"An oddly comforting place"

This week's Economist namechecks the power station from which we get our electricity and which is supplied with coal by the trains that rumble past Jeziorki. The full article is here.

"Poland gets over 90% of its electricity from coal. The giant Siekierki power station in Warsaw provides electricity and heating to two-thirds of the Polish capital each winter. A mountain of coal next to its turbine hall holds 180,000 tonnes, enough for 18 days’ winter production. Ignore climate change, and it is an oddly comforting place. Almost all the coal is Polish, and more arrives on trains from Silesia every day. On an autumn afternoon, the only smells are of fallen leaves and the sweet tang of fresh coal. The only noise comes from a bulldozer smoothing the coal-mound and the cawing of rooks. Its three chimneys run clear: you cannot see the carbon dioxide pouring into the sky."

So Siekierki burns 10,000 tonnes of coal a day in winter - that's four trains' worth (each one hauling 40 wagons, each wagon containing over 60 tonnes of coal). Top: PCC Rail 311D-18 hauling a rake of 40 empty Dumpcar wagons back to the sidings at Okęcie. Note to the right, a technical railcar (drezyna in Polish) heading south down the main line towards Radom. Below, the same railcar approaching the pedestrian rail crossing at ul. Kórnicka.