The place is now habitable, the thermal insulation makes a huge difference. This morning there was snow on the ground in Warsaw, the temperature at dawn just above 0C. By lunchtime it had reached 5C, yet inside the house it was 17C. Warm enough for me not to have to put the heating on!
Below: looking down the track from Chynów station towards Krężel, work is going on to lift the old 'up' track. An eight-car, two-set EN71 electrical multiple unit heads south to Strzyżyna, where the line currently ends; a replacement bus service takes passengers on from there.
Another important milestone back in Jeziorki - the first layer of asphalt has been laid on the east side of the viaduct carrying ul. Karczunkowska over the Warsaw-Radom railway line (below). Locals have taken to using the as-yet-unopened bridge to get to the 'up' platform to town rather than picking their way through the building site beneath.
Below: at the top of the viaduct, two bus lay-bys. Still a vast amount of finishing work required; four wheelchair lifts, pedestrian crossing, permanent railings, more asphalt, road markings and road signs. Three and half months before it's opened? By the end of the school holidays is my bet (the bus loop by the station also has to be completed and synchronised with new bus timetables).
Below: bonus shot: an oil train heads west through Czachówek on the Skierniewice-Łuków line. Note the trees and shrubs in flower in the foreground.
This time six years ago:
The ups and downs of the onset of spring
This time seven years ago:
Pigeon infestation by Dworzec Centralny
This time nine years ago:
Fertile grounds for conspiracy theorists
This time 11 years ago:
Magnolia in bloom, Ealing
Thanks for your updates about Jeziorki station and its Level Access in particular.
ReplyDeleteAs a wheelchair user, I'd like to point out two facts.
1) Unless you are lucky enough to die in your sleep, or in a sudden accident, you will, more than likely, use a wheelchair at some point.
2) Of the lift users (of what you derogatorily call "wheelchair lifts") in the London Underground system, less than 0.25% are wheelchair users.
The vast majority of users are parents with prams, elderly with sticks, carriers of heavy luggage, temporarily disabled and many other people whom I cannot easily categorize. Travellers of all sorts. Wouldn't your father prefer the lift to the stairs?
How many wheelchair users are there in Jeziorki? Divided by 4 lifts.
What a cost! Koszty, polityka, europejskie wariactwo! Nie stac nas na to.
The same specious argument got the Peroxide Moron to cancel Baker Street. Fortunately he let Green Park go ahead, reportedly under royal pressure. Look these schemes up.
Green Park's "wheelchair lifts" have proved to be one of the best value for public money projects in half a century.
I find it personally offensive for him and you to call general level access lifts as "wheelchair lifts". Those are a different thing altogether.
If you had written this piece in Britain, you would've been challenged.
It is the elderly and parents of young children who'll be the major beneficiaries of these lifts in Jeziorki. But never of the lifts' critics.
H
H,
ReplyDeleteI am not in the least bit critical of level access lifts - now you've pointed me to the preferred nomenclature, I shall use it. The Polish 'wózki' is the more neutral...
Where did you get the idea I am against spending money on such lifts? What's derogatory about the term 'wheelchair lift'?
My experience of using them when my father was in Warsaw last summer was entirely positive - Ealing Broadway and West Ealing stations both lack lifts, and that's a huge nuisance.
M.