes at peak periods and every 30 minutes at other times, with a service gap between midnight and 05:00. For most of the day, one train an hour runs through to Milanówek Grudów, with most of the other trains running through to Grodzisk Mazowiecki Radońska. All trains stop at all stations on their route, and a journey from Warszawa Śródmieście to Grodzisk Mazowiecki Radońska takes just under one hour.
Since 2007 WKD honors medium and long term tickets (24 hours and above) issued by the Warsaw Transit Authority
Zarzad Transportu Miejskiego
Zarząd Transportu Miejskiego is the local authority controlled body managing all means of public transport in Warsaw...
previously validated in the city's public transport, however the offer presently the offer remains limited to the administrative borders of the city, unlike a similar arrangement Masovian Railroads
Koleje Mazowieckie
Koleje Mazowieckie is a regional rail operator in the Masovian Voivodeship of Poland.- History :The company was founded in 2004 as a joint venture of the Masovian Voivodeship, with 51% shares, and the, then government-owned, PKP Przewozy Regionalne, with 49% shares, to handle local passenger...
which extends to neighboring towns served by Warsaw's public transit system.
The company's headquarters and the main technical depot are in Grodzisk Mazowiecki
Grodzisk Mazowiecki
Grodzisk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 26,881 inhabitants in 2006. It is 30 km. southwest of Warsaw.Between 1975 and 1998 it was situated in the Warszawa Voivodeship but since 1999 it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Grodzisk Mazowiecki...
.