I wrote a year ago about Warsaw's new-old station - Warszawa Główna - opened last March on the site it used to occupy until 1997. Back in July 2021, the footbridge connecting the far ends of the platforms appeared to be almost ready - yet it would be the best part of 12 months before the barriers were removed and local people's and passengers' lives made easier at last. It brings the platforms half a kilometre closer to anyone wishing to access the station from the north or the south.
As is often the case, the delay was caused by a dispute between entities - railway infrastructure operator, PKP PLK and Warsaw's highway authority, ZDM - and the contractor. For months, the completed footbridge stood unopened while responsibility for installing a pedestrian crossings across the roads at either end was being determined. The road crossings are still not there, but (nearly all) the tapes have been removed, and it can at last be used, linking Ochota to the south of the tracks to Wola on the north side. For local pedestrians, this new connection is extremely handy, opening up new geographies, new possibilities for shopping and leisure.
Below: the new footbridge seen from Al. Jerozolimskie, level-access lifts at both ends and serving both platforms of W-wa Główna; nice and wide, and sheltered from the elements with a tin roof.
Having climbed the steps, and looking down from the bridge, I get a little flashback to grey West Ealing, and Jacob's Ladder (
below), the footbridge straddling Brunel's Great West Railway, that I still remember from over 60 years ago - the last days of the steam era; the footbridge would suddenly became enveloped in a warm, damp fog as a steam train passed under it. Me in the pushchair as my mother took me to nursery school each morning and home again each lunchtime. Built before WW1, my childhood memories are nearer in time to its construction than to the present day.
Below: looking east, the main lines on the right heading towards W-wa Ochota station, beyond which the railway disappears into a tunnel running under the very centre of Warsaw. W-wa Główna on the left is a terminus station with two platforms serving four tracks (or in British railway parlance, four platforms). Trains from here currently depart towards Łódź via Grodzisk Maz, Żyrardów and Skierniewice.
Below: looking west towards W-wa Zachodnia. The tracks nearest the left are for the WKD (light rail line); the next two tracks are for suburban services, then there are the two long-distance tracks. On top of the embankment are the four tracks that terminate at W-wa Główna. Beyond that (out of sight) - derelict tracks that used to service Warsaw's post-office station
Below: a curious vista, what looks like a scrapyard siding but on closer inspection turns out to be Poland's national railway museum. And it is here that unique examples of Polish engineering have been exposed to the elements, in some cases, for up to half a century. Utterly shameful. These exhibits should all be in a warm shed, restored, pampered and admired.
Below: looking over the rooftops of the post-office station platforms; at night the space beneath comes alive as the neon-lit
Nocny Market food court opens for business, full of food trucks, craft beer and post-hipster trendiness. [How this place once looked -
click here.]
Below: the north side of the bridge. The woman behind the car has just crossed the bridge and is looking to cross ulica Kolejowa. As you can see, she can't turn right - no pavement, fallen tree. She can either do what I did - dash across the junction - or take a 130m walk (minute and 20 seconds) via a distant zebra crossing.
OK - so it took too long and hasn't even finished, but it's here. Behind where I took the above photo lies Warsaw's 19. Dzielnica (19th District) - a completely new development of flats, offices and shops on post-industrial land. Warsaw is booming.
This time last year:
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