The pace of progress and improvement of infrastructure continues at pace. It is clear to me why Poland's economy is growing so fast – the nation is getting on with it!
I wrote in late-September about rail-infrastructure operator PKP PLK's Dworce Przyjazne Pasażerom ('passenger-friendly stations') project that would include Chynów station. By late-November, a contract had been signed between the local authority and a general contractor. And earlier this week, work got under way. Super fast! From project announcement to spades in the ground in less than three months! (In the UK this would be dragging on for years, with appeal courts upholding the rights of one householder to block the construction of a pedestrian crossing.)
The scope of work includes: laying down nearly one kilometer of new pavement from ul. Wspólna to ul. Wolska (brilliant!), new asphalt and (I hope) a pavement from the level crossing at Jakubowizna to ul. Wspólna (hurrah!), new parking spaces, including a 'Kiss & Ride' zone next to the station building, cleaning up the area around the railway station – demolishing three disused outbuildings opposite ul. Wspólna, removing the old fence, clearing undergrowth, and generally cleaning up the area between the station and level crossing. The vast number of empty vodka bottles and beer cans suggest that this was a popular hang-out for the local enthusiasts of outdoor drinking.
Below: accommodation for station staff. It still looks inhabited... interesting to see whether it survives the bulldozer, and if so – will it be renovated? And if so, how will it look?
Below: the building in the foreground looks like an agricultural outhouse, in which the stationmaster's family kept livestock and farm equipment to tend the small plot adjoining their house. It was common for Polish stationmasters and other railway employees living in official railway housing to keep livestock. This practice was primarily a necessity for food self-sufficiency, though it faded away in the 1980s and '90s.
The area around the Chynów railway station has been a bit of a mess for years, and the contrast between the new platforms and the parking chaos outside is stark. A lack of parking spaces results in commuters often parking in a way that obstructs access. There's also a lack of sufficient numbers of places to secure bicycles; these end up being tied to fences and handrails. Pedestrians have to put up with the discontinuity of pavements and unpaved access to platforms, which is particularly troublesome – and dangerous – in autumn and winter, what with the unlit road.
Below: the old goods yard forms a huge makeshift car-park, yet it is unasphalted/unpaved, and is currently ankle-deep in mud in many places. And there's no direct access from this car-park to the platforms, other than walking the long way around the station building. There should be a gate for passengers at the southern end of the platform (around the middle of the photo). This would encourage more local motorists to leave their cars here and take the train to town. In the meanwhile, rubble from the demolished outhouses and fencing is collected here prior to removal.
More semi-fast (przyspieszone) trains calling at Chynów would also boost that encouragement. Twenty-three minutes from here to Warsaw Służewiec station? That's amazing. We have four such trains into town in the morning, and four back from town in the evening. But the two semi-fast trains to Warsaw in the afternoon/evening don't stop here.
Currently, around 1,500 people use Chynów station on the average weekday, more than double the 600-700 passengers using it before the modernisation. So the adage "built it, and they will come" is true. Will work to further improve the station environs boost passenger numbers? I hope so...
What more's needed here? A small shop and café. The footfall from passing trade would make this location an attractive one for a local entrepreneur. A restaurant, maybe? But above all, a bus service that meets the trains and connects with Grójec, 18km to the west, stopping at the villages along the way.
But there's a heritage note to all this. The Warsaw-Radom line that passes through Chynów, was built in 1934; though the original platform has gone when the line was modernised, the station building and outbuildings were from the time. The warehouse by the goods siding went long ago, the goods siding itself was lifted in 2020. So some snaps are in order to catalogue what is about to be demolished. The price of progress.
Tomorrow: the 2026 railway timetable, with a sleeper-train focus.
This time last year:
The November/December 2024 UAP flap
This time two years ago:
Impressions of Zielona Góra
Kraków to Jakubowizna in the snow
This time four years ago:
Frustration for the local wozidupek community
This time five years ago:
Small local milestones, Chynów station
[Britain's economy is screwed – that's what]
Kick out against change - or accept it?
This time ten years ago:
Warwick University alumni meet in Warsaw
This time 11 years ago:
Pluses and minuses of PKP InterCity
This time 12 years ago:
When transportation breaks down
This time 17 years ago:
Full moon closest to Earth
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