News / Y Shaped high speed rail line Poland [78]


Not building, but preparing the investment - yes. But the current government is not going to built it before 2020, they said that they want to focus on the existing normal speed railways...

The Centralna Magistrala Kolejowa isn't a new line, it exists since the 70's. Now it is being modernised to prepare it to speeds of up to 250 km/h. 160 km/h is reached also by trains on Warsaw-Poznań line.

The underground £ódź Fabryczna station, which is being built now, will be prepared for the Y-shape hish-speed crossing it.

Life / Up-to-date prices for Driving Lessons in English in Warsaw? [5]

30 hours of theoretical lessons and 30 hours of practical lessons in a car. But the hours of theory are counted as 1 hour = 45 minutes. In practical part - 1 hour = 60 minutes.

The course includes "internal" test, which is obligatory and checks if you are prepared to the real test passed in an office called WORD (Wojewódzki Ośrodek Ruchu Drogowego - Regional Road Traffic Centre). And after the last changes you must do the medical test before the course (you must have the results to enroll in) - usually it looks so that a doctor comes to the centre where you are going to have the course. Or they recommend a doctor at whom you can do it.

For the real exam you pay in WORD, after finishing the course.

I have no idea what can be prices of courses in English. Polish one costs about 1000-1200 PLN. The exam will cost 170 PLN + some money for the translator (only for a practical test, as far as I remember, the theoretical one has an English version and it would be difficult to have a translator in the examination room because of the need of silence).

Language / Does this paragraph make sense? I am learning Polish [11]

Maybe not "literaturę", but "prozę" :) "Literatura" includes also poetry.

Polonia / Polish satellite TV abroad [40]

Consult a point selling Polsat services? Maybe they would send you the receiver abroad for some extra charge. But they would have to send you an agreement to sign it and this could be a bigger problem.

If you don't manage to find a point which would agree, the only option is that someone in Poland would do everything for you.

Polonia / Polish satellite TV abroad [40]

Receiver (or at least CI module) must be from Polsat. Cards from TNK (SD, not HD) and old cards from Cyfra+ (from before it merged with n) will work in any receiver supporting encoding systems used by them (Conax for TNK, afair Nagra for Cyfra+). But from Polsat, n and nc+ (product of the Cyfra+ and n merger) will not.

Dish might be yours, you must only set it on Hot Bird 13" E.

Travel / Travelling from Rzeszów to Szczecin [7]


Yes, you can, but ticket bought more than 15 days before has 15% discount. More than 7 days before too, but the discount will be lower.

From Rzeszów to Szczecin is the longest possible direct route between two big cities (capitals of województwo) in Poland :)

I would recommend one of those direct trains. If this won't be in the first days of winter school holidays in Poland (20th January, when the holidays begin for students from województwos: lubelskie /Lublin/, łódzkie /£ódź/, podkarpackie /Rzeszów/, pomorskie /Gdańsk/ and śląskie /Katowice/), there shouldn't be problems with seats, but I recommend to book tickets in advance to ensure that you won't have to stand.

P.S. You go from Rzeszów to Szczecin, so even in the first days of holidays there shouldn't be problems with seats. Then the trains in an opposite direction will be busy, people will want to go to southern Poland where there are mountains.

Real Estate / Recommend good residential areas in which to rent an apartment in Lodz? [24]


Only in morning and afternoon hours, when people are going to school/university/work and back. Are they really crowded? It depends on how you define it - for Indian conditions they may not be busy at all :) For sure I didn't have such a situation in £ódź that the bus or tram was so crowded that I couldn't get in.

Since you are going to work somewhere in that area, you won't have a need to get to the city centre for 8 AM, so probably you won't even meet such a problem.

P.S. Does anyone have an idea why the forum changes Polish letter £ (L with a stroke) into the pound sign?

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

Poles do not drive so bad... Go to Turkey, when you will have seen how they drive, you will change your mind :)

Real Estate / Recommend good residential areas in which to rent an apartment in Lodz? [24]

I agree, it's quite a nice and green neighbourhood - called Teofilów Mieszkaniowy, which means "Residential Teofilów", in the opposite to the industrial part located in the north to Aleksandrowska street called Teofilów Przemysłowy - "Industrial Teofilów". Connection with the city centre is good - with several bus and tram lines (although they are very crowded); it's quite close to a huge supermarket (Carrefour)...

You can see it on Google Street View: goo.gl/maps/5AGq3

USA, Canada / Are prices for Laptops, Cell Phones or Tablets in Poland cheaper than in the US? [18]

In new versions of Windows it's possible to change the language, but there is no point buying devices like a laptop in Poland if you can do it in the US - just because of the price. In terms of the mobile phone - or even a tablet - you should check the band frequencies on which the phone would work. In Poland GSM 900 MHz and 1800 MHz is used. And 900 MHz and 2100 MHz for UMTS. Ensure that the mobile bought in the US don't have a sim lock.

