CPK signs agreement on EU funding for the design of the new line between Warszawa and Łódź

On 11 October 2023 representatives of the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy (MFiPR), the Centre for EU Transport Projects (CEUTP) and Centralny Port Komunikacyjny have signed an agreement concerning 64 million EUR (290 million PLN) for funding from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The grant is to be used by CPK to develop the construction project for the strategic High Speed Rail line between Warszawa and Łódź. 

The signed agreement will enable the financing of the full project documentation (including the construction project) and the documents needed to obtain water permits and a location decision for the 140 km High Speed Rail section: Warszawa - CPK - Łódź. The value of the project was estimated at almost 75 million EUR (350 million PLN), of which up to 85 % is to be financed by the EU. The Warszawa –  Łódź – Poznań/Wroclaw line is part of the so-called “Y” railway line, which is part of the EU's TEN-T North Sea – Baltic Sea European Transport Corridor. 

The Warszawa - CPK -  Łódź line is currently undergoing advanced design work. The documentation for the Warszawa - CPK section has been under preparation since November of last year by a consortium of Metroprojekt and Sud Architekt Polska. The design of the next section of the line from the CPK airport to  Łódź has been entrusted by CPK to a consortium of Egis Poland, Egis Rail and Jaf-Geotechnika. According to the schedule, the design should be completed by the end of the first quarter of next year.

Thanks to this investment, the travel time by rail between Warszawa and  Łódź will be reduced to about 45 minutes from today’s 90 minutes. Passengers will be able to reach the CPK airport from Warszawa in about 15 minutes and from  Łódź in about 30 minutes. The section subsidized by the EU is part of line no. 85, CPK’s 'spoke' no. 9, which will connect Warszawa and  Łódź with Wroclaw and Poznań.  In the first stage, trains running along this route will be able to reach speeds of up to 250 km/h (the operating speed), and ultimately up to 350 km/h (the design speed). 

This is not the first grant from Brussels for the CPK railway project. In 2021, CPK secured around 110 million PLN under the same EU CEF instrument for the construction project for the CPK long-distance tunnel in Łódź and for the feasibility studies related to the section Warszawa - Łódź - Sieradz - Poznań.