Month's worth of progress in Chynów

Last time I came to chronicle the progress of works along the Warsaw-Radom railway line, it was on 26 October, just before the clocks went back, warm and sunny enough to to the trip on my motorbike. Today's daytime high was 4C, not weather for doing anything more than starting up and running the bikes' engines in the garden to keep them turning over regularly during the cold months.

Below: I get to Chynów by train and walk to the end of the platform to watch it depart (once the north-bound train has passed it going the other way. To the left, beyond the new track you can see remnants of the old platform and the old 'down' track, both of which will soon be ripped up. To the right is the passing loop, currently used to allow 'up' and 'down' services to pass one another.

Below: this is new - a passenger shelter is being erected on Platform 2. I can tell you from experience that while it's good in an easterly or westerly gale, when the wind's howling in from the north, there's scant protection. A similar shelter exists at W-wa Okęcie. But this is progress compared to what used to be.

Below: pedestrian access will now be below the tracks rather than by walking over them - something PKP PLK wants to eliminate, so that fast express trains can rush through. The tunnel below has no east or west exits right now. These will come in due course, but for the time being people living to the east of the tracks have to trespass across the building site or risk the dangers an eight-minute detour via a pavementless road with a blind bend.

Below: using the old 'down' line, soon to be ripped up, a ballast-laying train proceeds southwards. Good to see work carrying on even though it's a Sunday.

Below: on the way to my działka, round the corner and up the road a piece. A ballast mountain stands, in preparation for the re-laying of the 'down' line.

Below: it gets dark early. It's around half past four. To the left, a southbound modernised EN71 set has arrived from Warsaw, to the right a northbound modernised EN57 set has arrived from Warka. On this quiet platform, a brief flurry of activity and soon both trains are off.

Spring is four months away; four cold, dark months. I get home and have a sauna.

This time last year:
Tram tips for visiting Edinburgh

This time two years ago:
Warsaw to Edinburgh made easier

This time four years ago:
Stuffocation: the rich-world problem of dealing with too many things