Work on the tracks continues apace, disruption widespread

It's a Saturday, time to pop down to W-wa Jeziorki station check out how the modernisation of the railway line's getting on. I'm delighted to be able to report that it's going well.

Below: looking north along the platform towards ul. Karczunkowska and onwards to W-wa Dawidy beyond. Tracks are being lifted, the trackbed will be prepared for new concrete sleepers and rails. Note - the traction cables have been removed from the catenaries. They came down before Christmas.

Below: trees between the platform and ul. Gogolińska have been marked for removal. This is where the new platform will be built. The idea is to allow the 'up' and 'down' tracks to run straight without the 'up' track having to be routed round the island platform. This will allow faster running times for through trains. The new 'up' platform (for town) will be situated north of Karczunkowska.

Below: looking south from the end of the platform towards Nowa Iwiczna. With the 'down' track lifted, both up and down services are forced to use this one line. Note how the 'up' line bends to accommodate the island platform. Because of the single-track working working Piaseczno up to W-wa Okęcie, services have been reduced. More about this later. To the left of the photo, the coal-train line, unelectrified, which swings off east to Jeziorna and Siekierki past Nowa Iwiczna station.

Photos taken on Three Kings public holiday at W-wa Dawidy. Below: a fence has been erected to keep passengers away from the now-disused 'down' platform. Photo taken from the level crossing on ul. Baletowa. Plans to build a viaduct over the tracks here have come to nought (for the time being at least). In the distance the lights of a semi-fast train to Radom hoves into view - the RE8 service does not stop at W-wa Dawidy or W-wa Jeziorki.

Below: a coal train to Siekierki awaits the signal at the exit from the Okęcie sidings. This photo also shows the amount of bend in the 'up' track required to swing around W-wa Dawidy's island platform.

The modernisation work has hit services from W-wa Śródmieście (below, photo taken on Friday evening). Trains are usually delayed in both directions. The 10km of track currently under single-line working means that any slight delay in services in either direction has massive knock-on effects. And today, Koleje Mazowieckie announced that a cracked rail on this stretch meant a 90 minute delay to services.

This means massive dislocation for all commuters between Warsaw and Piaseczno and all points south. Because the number of services has been reduced, there's more road traffic down ul. Puławska, private car and bus. [Rather than one train every 30 minutes, there's a 75-minute interval between services to W-wa Jeziorki during the evening rush hour.] Puławska as a result gets even more jammed. Having found on Friday that I have a 45-minute wait for the train to Jeziorki, I decided to take the Metro to Wilanowska, boarded a 715 to Karczunkowska - which took 45 minutes rather than the 25 minutes in the timetables. Having said that, there are 19 (yes, nineteen) bus departures between 17:00 and 18:00 from Wilanowska to Karczunkowska.

I hope that when the work is completed (it will go on well into next year - demolishing four platforms and building seven new ones between Okęcie and Piaseczno, and laying the new tracks) we'll see the SKM trains running through Jeziorki and the number of trains increased five-fold.

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