The Krosniewicka Kolej Dojazdowa, Krosniewice
Local Railway, is a part of the Kujawska Kolej
Dojazdowa and was SKPL’s busiest n.g. railway.
New readers go first to A word of explanation at the bottom of this post
Contrary to the information that I gave earlier, the Ozorkow special last Saturday was not the last train on the Krosniewice system. SKPL have decided to continue to run the Krosniewice passenger services on a day-to-day basis. The notice given by Mayor of Krosniewice withdrawing SKPL’s licence expires at the end of March.
SKPL have written to the Minister of Infrastructure asking whether or not the passenger and freight services which they operated on the line fulfilled the requirements of the Law for the Commercialisation Restructuring and Privatisation of PKP. (It was a requirement of Krosniewice council’s takeover of the line from PKP that it should remain in use for the purposes of transport.) The letter also asks the Minister to advise what will happen to the takeover now that the Council have terminated SKPL’s licence and appointed no other operator.
Mr Wojciech Szygendowski, the Heritage Conservator of Lodz Province, has written to the Mayor of Krosniewice, reminding her that the whole railway has special heritage status and that she is responsible for its well being.
What can we do?
In the first instance send a letter to the Mayor of Krosniewice with a copy to the Minister of Infrastructure. Explain why you are interested in the line. Explain the heritage importance and potential tourist value of the Krosniewice system. Ask why at the end of March there will be no operator on the line. Point out the value of the historic workshops as a ‘living museum’. Express your concern that without an operator the well equipped workshops will be looted and that the historic locomotives and rolling will be vandalised.
Post your letter airmail and, if you can afford it, ’signed for’ delivery. Send us a copy of your letter, so that we can publish it on the blog. Advise us if any reply is received. Don’t worry about writing in English, the Council offices have scores of people who could translate your letter for Madame Mayor.
write to:
Mrs Julianna Barbara Herman
The Mayor of Krosniewic
Urzad Miejski
Poznanska 5
99-340 Krosniewice
POLANDsend a copy to:
Mr Cezary Grabarczyk
The Minister of Infrastructure
ul. 4/6 Chalubinskiego
00-928 Warszawa
POLAND
A word of explanation
A word of explanation for those joining us for the first time. The Krosniewice Railway, one of the most interesting Polish narrow gauge railways – which operated regular passenger services and carried a substantial freight traffic – is closing because the Mayor of Krosniewice has teamed up with a property developer. Krosniewice Coucil is in the process of acquiring the railway land from PKP, the Polish State Railway Company, for transport purposes. But the Mayor is planning a big property development and the railway workshops are in her way. SKPL, the operator of the line, opposed the demolition of the workshops and, for their pains, have had their operator’s licence terminated by the Mayor.
Tags: Krosniewice Railway, narrow gauge
Tuesday, 11 March 2008 at 20:25 |
Earlier today I posted a letter to the Mayor of Krosniewice with a copy of it to the Minister of Infrastructure. In it I ask the Mayor to reconsider her decision to withdraw SKPL’s operating licence and allow the railway to remain open. It is probably a futile gesture but I feel better for having provided the Mayor something to throw into her waste paper bin.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008 at 00:28 |
Geoff, It’s far from a futile gesture and in the last weeks of operation we (yes, there’s more than one of us involved!) will be ramping up our campaign to get letters going to the Mayor. We know from previous battles that Poles DO take notice of letters sent from the UK, even if they repeat the same arguments as Polish experts!
Tuesday, 22 April 2008 at 17:05 |
[...] I’m joining in. If you feel the desire to help, they have all the details that you would need like addresses for the Mayor, the Polish transport minister and others, and a sample letter to use as a [...]
Saturday, 14 March 2009 at 09:08 |
Roughly a year later how do things stand with the railway at Krosniewice? The preservation group have run a few trains but seem to be concentrating on the line south of Krosniewice. Whilst it is good that occasional special trains have run is there any prospect of a regular service operating on any part of the railway? I assume that there is little chance of any serious revival of the freight traffic. The concern is that there is a long length of railway here which is going to slowly revert back to nature unless sufficient maintenance takes place.
Saturday, 14 March 2009 at 10:14 |
Hi Geoff. Yes, You are absolutely correct. I must try to get some more action going on this front. Best wishes. D.