PKP progress on platforms (I hope!)

News from Rynek Kolejowy has set Polish rail users chattering on social media – at long last, state-owned rail-infrastructure operator PKP PLK looks like it might be changing the awkward way that Polish station platforms are numbered.

I have written about this many times before; this is one of the remaining absurdities on the Polish rail network, which has improved beyond recognition over the past 15 years. 

The problem is that each platform edge, which in most countries around the world is simply called a 'platform', is identified in Poland by a combination of track (tor) and platform (peron) numbers.

Let's take a simple example; Warszawa Centralna (Warsaw Central station). The current nomenclature is as follows: Tor 7 Peron 1; Tor 5 Peron 1 – Tor 3 Peron 2; Tor 1 Peron 2 – Tor 2 Peron 3; Tor 4 Peron 3, then Tor 6 Peron 4 and finally Tor 8 Peron 4.  When a train is announced, the announcer will say, in English, for example, "The train for Berlin Gesundbrunnen is departing from Track 2 Platform 3" or  "The train for Vilnius is departing from Track 3 Platform 2." It is easy to get confused! In any other country, these eight platform edges would simply be numbered Platforms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. 

The problem is particularly acute at larger stations. It has twice caused me to miss connecting trains at Poznań Główny, for example. Below: Platform 11, Track 58 and Platform 11 Track 56 (where's Track 57?).  Under the proposed system, these would simply become two separately numbered platforms – perhaps Platforms 15 and 16. No more need to remember both a platform as well as a track number!

Left: fragment of printed timetable at Poznań Główny. Next to the departure time is the peron number, with the tor number beneath it. The trouble is that the loudspeaker announcements give the tor number first, followed by the peron number („Pociąg do stacji Wągrowiec odjedzie z toru ósmego przy peronie drugim”). While the printed timetables have gone over to Arabic from Roman numerals for peron numbers in 2024, the online timetable (rozkład-pkp.pl) still uses Roman numerals! (So right now, the local train for Wągrowiec is shown as departing Poznań Główny from IV/12).

Three days ago, PKP PLK announced that after completing the modernisation of Mysłowice station on 25 October, it will be renumbering its three physical platforms serving five tracks as five separately numbered platform edges for passenger-information purposes (below). The trial is scheduled to expand on 13 December to Milówka, Sól, Rajcza, Skarżysko-Kamienna and Środa Wielkopolska stations. A nationwide rollout is not yet confirmed; PKP PLK will evaluate the pilot, including passenger surveys, before deciding whether to extend it.

PKP PLK appears finally to have accepted long-standing suggestions from rail users: the numbering of tracks does not need to be communicated to passengers. Below: classic example of this nonsense. Lublin Główny station. Technical track numbering isn't irrational (someone once explained it to me) – railway workers need to know this for operational purposes. It's simply inappropriate as the primary means of directing passengers.

Below: the absurdity reaches its peak in the Tri-City, where the SKM trains between Gdańsk and Gdynia use tracks 501 and 502. No doubt some railway professional can explain the logic (like, why not 401 and 402 or 201 and 202?) Let's just double-check the platform numbers on our phones as we walk down these steps...

My own local absurdity at Chynów station is the fact that there are two platforms, three platform edges, numbered Tor 4 Peron 2, Tor 2 Peron 2 and Tor 1 Peron 1. Where's Tor 3?

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Polish railways are better than ever, but could still improve. I get on average three emails a week from Koleje Mazowieckie informing me of delays on the Radom line, subject line, Utrudnienia w ruchu pociągów. But then I do get these notifications, so at least there is a system.

I am a firm believer in the aggregation of marginal gains, the philosophy of British Olympic cycling coach, Sir David 'Dave' Brailsford. Introduce an innovation that shaves off a tenth of a second and no one notices. But introduce a hundred innovations, and you've made a potentially race-winning ten-second gain. The same principle applies to Poland's railways. Station signage, passenger information (digital displays and AI-generated loudspeaker announcements), signalling and control systems, new track and new rolling stock have all made travelling by train a far more pleasant experience than in the past. And by introducing logical platform numbering (from the passengers' point of view), another marginal improvement adds to the overall positive experience. And this drives passenger numbers, up 7.7% in 2025 over 2024, which in turn justifies further investment. A virtuous circle.

PKP PLK appears finally to have accepted long-standing suggestions from rail users: the numbering of tracks does not need to be communicated to passengers. Railway workers have good reasons for retaining their own system of track numbering. But what use is that information to someone changing trains, possibly in a hurry, who simply wants to know where to stand? Let the railway engineers keep their track numbers. Passengers just need platform numbers.

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