Warsaw-bound train waiting at Gora Kalwaria.
Photo Michael Dembinski
Gora Kalwaria is a dormitory suburb some 30 km by road to the South of Warsaw. It lies on the Skierniewice – Lukow line and was also linked to Warsaw from 1900 until 1971 by a 1000 mm gauge railway. Although several thousand people commute daily from Gora Kalwaria to Warsaw, for the last 15 years the station has been without any passenger services. During the rush hour the car journey can take up to two hours.
Koleje Mazowieckie (Mazowia Railways) suggested restoring train services between Gora Kalwaria and Warsaw and. Barbara Samborska, the Mayor of Gora Kalwaria, made 170,000 PLN available to resurface the platform at the station and provide shelters.
The first train ran on June 2. Among those present at a short ceremony at Gora Kalwaria Station was Janusz Piechocinski, deputy chairman of the Sejm Infrastructure Committee. At present 4 trains a day link Warsaw and Gora Kalwaria with one of the trains continuing to Pilawa. Trains from Gora Kalwaria join the Radom – Warsaw line at the 4-way junction at Czachowek.
Postscript
Michael Dembinski has written several articles about the new service and describes a couple of journeys along route on his blog Wwa Jeziorki. As always the accompanying photos are terrific. He delights in Poland’s sylwan railway junctions.
I’m mentioned Czachowek a few times; it is a railway junction some 10 miles/16km south of Jeziorki. It’s noted for having a couple of hundred inhabitants and four railway stations. Two were out of use, though with the new rail service, Czachowek Wschodni has been re-opened.
Mike has even provided a helpful little diagram showing where the stations were. So I thought I should include a diagram of my own. In its prime Czachowek had 6 railway stations, not four!
Czachowek stations. Map Google Maps and Baza Kolejowa
More:
- W-wa Jeziorki – Jeziorki to Gora Kalwaria by train
- W-wa Jeziorki – Jeziorki to Jeziorki via big local rail loop
- W-wa Jeziorki – Czachowek junction
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 at 18:07 |
I’m particularly fascinated by the history of the Skierniewice to Łuków line, built between 1949 and 1954 at the orders of the Soviet military, as a 100 mile southern rail bypass of Warsaw. As a result, this line, unbounded by commercial logic, does strange things that railway lines don’t usually do. At both Czachówek and Augustówka, there are extensive rail junctions in the middle of a forest.
Can Dyspozytor or any other railway expert tell me of any railway junctions situated in forests, anywhere in the world?
The Skierniewice to Łuków line has an excellent website (in Polish) with gallery and history.
http://s-l.cal.pl/news.php
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 at 20:56 |
About one hour away from Warsaw, the Lodz and Czestochowa trains run through Koluszki which is a complex series of junctions and disused military spurs embedded in a forest. In the UK my favourite junction is Woodford Halse – which though not in a forest and no longer a railway line – is rapidly turning into mature woodland.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 at 22:25 |
Ah now! Woodford Halse! Many’s the student day whiled away on the Great Central south of Rugby! (“And quite where Rugby Central is/Does only Rugby know” – Sir John Betjeman). The Catesby Tunnel, Staverton Viaduct, magical atmospheres.
Koluszki – I think a trip there is in order (I also need to see the abandoned, unfinished Olimpijka motorway from 1980, and what was to be the spur of the CMK running north to Gdansk, also in same area).
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 at 22:43 |
In my school days I had a girlfriend in Leamington Spa which was just within a day’s cycling range of West London. One year my return journey took me through Woodford Halse just as the Great Central mainline was being dismantled. Chaos and destruction everywhere. The signal box was smashed up and open to the elements, I reckoned that no one would mind if I helped myself to a couple of mouldy log books. Most of the track had been lifted. I explored the deserted works and bravely climbed a ladder high up the giant coaling tower – if only I had taken a camera!
The following year I did take a camera and caught the Royal Engineers blowing up the works! The G.C. was Britain’s last main line built for high speed to continental loading gauge. The mostly abanded formation is just asking to be used for HS2.