W-wa Okęcie modernisation - not long now...

Twice this week I passed through W-wa Okęcie on my way home from the airport, a good chance to update readers as to progress on the modernisation of the Warsaw-Radom line at the top end.

Below: looking north, we can see that the 'down' platform is nearly ready. The 'down' track has been laid and fresh ballast has been spread over the new concrete sleepers. To the far left, the 'down' freight track that bypasses the platform, still awaiting ballast. Fencing separates the 'down' and 'up' platforms, although for the time being both 'up' and 'down' trains use the 'up' platform (to the right).

Below: "Let them read squat." The new timetable boards are in place, along with the timetables and other passenger info. But the fencing that cordons off the unfinished side of the platform is also in place. The timetable, printed in tiny letters, is about a metre and half from the fencing. Only those with acute vision can see what time their train is due. Me? I use the excellent Bilkom app on my smartphone.

Below: the footbridge is complete, but unopened. It will probably remain in this state for weeks until some building inspector can be bothered to come over and give the construction the green light.

Below: rather than let passengers benefit from a bridge which is not safe until a piece of paper deems it is, to get to the platform from either the ul. Wirażowa side or the ul. Kłobudzka side, you have to negotiate an obstacle course of trip hazards including an active railway line. Unlit at night. Still, as you smash your teeth running for a train, you can be happy in the knowledge that no one will be harmed by using an uninspected footbridge.

Below: trip hazards galore. "Had an accident? Not your fault? Let us sue the €€€€s out of PKP PLK for you." UK-style personal injury litigation would soon sort out this lackadaisical attitude to signing off pedestrian infrastructure.

UPDATE ONE YEAR ON: 5 May 2017. it beggars belief that 12 months can pass and the indolent arsehole responsible for this piece of infrastructure has still not passed it fit for use.

Below: photo taken on Tuesday 3 May, Polish national holiday commemorating the Constitution (first in Europe, second in the world after the USA). A national flag is flown on the 18:40 all-stations service to Skarzysko-Kamienna.

Below: standing on a parallel track to W-wa Okęcie is this works train, hauled by a custom-painted SM42 diesel shunter. The yellow coaches up front are for maintenance of the overhead power lines. Further back there are cranes and other assorted machinery.

Below: a little south of W-wa Okęcie station, the sidings begin. This telephoto shot nicely shows the various sets of points. In the distance, the viaduct taking ul. Poleczki over the tracks.

Below: bonus shot. Taken at the pedestrian crossing on ul. Kórnicka, a well-lit shot of a refurbished ST48 engine hauling a rake of empty coal trucks back towards W-wa Okęcie. Note the dust coming off the wagons - not coal dust, just regular dust. Which puzzled me a bit. The 'down' line is still missing; it will be a few months yet. Then, when it is laid, and the new 'down' platforms are opened at W-wa Dawidy, W-wa Jeziorki and Nowa Iwiczna, the whole process will have to be repeated for the 'up' line and platforms.

At least at W-wa Okęcie the end of the modernisation work is in sight.

This time last year:
I buy a Nikon Coolpix A
[A year on, I'm delighted with it.]

This time two years ago:
More about the Ladder of Authority

This time three years ago:
By bike, south of Warsaw

This time five years ago:
Functionalist architecture in Warsaw

This time six years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time seven years ago:
Making plans

This time eight years ago:
The setting sun stirs my soul

This time nine years ago:
Rain ends the drought