A new railway timetable too - the 08:07 from W-wa Jeziorki into town has become the 08:10, giving me an extra three precious minutes for coffee before hurrying ofp to the station. The new timetable takes into account the fact that modernisation work begins soon on the Warsaw-Radom line south of Czachówek Południowy.
I've mentioned this before - this will mean the stations Sułkowice, Chynów, Krężel, Michałowice, Gośniewice and Warka are due for the same remont as the stations between W-wa Okęcie and Czachówek Południowy received between 2015-17. Single track working to Warka is expected. The limited-stop Radomiak service has been re-routed via Idzikowice.
But the BIG NEW STORY for all Varsovians in possession of a travel card is the fact that as of 1 September this year, we are allowed to stray into Zone 2, the exurbs outside Warsaw's city limits, for no extra charge! This is great news! All of a sudden, I am free to explore beyond Zone 1; I can travel to Piaseczno by bus or train for free - and the price of my return rail ticket from W-wa Jeziorki to Chynów tumbles from 13.64 zł to a mere 8.84 zł (£1.85) as the fare is now only charged from and to Zalesie Górne, the last stop in Zone 2.
If you have a travel card, use it to get out and about. Zone 2 is so massive, ZTM doesn't even have a full map that extends out to all its borders!
Now that the holiday season is over, InterCity trains are running shorter. One loco hauling just two carriages seems a waste of potential. Below: the Połoniny service from Przemyśl to Warsaw calls in at W-wa Służewiec station.
Below: the Julian Tuwim Warsaw-Łódź service passes W-wa Ochota station on the fast track.
This time last year:
Fields filling up with houses
[The phantom bus stops are still not connected to bus routes!]
This time eight years ago:
Battle of Britain: Poland's contribution
This time nine years ago:
Sewer under ul. Karczunkowska
The line I'm watching is the one between Warsaw and Lublin, currently being modernised, requiring a detour by the Eastern flank of Poland and adding another hour and a half to journey times. Known as Poland B, some say C, the railway infrastructure there is in places in a deplorable state. And the nail in the coffin, from what I have read in the local papers, is that, if and when modernisation is completed, old station buildings, some of them vintage Austro-Hungarian architecture, will have been knocked down and replaced by ugly modern boxes.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I'm writing actually is to ask you, first, if you have any experience paying by contactless on the London tube (available since 2014). Against my better judgment, I took the plunge and decided to use it for the first time last week. TFL charged me 20 pounds for a journey from Heathrow to Victoria and the same return, for what should be 3 pounds 10 pence, if you pay by contactless at off-peak times. I must say they refunded the overcharged amount within 3 days (for one of the journeys so far), but why put the wind up an unsuspecting traveller in the first place!
Secondly, and totally unrelated to anything at all here but to one of your old posts on keeping fit perhaps, have you taken the NHS heart age test yet? There has been a lot about it in the media in the last few days. Almost everyone comes out with a heart that is older than their real age. I've put in my data, entering a Kent post code, and got a result saying my heart is 4 years older than my real age and I will die at 79;-) That may well be overoptimistic but my point is this: don't you think that the criteria they have chosen on the test are woefully narrow? Just google: heart age test , and you're away!
@ Jacek Koba
ReplyDeleteHi Jacek, good to hear from you as ever. Warsaw-Lublin - it's a big job and will not be finished until 2020 (to be fair they did say so). Austro-Hungarian architecture on the Lublin line? Kongresówka, surely?
I use my UK credit card to pay-as-I-go on TfL and have never (to my knowledge) been overcharged. Which experience is the outlier? I've not yet heard of this happening to anyone I know...
Heart age test - I did it a while ago and had the same result! Four years older than real age and dead by 79. I thought I'd answer honestly, but my previous week's drinking was skewed by a business mixer or two. The test is there to shock people into lifestyle changes. The app is not that smart, I guess!