"Sod the locals"

 Apologies for banging on about the same subject as in the last post, but the execrable quality of project management on the Chynów station modernisation gets me going. Not only is there no information as to which platforms are operational, or where trains are heading, but the old temporary footpath across the tracks have been ripped up; the ramp up to the northern end of the platform has been closed off. A new temporary footpath leading to the platforms has been built at the other (southern) end of the station. The result is a detour of over 700m (a seven-minute walk).

This is the result. These two women were trying to catch the southbound train, thinking they had ample time to catch it. They didn't know (and neither did I or anyone else) that earlier today, access to the platforms from the north had been ripped up and closed off by the builders. Unable to scramble up the navel-high platform edge, they had to make a massive detour around the whole station to get to the platform via the new temporary footpath. They missed their train. An hour until the next one.

I got to the station in good time and managed to haul myself up onto the platform, make my way to the end to get this snap as the train changed tracks (and therefore platforms) to the consternation of those waiting in the wrong place.

Below: the detour shown in red is not just the official, safe, route - it is the only route a pedestrian can take without having to subject themselves to the indignity of clambering up the platform edge.

Yes, one day it will be finished. Yes, one day people living in Jakubowizna will have easier and safer access to the station. But on the eve of the second anniversary of the modernisation of the line between Czachówek Południowy to Warka, the work seems interminable. Lack of community consultations, lack of consideration for passengers. It took 20 months to build the entire line from Warsaw to Radom back in the 1930s; these days the modernisation of the same line is likely to take eight years.

For the inhabitants of the village of ulica Spacerowa in Widok or inhabitants of the southern part of Jakubowizna, the choice is either this home-made route to the platform, steps carved into the embankment, a pallet thrown over the ditch and 285m of clambering over ballast next to the passing-loop track - or a one-kilometre detour via the level crossing.

Better access is on its way, but for now, it's a long walk for most pedestrian users of Chynów station, wherever they're from.

This time last year:
If you're really concerned about global warming...

This time two years ago:
The balance between the spiritual and the material

This time three years ago:
End of August, end of summer?

This time four years ago:
Pavement for Karczunkowska... a bit at least

This time five years ago:
Gold Train update (the hope! the expectations!)

This time seven years ago:
Poland post the Rubbish Revolution

This time eight years ago:
Poland's most beautiful street

This time nine years ago:
Getting to grips with phrasal verbs

This time 11 years ago:
What Putin wrote about Molotov-Ribbentrop

This time 12 years ago:
Summer Sunday in the city

This time 13 years ago:
Last bike-ride to work of the summer