World War I and interwar years
Regaining independence on 11 November 1918 allowed Poland to reclaim the former Russian and Austrian sectors from military railways. The Railway Department in the Ministry of Communication was created and the Polish railways were officially named Polskie Koleje Państwowe.
In December 1918, the Greater Poland Uprising started. The rebels took over the former Prussian sector of railways. One year later, after the Polish–Ukrainian War ended, the former Austrian railway directorate was taken over by Poland. Taking over the railways from Prussians lasted until 1921.
After Polish victory in the Polish–Soviet War (1920), the retreating Communists caused heavy damage to railways in eastern Poland. At the same time, tense relations with Lithuania led to partial disintegration and stagnation of the railways around Vilnius and Minsk. The Libau–Romny Railway was not recovered.
The Polish railways administration finally took over the railways in Upper Silesia in 1922. That same year, a decision was made to divide railways in Poland into nine administrative districts.
An economic crisis in the 1930s forced the state to cut back its budget for railway investment. Profit decreased by 50% compared to 1929. The next year, over 23,000 PKP employees had been dismissed and protests and strikes caused authorities to try to find a solution. The end of the crisis and an increase in cargo transport and income came in 1937.
World War II
Following the German invasion on 1 September 1939 and the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland on 17 September 1939, most Polish rolling stock fell into Soviet hands.
The Polish railways in Upper Silesia, Greater Poland and Pomerelia were adopted by German railways Deutsche Reichsbahn on 25 September. The Polish railways in Generalgouvernement became Ostbahn.
Until the last moment before the German attack on the Soviet Union in 1941, cargo trains transported goods from the Soviet Union to Germany. The beginning of German attacks on the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 resulted in the possession of railway and rolling stock by the Ostbahn and the possession of PKP rolling stock with Russian Broad Gauge track and reconstruction to standard gauge. The beginning of organized railway sabotage during World War II by the Polish resistance movement on railways took place about the same time.
In 1942, production of simple military-use DR Kriegslok BR52 (PKP class Ty2) steam locomotives began in Poznań and Chrzanów; the steam boilers for these locomotives were produced in Sosnowiec.
The Warsaw Uprising caused widespread damage of Warsaw rolling stock, network and electric traction; both bridges over the Vistula River and the tunnel on the Warsaw Cross-City Line were destroyed.
At the beginning of 1945, the Ministry of Transport was created, as well as the Regional Directorate of National Railways. Many pre-war locomotives were sent to the Soviet Union. Poland received German locomotives as a compensation for war losses. In June, the rail connection with Warsaw was opened, using a temporary railway station made of warehouses. On 15 September 1945, PKP took over management of all railway lines on former German, now Polish Western and Northeastern land from the Soviet Union. Due to the Red Army's rapid advance into Germany proper, the railway lines of Silesia, Farther Pomerania, and East Prussia largely remained intact, so that operations could be resumed. However, on many lines, the second track was removed and transported to the Soviet Union as war reparations. Because the Polish did not have enough personnel, Germans continued their work, to be deported only in 1946. Revising station names took quite some time, often causing confusion because the decreed Polish names were once again changed.[4]
Maps of the Polish railroad network still reflect the borders drawn in 1945, because in the lands annexed in 1945, railroad lines are relatively dense. In the former territory of Congress Poland, however, only a few still existing main lines had been built in the 19th century.[5]
Post-war years
During the mid-to-late communist era, the state of the Polish railways deteriorated to a large extent. Once a large and profitable network, the systemic lack of funding and failure to acquire new rolling stock left PKP far behind the railway operators of Western Europe in terms of technical advances and passenger comfort. In addition to this, the poor state of many rail lines throughout the country led to ever-increasing journey times for passengers, and as a result left the railways far less able to compete with intercity bus and air services. During the entire communist period, only one major infrastructural project relating to the railways was completed. This, the Central Trunk Line, was a prestige project completed in 1976, intended both for heavy coal transport and fast passenger services. This line for the first time allowed passengers to travel in comfort and at relatively high speed from Kraków and Katowice to Warsaw; however, high-speed services have never started, although test runs reached 250 km/h in 1994. Moreover, despite the successful completion of the section from southern to central Poland, the planned extension to Gdańsk and the country's Baltic ports was never realised, and this significantly curtailed both the usefulness and potential of the line.
The PKP has been a tourist attraction for British trainspotters since at least the mid-twentieth century.[6] The late withdrawal of steam power on the PKP system meant that Poland was an attractive destination for rail enthusiasts long after steam had ended on Britain’s railways. The last PKP steam shed in Wolsztyn has remained in operation as a result of this tourism and continues to operate regular steam hauled services.[7]
1990 to today
Since Poland's return to democracy in the early 1990s, the Polish State Railways have faced ever-increasing competition from private automotive transport and the country's rapidly expanding network of motorways and express roads. However, ever-decreasing journey times, better schedules which allow for well-coordinated connections, the rise of private operators and large-scale investment in infrastructure, in many cases aided by European Union funding, as well as new rolling stock is slowly enticing people back onto the railways.[8]
On 14 December 2014 PKP Intercity Pendolino trains began operating on the CMK line (224 km line from Kraków and Katowice to Warsaw) with trains reaching 200 km/h (124 mph) as a regularly scheduled operation. There is a plan by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (infrastructure manager) to increase speed to 250 km/h on whole line soon.[9] In the day of 13 December 2020 the speed limit was raised to 200 km/h also on the line from Warsaw to seaport Gdynia by New Pendolino train.[10]