Law / European Health Insurance Card - help with Poland's ZUS? [12]

To heve health insurance, you must work here or be registered as an unemployed.

News / POLAND to have its own automobile brand (back), the SYRENA! [36]

Generally a mermaid is a symbol of Warsaw, this creature has for example a few statues in the city.

News / POLAND to have its own automobile brand (back), the SYRENA! [36]

And it's probably connected with the Warsaw's coat of arms:



And the legend of Warsaw Mermaid: warsawtour.pl/en/warsaw-for-everyone/for-kids/warsaw-legends-3160.html

Syrena car used to be produced in Warsaw, by FSO company. Before Syrena, they had been producing a car called Warszawa.

Law / Is my Pesel number on my old Polish passport? [4]

If one was born after 1999, 20 is added to the MM part. For example for a person born 14th January 2002 it will be 022114xxxxx. For born today - 133129xxxxx. Maybe in this situation it is not important, but might be useful if someone find it in the future.

Travel / Cheap travel to Lodz (coming from Belgium) [6]

If it is supposed to be cheap - maybe somehow to Berlin and then PolskiBus.

Or train from Berlin (BWE - afaik they recently reduced prices or they are going to do so), but then you would have to get off in Kutno and then take a bus or train to £ódź. Possible only during the day.

But getting to Berlin might be still expensive.

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

Because of such drivers we have more and more traffic lights and more and more jams...

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

According to the law the driver must give priority to the pedestrian already being on the zebra, not to the one waiting. The rule looks exactly in such a way:



So if the pedestrian stays on the pavement in front of the zebra, according to the law you don't have to stop. But if a pedestrian will enter the crossing just in front of your car - and get hurt or even dead - it will be treated as a blame of driver. Even taking into account the fact that according to another rule the pedestrian is not allowed to enter the crossing just in front of oncoming car.

Fron the point of view of pedestrian it is a good trick to put one foot on the asphalt. Then it is much more likely that some driver will stop :)

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

The situation is the same as on "skrzyżowanie równorzędne" when 4 cars are going to go through the crossing at one moment. One of them must in fact force priority on the others, because in fact, according to the law, none of them can go.

I obviously meant the situation with two tdrivers turning left, not zebra :)

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

Polish law (Prawo o ruchu drogowym Act, commonly known as Kodeks drogowy - Highway Code) does not give any examples, but only rules.

Which means more or less something like this (my English is not very good, but I hope it is understandable):


There is no rule for two cars turning left from opposite sides of crossroads. If it's not possible to go without any collision, passing the other car on one's left or right, one must decide to give priority to the other.

Life / Learning Driving In Poland - rules? [55]

If no signs, on both your road and the cross one, everything works identically as with this sign:



Sometimes there are no signs on the main road, but there are signs to give priority on the minor road.

Life / Halloween vs All Saints' Day in Poland [48]


Not everyone know that Slavians (so also people from the area of Poland) more than 200 years ago also had such a festival:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dziady

Law / Registering in Poland for a NIP tax number? [9]

Yes, exactly. You need NIP only if you run your own business. If you are employee - you use PESEL for tax issues.

Travel / Travel by bus/train from Warsaw to Gdansk without prior reservation? [18]

You are right - tickets are for specific routes of specific types of trains. Even if you board a Regio train with a ticket for TLK, you must buy a new one, because they are different companies. There are exceptions:

1/ if you buy a ticket for a total month for TLK, you can use Regios on the same route

2/ in special cases if something fails, as written here: intercity.pl/pl/site/niezbednik-podroznego/przepisy-i-taryfy/honorowanie-biletow-pkp-ic-w-pociagach-innych-przewoznikow.html

* a train breakdown or accident
* if you were going to change a train and you lost it because of a delay:
- longer than 60 minutes
- shorter than 60 minutes on condition that you would have to wait more than 60 minutes for the next TLK train
* and the point 3 - I am not sure how should I understand it, Polish is sometimes hard even for native speakers using almost only this language :) I will translate it word by word.

If the passenger resigns continuing the journey due to a train cancellation or a predicted delay of the arrival greater than 60 minutes and is going to return to the departure station, having a valid ticket of our company (meaning PKP Intercity), can - without extra payments - continue the journey by the train of Przewozy Regionalne.

And you can buy tickets for PKP Intercity trains in the offices of Przewozy Regionalne, but they are still valid (with the exceptions mentioned above) only for PKP Intercity trains.

In terms of paying by card, probably PKP Intercity allows paying by card in trains, Przewozy Regionalne not (maybe their mobile terminals do not have this function).

