W-wa Zachodnia's Platform 8 to reopen

Over six years ago, the station once named W-wa Wola became a part of another station altogether. Renamed W-wa Zachodnia Peron 8, this bizarre outpost of Poland's busiest station (over half a kilometre away from Platform 1) has been closed for since March 2017  It will reopen later this month (on 21 October, the day the amended railway timetable comes into force), as modernisation of the peripheral line around the north-west and north of the capital nears completion. So let's have a look at the place...

Below: to reach the platform, passengers will have to cross live railway tracks, though the crossing will be protected by barriers, currently wrapped in black plastic. The new platform conforms to modern safety standards. From this point, it is 250m to the western entrance of W-wa Zachodnia, the actual distance from Platform 8 to the nearest platform of the main station, number 7, is nearly 400m, or a five-minute walk. From Platform 8 to Platform 2 (eastbound suburban services) is over 500m.

Below: general view of the platform, now under a canopy. Ah! and worth noting that the old station name, W-wa Wola, has been moved one stop up the line to what used to be called W-wa Kasprzaka.

Below: view of Platform 8 from an eastbound suburban service - you can barely see it in the distance, as one set of tracks curves away northward from the main line.

Below: looking from the far end of the platform. The nearness of the station to the Expo XXI conference and exhibition centre has been put to good use - there's a proper footpath that will link the platform to ul. Prądzyńskiego (I hope there will be a good pedestrian crossing on this busy street).

I can't see this footbridge linking the path between Platform 8 and ul. Prądzyńskiego being open anytime soon. A wheelchair lift on either side is required. Another year, optimistically?

I'm delighted that the PKP  PLK planners have seen fit to connect the north end of Platform 8 with the Expo centre. PKP PLK evidently did not believe that passengers using W-wa Jeziorki station would want to come to the station from the south - from ul. Gogolińska or Kurantów, or from the Biedronka supermarket. This poor guy (below) has to pull himself and his bicycle up to the platform from the track bed - why could PKP PLK not have left one barrier off the end of the platform and built a set of steps here? The alternative to clambering up onto the platform here is a 420m-detour via Gogolińska, or an 800m-detour via ul. Nawłocka. This is just an insult to locals who happen to live at the wrong end of the platform.

Please please PKP PLK - when planning station modernisations, don't force passengers to have to do this so that they can pay you money to use your services! I hope this gets sorted at PKP Chynów station first time round!

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