The railway timetable changed yesterday, and with it came changes to Poland's night-train network. Trains with sleeper carriages are, in my opinion, an excellent way of getting to distant destinations; your ticket is both a means of travel and a bed for the night.
IC 18170 Uznam Warszawa Wschodnia - Świnoujście (dep. 21:53 arr. 07:17). A later start from Warsaw; it means arriving in Szczecin Główny at a reasonable 05:28, about half an hour before opening time at the station's KFC). Arriving at Świnoujście at a humane 07:17, you can get across the Świna on a Bielik ferry, from the other side of the river, it's a 20 minute walk to the beaches. It also calls at Międzyzdroje at 07:07, another resort popular with Germans as well as Poles.
IC 81170 Uznam Świnoujście - Warszawa Wschodnia (dep. 21:07 arr. 06:31) is the return service, taking slightly longer to return to the capital. Taking the Uznam there and back gives you the best part of 12 hours on the beach. With a hotel or apartment from Saturday to Sunday, you can get a full weekend of Baltic sun-and-sea having worked Friday and be back in your Warsaw office first thing Monday morning
TLK 16170 Karkonosze Warszawa Wschodnia - Jelenia Góra (dep. 22:02 arr. 07:12). The biggest single change to the summer sleeper-train schedule is that this train now only goes as far as Jelenia Góra, so you cannot travel on to Szklarska Poręba as you can in winter. A popular skiing destination, it seems that in the summer months it's no longer worth PKP's while to take the train beyond Jelenia Góra, which is sad. The train goes through Wrocław (at very early 04:47) and Wałbrzych Miasto (at 06:06) – and is a great way of getting to the fabulous Książ castle before the crowds turn up.
TLK 61170 Karkonosze Jelenia Góra - Warszawa Wschodnia - (dep. 21:02 arr. 06:06) is the train back; again, you can be at your desk in Warsaw first thing Monday morning.
TLK 38171 Ustronie Kraków Główny - Kołobrzeg (dep. 21:00 arr. 10:44). Seaside-special for folks from Poland's south, which calls Kielce, Radom, Warsaw and the Tri-City and on to the resorts of Ustronie Morskie and Kołobrzeg. The train takes a full hour-and-half longer to do the journey than it did in winter. You can use this train as a nocturnal connection between Warsaw East (01:29) and Gdańsk Główny (05:38), though with four hours between the two cities, you'll not get much quality sleep time.
TLK 83171 Ustronie Kołobrzeg - Kraków Główny (dep. 19:45 arr. 09:12). Passing through Warsaw at 04:11. Again, taking over an hour longer than in the winter timetable.
TLK 35171 Karpaty Zakopane - Gdynia Główna (dep. 20:06 arr. 08:29). Finally, the train runs all the way, without the need for a replacement bus service for the Zakopane to Kraków leg. The Karpaty also serves as another nocturnal connection between Kraków, Warsaw and the Tri-City (dep: Kraków Główny 23:34, calling at Warsaw Central at 04:28).
TLK 53170 Karpaty Gdynia Główna - Zakopane (dep: 19:18 arr 07:42) An unfeasibly early hour for a sleeper to depart, but this makes for a convenient night service for Varsovians heading for the Tatras; it passes through Warszawa Gdańska at 23:03 and Kraków at 04:48. At last the Polish mountains are connected to the Polish sea by night train again.
And now the two sleeper train services that miss Warsaw altogether...
IC 83172 Przemyślanin Świnoujście - Przemyśl Główny (dep. 17:55, arr. 09:08). Fifteen hours and 13 minutes (half an hour quicker than in the winter timetable). The bad-boy of all Polish train journeys, more than 986 kilometres (612 miles) all the way, connecting the south-east and north-west extremes of the country. An early-evening start from Świnoujście, but there's a dining car attached – the Przemyślanin is the only sleeper train with a gastronomic wagon. Given the nature of night trains, moving from your compartment to the restaurant means having to arrange this with the sleeping-car attendant. The carriages are delivered to Świnoujście station an hour or more before departure time, so you can leave your stuff in the sleeping car (it's safe), and dine en route to Szczecin (18:52) or even as far as Poznań (22:14) before returning to your bunk(s). The train also calls at Wrocław, Katowice, Kraków and Rzeszów on the way, thus serving six of Poland's 16 provincial capitals. An InterCity train with modern sleeper carriages, superior in comfort to the stock used on TLK night connections.
IC 38172 Przemyślanin Przemyśl Główny-Świnoujście (dep. 18:15, arr. 10:07). The same route, backwards, and a useful connection (as I once found out) to travel between Kraków to Poznań (dep. 22:14, arr. 04:50), though of course pre-booking is necessary.
Finally, a third service connecting the Kraków with the Tri-City by night, this one skipping Warsaw.
TLK 53172 Rozewie Gdynia Główna - Kraków Główny (dep. 22:36, arr. 08:29) drops down from the coast through Gdańsk, Bydgoszcz, Poznań (02:45) headed to Wrocław (04:58), Opole and Katowice.
TLK 35172 Rozewie Kraków Główny - Gdynia Główna (dep. 19:59, arr . 05:58). It zig-zags its way back north, again connecting the cities of Katowice, Opole, Wrocław, Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Gdańsk.
Prices? Essentially, take the price of the normal second-class seat from A to B, multiply by two and half, and add that sum to the price of the seat. So around 300-350 zł tops, minus discounts for age etc. Last month, I payed 220.60 zł for Świnoujście to Warszawa Zachodnia for a two-berth sypialny, for example, with my 30% senior's discount. On the way out, I was fortunate to have the compartment to myself; on the way back another passenger boarded at Szczecin. Three-berth is cheaper; a compartment for oneself is also available, but requires the purchase of a first-class ticket so it works out about twice the price of a two-berth compartment. Couchette accommodation (no bedding, six bunks to the compartment) is the cheapest way. Seat-only night travel by train is excruciatingly awful; avoid it unless you are desperate.
Resources: Here's PKP's online timetable checker. For the phone, I recommend the Koleo app, as well as the clunkier Portal Pasażera app, which has the bonus of showing you in more-or-less real time where your awaited train actually is. Both available on Google Play and no doubt on whatever it is that Apple has. In Polish only, a somewhat dated page from the InterCity.pl website about sleeper and couchette services. This mentions deluxe compartments (single and double) that have an en-suite toilet and shower. Wow, but I've never seen such a thing on domestic services (unless the Przemyślanin has one).
There's also the international night train. This is the 19:34 departure from Warszawa Wschodnia, the Chopin (Warsaw-Vienna-Munich); attached to it are carriages for three other European capitals – Prague, Bratislava and Budapest. This very long train travels down to Kraków and over the border to Bohumin in Czechia, where the carriages for Prague are detached. The rest of the train continues to Ostrava, where the train is split up further; carriages of the Chopin service continue on their way to Vienna and Munich, whilst the EN407 goes to Budapest via Bratislava. However, it's still impossible to buy tickets for these services via the PKP app.
This time last year:
Conscience, consciousness and sensitivity
Little annoyances and optimising one's life
The 13th thirteenth
Perfect weather week in Warsaw
This time six years ago:
Further progress is unimaginable
This time seven years ago:
Baletowa reopens as rail works move on
This time eight years ago:
Polish doctors in UK offer new healthcare model
This time 13 years ago:
The closure of the Góra Kalwaria - Pilawa railway link
This time 15 years ago:
My blazing bus pic gets on front page of Gazeta Stołeczna
This time 16 years ago:
Storm clouds rising
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