W-wa Jeziorki: Czachówek Wschodni and its new raised platform

Last summer there was a bit of a hoo-hah when it emerged that the new trains that Koleje Mazowieckie had bought (with EU regional funds) could not actually be used to serve the line to Góra Kalwaria because the platform there, and at the intermediary station stop, Czachówek Wschodni, were too low.

The platforms, at the same level as the railhead, made it impossible for those with impaired mobility to get on or off the new-generation trains, FLIRTs, Impluses or Elfs (even though Elf = Electric Low Floor). A hurried solution was suggested - running new trains on to Czachówek Południowy, and from there a shuttle service using the old rolling stock (modernised EN57s) to Góra Kalwaria. After interventions from local politicians, PKP PLK came up with a better solution - raise the platforms at the two stations. Not for the full length, only enough for a four-car unit.

Work was completed in March, and now the new rolling stock serves passengers all the way through from Góra Kalwaria direct to Warsaw and back.

I went to revisit Czachówek Wschodni. [Last summer's trip related here.] One thing struck me - the work was done on a budget - raise the platform level from 30cm to 55cm and do not do one hand's turn more than that. The old paving slabs were re-used (good!) and new platform edges built up to the statutory level. No new signage (about more anon).

Below: approaching the island platform from the north. Note the yellow barrier; to the right, the old platform level, closed off to passengers. To the left, a ramp sloping gently up to the height of the new platform.

Below: seen from the southern side of the tracks, a Warsaw-bound FLIRT unit pulls away from Czachówek Wschodni station. From this side, there is no signage whatsoever referring to the station, even the 'do not cross the tracks/no trespassing' signs that were once here have been removed. It may be that some day a Park+Ride will be established here, tempting local commuters to take the train to Piaseczno and Warsaw. One thing is more likely, the entire Skierniewice-Łuków line is up for modernisation, which is why the bare minimum has been spent on the two passenger stations along its length.

Below: a former East German BR232 diesel loco (made in the USSR) hauls a coal train through Czachówek Wschodni. Privately operated by CTL Logistics. Note the platform surface; the central part is made of the old paving slabs, to either side, with regulation yellow line, the new surfaces.

Below: a real shocker. To the uninitiated, the 'Private Terrain Entry Prohibited' sign looks like it applies to the one and only official path from the street to the station. There is literally no other sign around here. Nothing to tell anyone that there is a railway station beyond (what I gather) this point, a station from which hourly trains run into Warsaw. It is scandalous that this misleading sign exists here; it is even more scandalous that there's no big white-on-blue signage as found outside every other PKP station across the land. And of course, there's no mention of the station at the nearby bus loop, a mere two-minute walk away, where the local L30 bus route from Góra Kalwaria terminates.

Below: old level and new - photo taken from the eastern end of the (old) platform. In the distance, a barrier, and a rise up to the new platform level, which is about half of the old platform's original length.

Below: a curious Marian shrine in the village of Czarny Las, in the form of a cylindrical pillar. Looks more like a Napoleonic war memorial than what one expects from local devotions.

Below: photo taken looking east along the Skierniewice-Łuków line, from what was the platform of the no-longer existent Czachówek Środkowy station, towards Czachówek Wschodni. Standing waiting for a signal is the same coal train I snapped earlier.

Below: photo taken from Czachówek Górny of a Warsaw-bound FLIRT set having come off the spur linking the Skierniewice-Łuków line to the main Warsaw-Radom line.

Below: the way things were at Góra Kalwaria, shortly after passenger services from Warsaw were reinstated - the platform was too low - and too short.

Below: (bonus shot) the old bridge over the river Czarna, between Czachówek Południowy and Sułkowice, has been demolished and a new one is being built, and, I presume, new asphalt will be laid on either side of the bridge improving local road infrastructure around here, allowing mud-free access to the village of Ławki from Sułkowice at last. [See here how it looked a few months ago.]

As I wrote last year, there are three Czachówek stations (Czachówek Górny, Czachówek Południowy and Czachówek Wschodni - and none of them are in Czachówek. Górny is located in Bronisławów, Południowy is in Gabryelin, and Wschodni in Czarny Las. And, as I mentioned above, there was a fourth Czachówek, Środkowy (demolished in 2013, serving passengers until 2001).

Postscript 25 May: I visited Czachówek Wschodni at the weekend; travelling into town today I saw a Góra Kalwaria train passing through W-wa Młynów. To my surprise, it was composed of two five-car units - way too long for the platforms at Czachówek Wschodni and Góra Kalwaria. So on my way from town, I caught a Góra Kalwaria train to see what was going on... At Zalesie Górne, the train conductor boarded the rear unit and walked through it's length, asking every passenger to where they were going. Everyone travelling beyond Ustanówek was asked to move to the front unit. I asked the conductor why - he explained that the new, raised, platforms at Czachówek Wschodni and Góra Kalwaria were too short for a ten-car set, so the rear five-car unit needed to be emptied of passengers before the train turned off the main line south of Ustanówek. The whole procedure suggests to me a short-term remedy - my hope is that one day before too long then entire Skierniewice-Łuków line will be modernised, and that passenger trains will return to the whole line, not just serving two stations along its length.

Below: Looking south from the platform at Ustanówek towards the northern apex of the Czachówek diamond. To the left the train I'd travelled on (a FLIRT), waiting for the spur to the Skierniewice-Łuków line to clear, to its right, a Warsaw-bound train (an Impuls) that is joining the main line on its way from Góra Kalwaria. Photo taken at the long end of my Nikon Coolpix P900's zoom.