PKP (Polish National Railway) is a turn off

agree and on top of that BAZ is not even Polish;(, I guess he fits right in with such an attitude.

130PLN for a first class fare to go 300km is still absolutely unrealistic compared to the actual cost of providing the service. It's what, just over 30 pounds?

Let's see - Colchester to London is about 85 kilometres. A first class, single ticket (on a train that isn't any better than EIC trains in Poland) is 38 pounds. It also takes 75 minutes. Poznan-Warsaw takes 3 hours to go 300km and costs just over 30 pounds.

I'm still of the view that instead of trying to paper over the cracks, the Government after the next election should go all out and reform the whole system from the bottom up. It will mean no trains for a few months, but who cares if the end result is positive?

(and while they're at it - they should cull every single pointless branch line. Beeching got it right, after all)

another trip, another problem.

This time it was the heating. It got cold again an by the time I got onto the train I was freezing. Hoping to warm up during the trip, I soon realized that ain't gonna happen!!!!!!!

I asked the PKP or TLK (cannot tell them apart) if I can get some discount due to insufficient heating during my trip. She gave me an evil eye and asked me to test the heating in another compartment - it was THE SAME.!!!!!!!!!

So I joined the club by complaining about the bad service with other people on the train. I was wearing my fur hat and the woman across was buried under her coat. One would think that we boarded a train to Syberia.

PS. did I mentioned that some time ago I was travelling with a couple of Chinese engineers, who were planning to set up a fast train service in Poland - well, good luck to them.

Trying to stay positive, but this is the worst it have ever been on many accounts.

"Osobowy", "Regio", "InterRegio" or "RegioEkpress" tickets are from Przewozy Regionalne.

"TLK", "EC', "EIC" tickets are from PKP Intercity.

Perosnally, I go with the theory that if you travel by "Tanie Linie Kolejowy" (or however it's spelt) - then you should expect "cheap railway lines".

I have mentioned that I have no other choice, haven't I?

Of course :)

The problem with TLK trains is that the quality of them seems to be ridiculously varying - I've been on a wonderful TLK train from Lublin to Warsaw that looked to actually be made from EIC first class carriages - and yet, I've been on one between Wroclaw and Poznan that looked about 40 years old.

You do have a choice,you can always use Ukrainian Railways.The problem with "Akcja Wisła" is that they deported you Ukies in the wrong direction,they should have move you East not West.


This is what Poland can afford and if someone don't like it there are other means of transportation avaliable like plane,car,bus,bike to name a few.

If you knew the history, you would know they were trying. But that is another thread all together, stay on topic and lose your silly attitude. It ain't working on me.

no i co tego? Ukrainian Railway in Poland? - now that is brilliant. I have nothing against it as long as its clean, warm and fast.

It should be fixed.I am only concerned about your well being and think you would be better off among your people in Ukraine.


No I meant Ukrainian Railway in Ukraine.

yes, PKP can be fixed by me moving to Ukraine.

Hm.. actually as far as I know one of the few things that actually works in Ukraine quite well is Ukrainian Railway but that could be just a rumour ;-) Which is totally irrelevant for a person living in Szczecin anyway :-)

Aphrodisiac, you will not change reality writing on pf. TLK belongs to PKP IC. They have some formal rules of lodging a complaint: Try it and tell as how it went (that could be fun...)

Actually, Poland does have much better. You might want to ask PKP Intercity why there are a vast amount of renovated carriages lying doing nothing at the minute.


Ukrainian Railways are pretty damn good - cheap, reliable and subsidised to hell :) Not very fast though, and useless for daytime inter-city journeys.

Aphro - you're of Ukrainian origin? That's pretty cool :)

er, yes. I KNOW that:)


I know, just venting.


thanks, but NO. I have done my share of complaining in the past:)


it could be , but I consider doing other things for fun, thanks for the input.
@Dolphi:

I am Ukrainian and I agree it is cool;)

an update:
this yea x-mas service was way better then the one last year. The trains are still dirty, but at least the are not overcrowded and mostly on time.

I sometimes wish the passengers would treat the trains a bit better and not leave such a mess - let alone vandalise them. But yes, they are generally on time.

Which reminds me of the time when I took my first PKP ride back in '78. I was with 2 other Jersey boys. We were "lounging" (legs extended with feet resting on the seats opposite us). When the conductor, a female, ripped into us for our "barbaric behavior" (her term), beleive you me, I never ever did that again!....I remember the cars being clean save for the WC - THAT was truly barbaric! lol

Cheap too. I've just booked a return to Gdansk for 118zl. Warsaw to Gdansk is about the same distance as Bristol to York but a return ticket for that at the same times on the same days as I'm travelling is £126.50, which is 676zl!

Interesting. I've calculated the price per km and the time it takes taking the first leg today and the return journey tomorrow (best time available via respective internet sites). To make it more "international", I've also added for comparison sake 2 train journeys that I travel from time to time in Switzerland and France. Here are the results

PL Warsaw Gdansk distance 344 km (road distance) best time 5h4mn price (return trip, first leg today, 2nd leg tomorrow): 116 PLN
UK Bristol York distance 371 km best time 3h59 mn price: GBP 102.70 (PLN 529)
CH St Gallen-Geneva distance 360 km time 3h58 minutes price 100 CHF (PLN 339)
F Paris-Lyon distance 465 km time 1h57 minutes price 158€ (PLN 641)

PL Cost per 100 km 34 PLN average speed 68 km/h speed weighting 1 cost per 100 km weighted 34 PLN
UK cost per 100 km 143 PLN average speed 93 km/h speed weighting 1.37 cost per 100 m weighted 104 PLN
CH cost per 100 km 94 PLN average speed 91 km/h speed weighting 1.34 cost per 100 km weighted 70 PLN
F cost per 100 km 137 PLN average speed 238 km/h speed weighting 3.5 cost per 100 km weighted 39 PLN

So Poland is by far the cheapest with France and the UK the most expensive. Even if ones weighs the results taking into account the average speed, PL ends up as the best value for money, with 34 PLN per km vs France at 37 PLN per km!!