Still from an investigation into the Polish railway system broadcast by the Uwaga programme on the TVN television channel in Poland last week.
(Click to view the first part of the programme.)
CAPTION
reporters: P Gadzinowski, G Kuczek
camera: S Szopinski, R Nawrocki, A. Wierzbicki
film editing: R Sobczyk, Z Bielen, M Andrychowski
VOX POP
FIRST COMMUTER:
Bearing in mind we are in the 21st century, rail travel should be a bit different. Don’t you think?
SECOND COMMUTER:
You can forget about air conditioning for a start, Because it doesn’t exist. Sometimes it is provided in first class, but not in second…
THIRD COMMUTER:
Sometimes during the rush hour only one train set appears. Then it’s like those old war films, you have to push to jam all the people in.
FOURTH COMMUTER:
Everybody then forgets about being a gentleman and just throws themselves into the train like an animal in order to grab a seat.
CAPTION
Polish State Railways (PKP)
100,000 employees
Polish Army
93,000 soldiers
CAPTION
PKP
1000,000,000 zloty
CAPTION
PLK Polish Railway Lines (infrastructure company)
PKP Energetyka (electricity distribution company)
PKP Telekomunikacja Kolejowa (telecoms company)
PKP Informatyka (IT company)
28 other PKP subsidiaries
long distance passenger services
PKP InterCity
Szybka Kolej Mazowiecka (Mazowsze Fast Trains)
PKP Cargo (freight train operator)
PKP LHS (Poland-Ukraine border to Katowice broad gauge line)
20, 000, 000, 000 zloty
WARSZAWA JEZIORKI RAILWAY STATION
STANISLAW BIEGA, DIRECTOR RAILWAY PROJECTS, SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT CENTRE
The Polish railway landscape looks awful. We have to admit that in no other EU country does the railway station infrastructure look so bad. There are no good examples of railway station developments.
TVN:
What about Dworzec Centralny in Warsaw?
STANISLAW BIEGA:
Well the standard of the kebabs served there is hardly appropriate to such a prestigious location.
VARIOUS LOCATIONS, WARSZAWA CENTRALNA STATION
TVN:
Why do Polish railway stations frighten away passengers… with their appearance…with their smell. Because here, it’s not a nice smell.
MICHAL WROZEK, Press Spokesperson PKP SA:
The station where we are at present, Dworzec Centralny, is not in a good state. We intend to renovate it. But this is a station where quite a lot has changed. This is a station which is cleaned 24 hours a day. This is a station which has security guards. This is a station where, if you look around, you won’t find pathological suspicious characters. Because such people are asked to leave.
TVN:
According to a report published by NIK, the government audit office: 40% of railway stations do not have functioning toilets, Only 50 stations (5%) meet some criteria for disabled passengers, and 0% meet all criteria, What sort of advertisement is that for Polish State Railways?
MICHAL WROZEK:
That, of course, is not satisfactory. But you should remember that there are stations with such a low usage by people that operating a toilet, for example, by a third party who rents the facility from PKP, because that’s what we normally do, would not be economic.
CIECHOCINEK RAILWAY STATION (A POPULAR POLISH HEALTH RESORT)
VOX POP
FIRST PASSENGER:
I want to go from Aleksander Kujawski to Katowice. There is no information anywhere.
SECOND PASSENGER (FEMALE):
It’s a scandal. There used to be a big information board here with details of the connections in all directions. (POINTS WITH HAND.) Why can’t this information still be displayed? They’ve closed the ticket office because it’s supposedly uneconomic.
THIRD PASSENGER:
(boarding train in an attempt to obtain timetable information)
I would like to find out the time of the train to Gdansk. What time do I have to be here in the morning? What is the time of the train to Aleksandrow?
GUARD:
You would have to leave here at 07:33 arriving at Aleksandrow at 07:44. And then you need the 08:26 pospieszny from Aleksandrow.
THIRD PASSENGER:
07:33; 08:26? Yes?
GUARD:
Yes. Good. Does anyone else want anything?
FOURTH PASSENGER:
Aleksandrow, please.
GUARD:
Standard ticket?
FOURTH PASSENGER:
Yes.
GUARD:
Does anybody else want a standard ticket to Aleksandrow?
PASSENGERS:
Yes. Yes.
FIFTH PASSENGER
Aleksandrow, please.
TVN
Do you sell tickets for longer journeys, or just to Aleksandrow?
GUARD:
I do if the destination lies on the route of a local train.
TVN:
Semi-fast?
GUARD:
No they’re now run by the InterCity company. You would need to buy a ticket from the ticket office at Aleksandrow.
TVN:
Pasengers on these trains are usually the elderly or passengers with luggage. Where is the customer care? Who is looking after their interests?
MAREK OSTROWSKI, PKP PR (local trains company)
The economic factor is often a factor which cannot be avoided. Because 80% of the tickets sold at Chichocinek were tickets for another operator, that is the InterCity company. We only received a small margin. The whole business plan of that ticket office collapsed when those trains stopped being our trains.
JIGSAW GRAPHIC
STATIONS
PKP S.A.
TICKET OFFICES
PKP InterCity
PKP Przewozy Regjonalne
Arriva
Szybka Kolej Miejska
Warszawaska Kolej Dojazdowa
Koleje Dolnoslaskie
Koleje Mazowieckie
PASSENGER COACHES
PKP InterCity
PKP Przewozy Regjonalne
Arriva
Szybka Kolej Miejska
Warszawaska Kolej Dojazdowa
Koleje Dolnoslaskie
Koleje Mazowieckie
RESTAURANT COACHES
PKP InterCity
leased to WARS
LOCOMOTIVES
PKP InterCity
PKP Przewozy Regjonalne
Arriva
Szybka Kolej Miejska
Warszawaska Kolej Dojazdowa
Koleje Dolnoslaskie
Koleje Mazowieckie
TRACK
PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe
ELECTRICITY SUPPLY
PKP Energetyka
INFORMATION BOARDS & TIMETABLES
PKP Telekomunikacja Kolejowa
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