Central Rail Line (Poland)
| Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Włoszczowa Północ Station
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| Overview | |||
| Type | Inter-city rail line | ||
| System | InterCity and EuroCity | ||
| Status | Operating | ||
| Locale | Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Opoczno, Włoszczowa, Zawiercie | ||
| Termini |
Grodzisk Mazowiecki railway station Zawiercie |
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| Stations | 29 | ||
| Services | 1 main | ||
| Daily ridership | (est.)? | ||
| Operation | |||
| Opened | 1977 | ||
| Owner | Polish State Railways | ||
| Operator(s) | PKP Intercity | ||
| Character | 2 track main line | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 224 km | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Electrification | 3 kV DC | ||
| Operating speed | current max 200 km/h (160/250 since 1985/theoretically) | ||
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The Central Rail Line (Polish: Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa, CMK, also known in Poland as the Rail Line No. 4, Polish: Linia kolejowa nr 4), was completed on 23 December 1977 could have been the first high speed railway line in Europe. Designed for speeds of up to 250 km/h, the line goes from the city of Zawiercie in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie region of southern Poland, to Grodzisk Mazowiecki in the suburbs of Warsaw. Its length is 224 kilometers, and in the Polish rail system it is officially known as Rail Line Number 4 (Linia kolejowa numer 4). The line was originally built for rail freight transport, but it now carries InterCity and EuroCity long distance passenger services, mostly from Katowice and Kraków to Warsaw.
Since 14 December 2014 new Alstom Pendolino trains operate on the CMK between Olszamowice and Zawiercie at 200 km/h (124 mph). This is currently the highest speed of any regularly scheduled passenger train in Poland.
The CMK was constructed between 1971 and 1977, as a freight line designed to haul coal from Upper Silesia and Zagłębie Dabrowskie to the ports of the Tricity. According to the original idea, it was supposed to start at Zawiercie, and end at Tczew or Gdańsk. However, the economic crisis in mid-1970s Poland changed these plans, and due to lack of money the CMK ends at Grodzisk Mazowiecki, where it is connected to the already-existing Warsaw–Vienna railway
The idea of construction of a direct rail connection between Upper Silesia and Warsaw was first proposed by professor Aleksander Wasiutyński in the 1920s. He rightly noted that the Warsaw–Vienna railway, which goes to Warsaw through Zawiercie, Myszków, , Radomsko, Piotrków Trybunalski, Koluszki, and Skierniewice, would not be able to carry all the passenger and freight traffic between the two industrial centers of the newly created country. Wasiutyński’s idea was abandoned however, when the government constructed the Polish Coal Trunk-Line instead.
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Wikipedia