Here is some info about things in this video: - Those were not supposed to be first Pendolinos we purchase - back in the 90's PKP purchased a group of previous generation Pendolino units from Fiat Ferraviora (now Alstom). However, they never entered revenue service, as due to lack of funding they had to stop the contract, - Currently ED250 units only travel as fast as 200 km/h. One line in particular is being upgraded for speeds of up to 250 km/h. It's (as we call it) CMK, Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa (English: Central Railway Line). It connects Warsaw (beginning in Grodzisk Mazowiecki) with Katowice and Kraków. It was designed for this high speeds back in the 70's. The issue is that those upgrades have been spanning for years with multiple delays. Currently these are supposed to be finished by 2027. To be honest, I would lock it in, as now it's pretty much just a matter of ETCS Level 2 installment. As such, speed limit on majority of the line are decreased to 160 km/h, - Unlike other units from Alstom New Pendolino family, these models don't have tilting technology. The reason why is because this wouldn't have made a big difference in travel times and only generated bigger maintenance costs, - One of these units managed to set a speed record for New Pendolino family of trains at 293 km/h during testing phase all the way back in 2013, - The reason there is such a huge gap between the carriage and platform at Warsaw Central station is because it's using a soviet gauge. Currently the whole cross-city railway line is slowly getting completely overhauled brick by brick with new Warsaw West station being a stone away from completion. Warsaw Central station with the whole railway link are scheduled to be revamped a few years later. This year Warsaw East station is supposed to start getting modernized and that should last till at least 2029, - Later this year PKP Intercity are planning to announce the refurbishment of the interior of these units, as over the past decade the seats degraded. This is supposed to allign with their purchase of 26 more high-speed trains. They're still undecided on the topic of their top speed (250 or 300+ km/h), - They didn't have Wi-Fi at first. It was only installed in 2020. I believe that it's because in early to mid-2010's smartphones were still a very new technology to Poles and not many people had them, but as time went on, they got more popular, like anywhere in the world, - Over the past decade, over 39 million peopled travelled on board these, while all the units themselves travelled more than 70 million kilometers total. My opinion on these units: I guess they're fine. I travelled 2 times on them, once in 2021, second in 2022, both in second class. At that time I thought these units only went as fast as 160 km/h on our network, but I was proven wrong later on. When I first got onto one, I was completely blown away with how the train presented itself from the inside. I saw multiple people loathing these units and PKP Intercity for even buying them, and called them either a waste of money, or as unwanted, as they're produced by Alstom, a French company. But honestly, these complains aren't justified in all cases. My advice: if you want to travel on board of these, you can book a ticket weeks in advance at a much lower price. PKP Intercity board thought that the CMK upgrades could be done within a couple of years. I guess they would've been right, if PKP PLK were a bit more competent. Nowadays, I think they should start being used on some international routes. PKP Intercity had a contract signed with Alstom for these units to only be used on domestic services for a decade. It's 2025. It should have either expired by now or would do that later this year. On top of that, ED250 units are already approved for operations in Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. I personally believe that the only route on which it would make the most sense for our Pendolinos to be used would be on Warsaw - Cologne route. Between Berlin and Wolfsburg they can reach their top speed of 250 km/h. Some could think that this is just marketing, but Berlin-Cologne route has its own demand and I wouldn't be surprised if that train turned out to be the most profitable EIP train in its history due to this fact.
Railway travel in Poland has overall improved. Those old carriages are pretty much almost gone with only a group of services still using those. And it's supposed to get better - PKP Intercity is investing lots into new carriages as well as Multiple Units and locomotives.
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Here is some info about things in this video:
- Those were not supposed to be first Pendolinos we purchase - back in the 90's PKP purchased a group of previous generation Pendolino units from Fiat Ferraviora (now Alstom). However, they never entered revenue service, as due to lack of funding they had to stop the contract,
- Currently ED250 units only travel as fast as 200 km/h. One line in particular is being upgraded for speeds of up to 250 km/h. It's (as we call it) CMK, Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa (English: Central Railway Line). It connects Warsaw (beginning in Grodzisk Mazowiecki) with Katowice and Kraków. It was designed for this high speeds back in the 70's. The issue is that those upgrades have been spanning for years with multiple delays. Currently these are supposed to be finished by 2027. To be honest, I would lock it in, as now it's pretty much just a matter of ETCS Level 2 installment. As such, speed limit on majority of the line are decreased to 160 km/h,
- Unlike other units from Alstom New Pendolino family, these models don't have tilting technology. The reason why is because this wouldn't have made a big difference in travel times and only generated bigger maintenance costs,
- One of these units managed to set a speed record for New Pendolino family of trains at 293 km/h during testing phase all the way back in 2013,
- The reason there is such a huge gap between the carriage and platform at Warsaw Central station is because it's using a soviet gauge. Currently the whole cross-city railway line is slowly getting completely overhauled brick by brick with new Warsaw West station being a stone away from completion. Warsaw Central station with the whole railway link are scheduled to be revamped a few years later. This year Warsaw East station is supposed to start getting modernized and that should last till at least 2029,
- Later this year PKP Intercity are planning to announce the refurbishment of the interior of these units, as over the past decade the seats degraded. This is supposed to allign with their purchase of 26 more high-speed trains. They're still undecided on the topic of their top speed (250 or 300+ km/h),
- They didn't have Wi-Fi at first. It was only installed in 2020. I believe that it's because in early to mid-2010's smartphones were still a very new technology to Poles and not many people had them, but as time went on, they got more popular, like anywhere in the world,
- Over the past decade, over 39 million peopled travelled on board these, while all the units themselves travelled more than 70 million kilometers total.
My opinion on these units: I guess they're fine. I travelled 2 times on them, once in 2021, second in 2022, both in second class. At that time I thought these units only went as fast as 160 km/h on our network, but I was proven wrong later on. When I first got onto one, I was completely blown away with how the train presented itself from the inside.
I saw multiple people loathing these units and PKP Intercity for even buying them, and called them either a waste of money, or as unwanted, as they're produced by Alstom, a French company. But honestly, these complains aren't justified in all cases. My advice: if you want to travel on board of these, you can book a ticket weeks in advance at a much lower price. PKP Intercity board thought that the CMK upgrades could be done within a couple of years. I guess they would've been right, if PKP PLK were a bit more competent.
Nowadays, I think they should start being used on some international routes. PKP Intercity had a contract signed with Alstom for these units to only be used on domestic services for a decade. It's 2025. It should have either expired by now or would do that later this year. On top of that, ED250 units are already approved for operations in Germany, Czech Republic and Austria.
I personally believe that the only route on which it would make the most sense for our Pendolinos to be used would be on Warsaw - Cologne route. Between Berlin and Wolfsburg they can reach their top speed of 250 km/h. Some could think that this is just marketing, but Berlin-Cologne route has its own demand and I wouldn't be surprised if that train turned out to be the most profitable EIP train in its history due to this fact.
Thanks for sharing!
I've missed the view on Małbork Castle!
Nice video, better ride then 20 years ago with loco hauled trains, takes me hours from Warsaw to Tcew.
Thank you. Yes nowadays traveling by train can be very different from what it used to be
Railway travel in Poland has overall improved. Those old carriages are pretty much almost gone with only a group of services still using those.
And it's supposed to get better - PKP Intercity is investing lots into new carriages as well as Multiple Units and locomotives.
Thats great!
👍
😉