Klimczak confirmed that a thorough modernization of Warsaw Central will be carried out during the planned reconstruction of the cross-city rail tunnel that runs beneath the center of Warsaw. The tunnel is part of the Warsaw Cross-City Line linking the city’s main stations.
Alan Beroud, president of PKP S.A., the holding company of Polish State Railways, said that a “deep modernization” of the station is planned for the period when the tunnel is rebuilt. He added that the work is intended to give the station additional functionality related to handling passengers, as well as new zones dedicated to making the complex more comfortable for travelers, including people with disabilities.
Klimczak stressed that the upgraded station must be fully accessible. “Everyone has to feel good here, whether they are young and fit or have limited mobility,” he said. The minister added that passengers should be able to move quickly and smoothly through the station and arrive or depart “without any issues.”
The minister said the modernization of Warsaw Central Station is tied to wider works on the Warsaw Cross-City Line, including Warsaw East and Warsaw West stations, and must be coordinated with the city authorities. He pointed to recent investments at Warsaw West as an example of how rail projects must fit together with Warsaw’s tram system and long-distance rail services. Klimczak said he is working with PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe, the national rail infrastructure manager, to make sure large rail investments are carried out in the right order.
According to Beroud, Warsaw Central was originally designed to handle about 100,000 passengers a day and has served more than 1 billion travelers since it opened in 1975. He argued that the building still meets technical standards and said the company can “look with respect at its history and with pride at its future.”
The PKP chief added that smaller improvements will continue before the main rebuild begins. He said a children’s zone is planned at the station by June next year and that a new Wars service point, run by the long-standing Polish railway catering brand, was opened on Friday.
Klimczak also referred to the place the station holds in the memories of many Poles, saying that for decades people have met loved ones there, waited for important arrivals and returned home from events in Warsaw they remember for life. Marking the anniversary, he said he wished the station many punctual trains and “as many positive memories as possible” for passengers in the years ahead.
Warsaw Central, which began its life as two platforms serviced by wooden ticket offices in the late 1960s, and gained its current form from 1972 to 1975, holds a special place in Polish popular culture. Its construction was immortalized in the popular TV series Being Forty (Czterdziestolatek), whose central character is an engineer battling midlife crisis, and the bureaucracy of late 1970s Poland, portrayed by Andrzej Kopiczyński. The series is the source of what is probably the most iconic expression in Polish TV history: "I'm a working woman; not afraid of any kind of work," spoken repeatedly by the late, great Irena Kwiatkowska, as her character took on all manner of different employment.
(rt)
Source: IAR, PAP