Meanwhile, on the tracks

Not a good evening for travelling home; there was a traffic jam (korek) of trains stuck outside W-wa Zachodnia station resulting in 30 minute delays. Yesterday's journey on the 18:20 from W-wa Centralna to Skarżysko-Kamienna via W-wa Jeziorki, however, was exemplary; Centralna's refurbishment is now complete, with viewing terraces in the cafés along the northern side of the station, whence this view. The station reeks 80% less than it did before its pre-football remont, though one railway union leader did his best last month to restore Centralna to its old aroma by relieving himself on the platform.

Compared to Centralna, suburban station W-wa Śródmieście is still a crepesculent dump. Below: Monday evening - a man on a ladder examines a puddle of water leaking in through the roof that threatens to short-circuit the electrics of this clothes stall. Rainwater gets in everywhere at Śródmieście; puddles in dark corners, dripping down walls; fix one leak, another appears.


A current gripe of mine with Koleje Mazowieckie is the new practice of including train numbers on trains' head-boards and announcing them over the station loudspeakers. Koleje Mazowieckie under-informs passengers about train times and destinations, especially at smaller stations. But instead of giving us what's needed, KM's management is foisting entirely useless information on us. By including the train number on the head-board (right), there's less space left for the destination - can you see this train's headed for Żyrardów? (click to enlarge if not.)

Left: This is KM 201. So? Listening out for announcements, passengers want to know where the train's headed, its scheduled time of departure (delays if applicable) and platform.

Having to listen to the train number is entirely unnecessary. "Bing-Bong! Koleje Mazowieckie train number KM101 to Tłuszcz via Małkinia will depart from track 26 on platform 2..." Your ears have a hard enough time trying to make out the critical information without having some extra digits being read out to confuse you further.

Gazeta Wyborcza also says the new train numbering system's daft.

And here's that list of KM train numbers in full... Though it makes little sense - other than the fact that KME trains are pospieszone (hurried up) and don't stop at all stations. Although W-wa Jeziorki is located on line number 8, trains other than KM8xx call at this station; KM201-212, KM608 and KM711 to 714, for example.

This time two years ago:
Making sense of Polish politics