It would seem simple enough - to get from Chynów to Rzeszów without having to go up to Warsaw, then down to Kraków, then across to Rzeszów. I consult rozklad-pkp.pl. Indeed - there is an alternative - I could go Chynów-Radom-Lublin-Rzeszów. Not bad. Except I'd have to waste a hour and half waiting in Radom for the Lublin train and over two hours in Lublin waiting for the Rzeszów train.
And then, by accident while waiting for a train home on Wednesday, I glanced at a printed timetable on the platform at Piaseczno station... I could get from Warka all the way down to Przeworsk, and from there it's just a short hop on a local train to Rzeszów. And I'd be there three hours earlier. And the ticket is cheaper - so why isn't the PKP website showing such a possibility?
And so, having bought my tickets online, I leave home at quarter past six, catch the local 06:31 Koleje Mazowieckie train from Chynów to Warka (on time), then jump on the Witos InterCity service from Warsaw to Przemyśl, due in Warka at 07:03. All good. Below: here is the Witos drawing into Warka station, three minutes late, having left W-wa Gdańska at 06:16. The train is just three carriages long.
Is there a catch? Well, two, catches actually. The first is that he old-school loco-hauled rolling stock (clean, I must say) lacks a buffet car. So sandwiches, fruit, and a thermos of tea from home were needed for the journey. Not a proper alternative to a lunch cooked on the train and served with a craft ale. The second is that the track modernisation works between Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Sandomierz, meant to have been finished in early September, are still ongoing - which mean a replacement bus service between those two towns.
The train passes through Radom, then swings round Skarżysko-Kamienna, diverting off the main line to Kielce and Kraków to head south-east. Below: view from the back carriage of the junction outside Skarżysko-Kamienna. The main station is off to the left, the line to Radom and Warsaw off to the right.
Below: the Witos ends the first part of its journey - everyone out! Many passengers were Ukrainians heading home with heavy bags - dragging them over the footbridge wasn't convenient.
Below: the front of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski station, with the second bus being prepared for departure (photo taken from the first bus which has just pulled out).
Below: crossing the Vistula by (railway replacement service) bus. Lovely moody landscape.
Over the Vistula, in the industrial part of Sandomierz well away from its charming old town and castle, lies its railway station. And here, our two railway replacement buses arrived, an hour or so after leaving Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Below: another loco-hauled set - this time with just two carriages - waiting for passengers to make their way from the buses.
The rest of the journey passed without hitch, though progress was slow - the standard of track is well below that now enjoyed by the Warsaw-Radom line. I popped out at Przeworsk to have a look around (a pretty nondescript town, to be honest), and then returned to the station for onward travel to Rzeszów. Below: the town hall; the modernised square is already starting to look drab and the public free wifi doesn't work.
Below: a big centrally-funded project in progress at the moment involves stopping the town sliding down the escarpment. Here, the job is done, but there's still much building work going on behind me and round the corner in the distance.
Interestingly, Przeworsk has a narrow-guage railway station next to the main line one, though this is tourist-traffic only, and out of seasons runs Sundays only.
Another little rail bonus in Przeworsk is this Ol49 steam loco, standing outside the main-line station.
I return to Przeworsk station to catch a Podkarpacka Kolej Aglomeracyjna train a few stops west into Rzeszów. Just over half an hour's journey and I arrived at my destination. In good time for our event. Alighting from the train at Rzeszów Główny, I find that the station is still in the midst of renovation work, just as it was a year ago and four years ago. Will it never end?
Once the connection between Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Sandomierz is complete, the journey will be quicker and more convenient - but will PKP's online timetable apps be smart enough to suggest this route in future? The Witos (Warsaw-Przemyśl calling at Warka) service opens up new possibilities of exploring the south-east corner of Poland - into the Bieszczady by train.
This time two years ago:
Mother of Invention
This time three years ago:
Autumnal lockdown walk
Remont of Metro bridge over Puławska
This time six years ago:
We are what we read, what we watch, what we listen to
This time ten years ago:
Extraordinarily warm autumn
This time 11 years ago:
On behalf of the work-shy community
This time 12 years ago:
Classic truck cavalcade
This time 13 years ago
Suburban back-roads clogged with commuters
This time 14 years ago:
Autumn gold, Łazienkowski Park
This time 15 years ago:
Quintessential autumnal Jeziorki
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2 comments:
I take the 7:10 (Kochanowski) from Warszawa Gdańska to Kraśnik via Lublin in some weeks, which then goes on to Rzeszów, where it arrives at 11:41, direct, clean and with a buffet. It shouldn’t be too difficult to get from your place to Warszawa Gdańska, though it is still going up north in order to then go south (east), and the hour is ungodly. These timetables change a few times a year, as you know, so check ahead next time you travel.
I’ve spent a good part of my life on trains or around them (a day a week these days) and take the good with the bad. How’s that for a story: a local Lublin to Rzeszów and Rzeszów to Lublin pull into Kraśnik station a few minutes apart, swap passengers but not the crews, and then reverse to where they came from, or swap the crews, or one passenger-crew set know what to do and tell the other, or the crews don’t know and ask the passengers, and then double check by calling traffic control. Sunday morning comedy aside though, I used to cringe with embarrassment when a train bound for Lublin and its hinterlands would pull into a Warsaw station ten or so years ago. All the other trains were clean, some sleek and modern, with proper livery. The Lublin-bound train would be like a soot-covered street urchin grinning ecstatically at a garden party for Penelope and Archibald. But the Kochanowski has class!
@ Jacek Koba
'Tis a shame that Rev W. Awdry, the great 20th century British mystical philosopher, didn't base any of his Railway Series stories in a small Polish town!
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