Friday 12 August 2016

W-wa Jeziorki - new platform open for traffic

While I was spending a few days Kingdom-side, I got an email from Dr Marcin to say that the new 'down' line and platform at W-wa Jeziorki station was finally operational! After almost a year since work started on modernising the W-wa Okęcie to Czachówek stretch of the Warsaw to Radom railway, a milestone has been reached. Now the second line - the 'up' line and corresponding platform - need to be built. I expect it will take until this time next year to complete, certainly by late-autumn it should all be ready.

Below: a Radom-bound train pulls into the new platform. At present, the new platform serves both 'up' and 'down' traffic. The overhead cables for the old track have been removed; the old rails to the right of the photo await lifting and eventual replacement.


Below: the old platform has been closed to pedestrians, with a handwritten sign saying 'Platform closed - departures from the new platform!!!' The new platform is across the busy ul. Karczunkowska; I hope drivers and passengers will all take care here.


Below: there's another entrance to the new platform, from behind the houses along ul. Karczunkowska. A wheelchair ramp and steps are there - but both entrances have been blocked by fences. Why? It's annoying to have to walk a 400m detour because of this.


Between W-wa Jeziorki and W-wa Dawidy, at the pedestrian crossing on ul. Kórnicka, the new track to the left. Below: I've marked in white the path taken by ul. Kórnicka, which crosses here. It's not passable to wheeled traffic, but it is a designated level crossing and it has been here for decades, according to local maps. A new ditch has appeared to the west of the tracks. Will cabling and utilities be laid here, and then the ditch be covered up? Will the pedestrian level crossing be properly reinstated? If not, local folk will have to do a 2km detour to cross on foot from one side to the other.


Below: at Nowa Iwiczna, there's another closure of ul. Krasickiego, just two months after the last one. Standing on the old island platform, due for demolition and replacement by two separate platforms, I can see four - not three - tracks. To the right, the non-electrified coal train line. To the left the 'down' line, which is still the old track, joining up with the new one further down. But why two tracks in between? I can't quite understand at this stage how the new alignment will look...


Below: looking south along the platform at Nowa Iwiczna, the tracks by the old 'up' platform are being lifted. This station needs the most doing to it - work is far behind compared to other stations on this stretch.


This time four years ago:
The Vistula, finally becoming a Warsaw attraction

This time five years ago:
Fountains by the New Town

5 comments:

student SGH said...

The 'down' track has not been laid on the section near NI station because it will run where the old island platform is. The new two tracks (target ones laid on the level crossing) will run parallelly and the 'down' track will swing east vs. where the old one lies. The overhead cable gantries will most probably stand behind the new 'down' platform (located where the old 'down' track lies)'. And so is the puzzle unravalled.

Ian said...

I crossed over at Davidy today and it to now has four tracks instead of three. Anyone know what the fourth line will be used for?

Michael Dembinski said...

@ Ian Wilcock

There will still be three tracks. The third one from the west (or indeed, second from the east) is merely the left-overs from the old 'down' track. It will either be removed or asphalted over.

The new 'down' track is second from the west (third from the east); it has been installed through the roadway, and now awaits the new trackbed and tracks to the north and south of the level crossing.

You may have noticed some foundations being laid to the north-west of the level crossing - this is where a new level crossing-keeper's hut will be built. Ul. Baletowa will at last get a proper manned and gated level crossing.

Ian said...

Ah Ok I get it now, I did wonder about those foundations. Will Nowa Iwiczna get a manned crossign as well?

Michael Dembinski said...

@ Ian Wilcock

Sadly, no. I checked out Nowa Iwiczna yesterday - no sign at all that a level crossing-keeper's hut is being built. Nor is any viaduct planned. Maybe a barrier, remotely operated from Dawidy?