Polish rail construction market grows

A drive to restore ageing infrastructure in Poland resulted in growth in the value of the country's rail construction market of over a fifth in 2011 to PLN3.1 billion (€750 million), according to information provider PMR.

And while this amount is the highest on record for the country's railway construction industry, PMR said it would be surpassed in 2012 and 2013 as a result of renewed investment and the completion of delayed projects.

The three largest EU-funded rail projects in Poland are the Warsaw-Gdansk link (line E65), which will be completed by the spring of 2014, the Rzeszow-Krakow-Katowice-Zabrze link (line E30), which is due for completion at the beginning of 2015, and partial upgrade of the Warsaw to Lodz line, including the reconstruction of the Lodz Fabryczna railway station, which is expected to be ready in the spring of 2015.

These projects are worth a total of PLN9.5 billion (€2.3 billion). However, PMR said that while more projects co-financed by the EU were expected to start in 2012 and 2013, the value of these projects were likely to be lower.

It is expected that Polish rail authority PKP will more than fill the gap with an increase in its investments in rail over the period, using its internal funds and the central budget.

Indeed, the Polish government has approved a PLN1.86 billion (€415.7 million) 2012 budget for the country's railway fund, of which PLN987.2 million (€220.7 million) has already been earmarked to be spent this year.

PMR said contractors in the railway sector also believed investment in projects for the 2014 to 2020 period would be even better than the present forecast. These contracts include projects which are unlikely to be completed by 2013 because of delays.

The largest tenders include work on the Lublin to Otwock line and the Sadowne to Bialystok section of the Rail Baltica line, together with the Szczecin to Poznan line, as well as completion of the work on the Poznan to Wroclaw and Wroclaw to Klodzko lines.

PMR said the aggregate value of projects announced by PKP between 2014 and 2020 exceeded PLN30 billion (€7.3 billion).

PMR construction analyst Katarzyna Bednarz said, "Whether this ambitious schedule is feasible is an open question. It is by now evident that not all the tasks earmarked for 2007 to 2013 will be completed. It is highly likely that more projects will be delayed. Furthermore, some tasks will be completely abandoned.

"However, it is only to be hoped that PKP will enter the next financial perspective with a larger number of prepared projects and their implementation will be undertaken without any major delays, as widely expected by the potential contractors."