Park + Ride for Jeziorki - at last.

Well, it's been a long time coming, but it's finally happening - W-wa Jeziorki station will be getting a proper Park + Ride. Work began in February - sewerage and drainage works, now the above-ground part begins to take shape. The P+R will have space for 136 cars of which six will be reserved for disabled drivers. There will be covered bicycle parking for 40 bikes, and charging points for electric vehicles and bicycles. Planned date of completion - September 2022. Cost - over 5.9m złotys (£1.1m). A better investment for Warsaw's public transport than, say, five Solaris Urbino 12 buses?

The idea is for motorists to drive into from outlying towns and villages such as Lesznowola, Prażmów and Tarczyn and park here - the first station within Warsaw's Zone 1 for onward travel by train into the city centre. This will make more sense once a) SKM ('rapid urban rail') services start serving Piaseczno this December and b) the S7 extension is open.

Below: looking east from the stairs leading from the viaduct to the 'up' platform

Below: Official visualisation of the completed project, seen from above the viaduct.

A regulatory must on every Polish building site, however humble - the information board. Contact details for the investor, contractor, building inspector etc. This board describes the investment in Polish as 'Parkuj i jedź', yet the acronym PiJ is never, ever used - rather abbreviated in  English as Park & Ride (usually styled as P+R). 

Meanwhile, train services are getting faster. On Wednesday, I took a train from Chynów to Jeziorki that was advertised (and indeed took) as taking 24 minutes. That's seven minutes less than it used to. Journey times into town will be shorter once modernisation work on W-wa Zachodnia is completed.

Below: the way it looked, back in 2008, when drivers started leaving their cars on the muddy verge by the station to take the train into town. New station, new viaduct - the character of W-wa Jeziorki has changed totally since then.

This time last year:
Decimalisation and determination

This time four years ago:
God, an Englishman, orders his Eden thus:

This time seven years ago:
I buy a Nikon Coolpix A

This time eight years ago:
More about the Ladder of Authority

This time nine years ago:
By bike, south of Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
Functionalist architecture in Warsaw

This time 12 years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time 13 years ago:
Making plans

This time 14 years ago:
The setting sun stirs my soul

This time 15 years ago:
Rain ends the drought