Life / Electrical wiring in Poland - color codes [23]


Yes. A theoretical rule is that in sockets the left pin is live. But not everyone obeys it. What is more, if you plug a grounded device to the upper part of a double socket, like this one: Electrical socket

it is upside-down, but live is still in the left pin of the socket (so now in the right pin of the plug). So actually there is no difference. Devices sold in Poland must work correctly no matter how they are plugged.

Travel / Travel by bus/train from Warsaw to Gdansk without prior reservation? [18]


Between £ódź and Warsaw there are TLK trains by PKP Intercity and InterRegio train by Przewozy Regionalne. The TLK train on this route (if I remember it well - only in 2nd class) are an exception from all the TLKs - they don't have obligatory reservation of seats. It is because many people use them to get to work every day. They usually buy a single ticket for total month. To have a seat guaranteed, they would have to visit the ticket office every day to obtain a seat ticket for the train they are going to go by. So all the trains of PKP Intercity company, except the ones on the route £ódź-Warsaw in 2nd class, have obligatory reservation.

In Przewozy Regionalne the situation is different. As I know, the reservation is avaliable only for RegioExpress trains (they have Regio, InterRegio and RegioExpress) and it's not compulsory.


The fact that conductors have mobile terminals does not mean that you can pay there by card. They are only for printing tickets, in some cases - for specific seats in specific train, in other ones - for specific route and time.

Generally train tickets in Poland are not for a specific train, but for a specific route and time. If a ticket isn't tied with a seat reservation (so in Przewozy Regionalne and in 2nd class in Warszawa-£ódź TLK trains) you can choose a later train or a connection on the same route with changing trains and a ticket will be still valid, unless it will expire. Tickets with seat reservation (so for most or PKP Intercity trains) are always valid for the time interval corresponding to the departue and arrival of the specific train, so for example if you are late, you can only obtain a paper confirming that a ticket wasn't used and return the ticket.

Travel / Travel by bus/train from Warsaw to Gdansk without prior reservation? [18]


If there are free, not reserved seats, conductor will book for you one of them. They have mobile cash terminals, connected with the reservation system. Sometimes it's funny when a conductor wants to sell a ticket, but can't do it, because there is no network signal. If there are no free seats, you will get something called "seat ticket without pointing a seat", meaning that you can sit on arbitrary free seat until a person having a ticket for it will come.

Once I had a situation when a person travelling with me had wrong ticket (with student discount, although he had no student ID with him). A new ticket sold by conductor had a different car and seat number printed on it, because the previous seat was still marked in the system as booked. Conductor printed also a paper confirming that the previous ticket wasn't used, but it had to be cancelled in a ticket office to get money back. Obviously he stayed on the same seat and it was not a problem, because the old ticket (or rather a part of it pointing a seat - previously, before they made booking seats obligatory, if somebody was booking a seat for extra fee, there were sold seperate tickets called "miejscówka", meaning "seat ticket" or something like this) was still valid.

Now "miejscówkas" are on the same paper as the main ticket. You would get a seperate "miejscówka" only if you are going to change a train - for a second train.

Travel / Travel by bus/train from Warsaw to Gdansk without prior reservation? [18]

Yes. Or if you have mobile internet access, you can buy a ticket for PolskiBus online :)

Bus (other than PolskiBus) can be full and don't take you, but it is rather not likely to happen unless it's a day when everyone wants to travel (like national holidays just before weekend giving "long weekend").

Timetables of almost all bus companies are at: e-podroznik.pl, timetables of trains at: rozklad.sitkol.pl or rozklad-pkp.pl. Every of these websites has English version, only names of cities, towns, stations or stops are in Polish.

Travel / Travel by bus/train from Warsaw to Gdansk without prior reservation? [18]

Maybe they changed it recently, but previously there was no possibility to buy a ticket from the coach staff. For sure they are sold in offices on stations and online. You can buy a ticket online even a moment before departue and it will be OK, but as far as I know, it can't be bought from steward or driver. Unlike most of the other coach lines, where tickets are sold by drivers.


Not exactly. You won't buy a ticket without a reserved seat (unless all the seats are already bought, then you don't have guaranteed seat, but the price is the same). But you don't have to do it in advance. You can do it even in train, but if on the station there is open cash desk, you pay extra cash for it.

Travel / Travel by bus/train from Warsaw to Gdansk without prior reservation? [18]


With the exception of PolskiBus coaches.

Life / Help with icons, signs on washing machine (from Poland) :P [17]

If sb looked for the manual - there are two versions (probably for two versions of machine):

electrolux-ui.com/2010/132/949720EN.pdf
electrolux-ui.com/2013/132/949722EN.pdf