Post-Lent local infrastructure catch-up

Two very welcome pieces of infrastructure work were being laid down at the tail-end of last year; activity paused as the snow fell, and after nearly two months when not a hand's turn was done, the crews have returned.

First up the pavement linking the level crossing north of Chynów station to the station itself, and continuing south all the way parallel to the railway line to the level crossing south of the station. And then there's the asphalting of the road between Machcin II and Gaj Żelechowski.

Starting with the pavement. Just over a kilometre long, this will bring huge relief to pedestrians who will be able to walk safely from the southern end of Chynów to the station. Decent pavements, with a proper kerb to keep cars off them, lower pedestrian anxiety, especially at night. I also hope that some train passengers who currently drive to the station might take it upon themselves to walk instead, getting some healthy exercise and reducing local traffic. Parking provision (which is plentiful!) will be upgraded so that drivers don't have to park in puddles when it rains. But access to the car park be provided from the southern end of the 'down' platform, or will drivers have to walk up to a quarter of a kilometre around the station building to reach their cars? 

Below: state of work after Easter. Everything, like every thing, from the station to the level crossing, with the exception of the empty station-master's house, has been levelled with the ground, including (sadly) the farmyard in which the station masters would keep livestock and farm implements. The pavement awaits pavestones (what's kostka brukowa in English anyone!?!), note the parking bay to the left. What will happen to the station-master's house? One can only hope it will be converted into a tandoori restaurant, bar and grill, with neon signs visible from the train and from the street. And what will happen to the 6,000 square metres of empty land? Turned into a nice park with meadow flowers, path and benches? Or allowed to grow wild, subject to periodic pruning? 

I must mention another rail infrastructure project that's being worked on right now, namely the installation of real-time digital passenger information systems at all stations along the line from W-wa Zachodnia towards Piaseczno. This is the Centralny System Dynamicznej Informacji Pasażerskiej ('central dynamic passenger information system'), with 100% of eligible costs being covered by the EU's National Recovery Plan for Poland. Work has to be completed and accounted for by August, so it's full steam ahead! It will be great to see this in action. Warka and Warka Miasto stations already have this system working, and it's really helpful to see when the next train will actually arrive.

On, beyond the far end of Jakubowizna, and the asphalting of the rural track that connects the main road to Gaj Żelechowski and Dąbrowa Duża to the south. This is the latest stretch of unmade road to be surfaced and joined up to the network, following the work completed last April. Below: 860m of roadway has been hardened, flattened, rolled and now just awaits the top coats of asphalt.

From the outside, these may appear to be small projects. But here locally, taken as a whole, along with every other piece of new infrastructure since Poland joined the EU, the improvement to quality of life is vast. Water-treatment plants, street lighting, warehouses for agricultural produce, alongside road and rail infrastructure and private-sector telecoms investments all make life better for everyone.

UPDATE Saturday 11 April. All done.Two days work to lay the asphalt. Beautiful job.

This time 11 years ago:
History's repeating... or is it?

This time 13 years ago:
Sunshine, snow, April

This time 15 years ago:
In vino veritas

This time 16 years ago:
Are we getting more intelligent?

This time 17 years ago:
Lenten recipe No. 6

This time 18 years ago:
Coal trains, Konstancin-Jeziorna

This time 19 years ago:
Jeziorki from the air

Will a motorway roar through Chynów? And if so, when?

The DK50 (Droga Krajowa Nr. 50), Warsaw's de facto southern ring-road, runs from Sochaczew to Mińsk Mazowiecki, crossing the Vistula at Góra Kalwaria. It is the official east-west transit route bypassing Warsaw. Together with the DK60, the northern ring-road, the DK60 forms an orbital route around the capital. But the DK50/60 is a series of local bypasses, typically with one carriageway in each direction, connecting roads that run through villages. A bit like London's North and South Circulars. There are plans to build a proper orbital motorway around Warsaw, with a minimum of two carriageways in each direction. 

This is the AOW (Autostradowa Obwodnica Warszawy), or A50 (motorway-grade sections)/S50 (expressway-grade sections). 

But which route should this new orbital motorway take? 

Now, between the A2 east-west motorway in Sochaczew and the S7 north-south expressway in Grójec, there are four optional routes marked out by Poland's highways agency, GDDKiA (Generalna Dyrekcja Dróg Krajowych i Autostrad). Three variants have been staked out for a long time now, a fourth has come into play. This fourth option assumes a route that will emerge south-east of Grójec and connect with the existing stretch of DK50 between Grójec and Góra Kalwaria. And that the DK50 will be widened to form a stretch of the A50 between those two towns – with no junction in between for Chynów. So Chynów, Sułkowice, Grobice, and other villages strung out along the DK50 will get all the noise and nuisance that building and operating a motorway will entail with none of the benefits. 

So! "Say No! To Option Four!" is the view of the people of Gmina Chynów. But then "Say No! To Options One, Two and Three" are the view of the people of Gmina Tarczyn, Gmina Mszczonów and Gmina Pniewy. One way or another, the motorway will cut through people's lands and orchards and blight their views and their peace; the only question is which people? Us or them?

The people of Tarczyn (pop. 4,500) are clear on this one: they want the motorway to run through the land of the people of Grójec and Chynów. Options 1, 2 and 3 all run to some extent through Gmina Tarczyn, so clearly its citizens want it shoved off to their south. They are already promoting Option 4 on the social media (below). My disagreement is marked in red.

This evening, there was a public meeting held in the village hall in Chynów (pop. 1,100) to discuss this. The hall was full, with maybe 10% of the village's adults present, there was much interest in the topic, and much concern about the fall in local quality of life for those nearest (within 750m) of the motorway. There will be compensation for those living within that distance; my działka is 1,250m from the DK50.

One way or another, the stretch of A50 linking the A2 in Sochaczew to the S7 in Grójec will not be completed until 2032 at the very earliest, and work on extending the A50 eastwards towards the Vistula will not begin until 2035 at the very earliest. Knowing how slow projects proceed, how many missed deadlines along the way, it's likely that the full ring of the A50 will open around 2037-38 or so. However, the decision as to which of the four options will be chosen has to be taken fairly soon. This will affect land values.

To follow the debate online (in Polish), the best source of information and opinion is Skyscraper City, which has sections on every major infrastructure and construction project in Poland. Click here for the OAW A50/S50 thread (from the beginning, in 2019). Back then, building works were foreseen to start in 2026 with completion by 2029, so it's already slipped a lot.

There are no voices calling for the project to be scrapped, just a heated debate about where the motorway should (or rather should not) run. On the basis of those who protest the loudest are most likely to be listened to, the NIMBY in my suggests that the people of Chynów lock arms with the people of Grójec (pop. 17,000) and jointly Say No! To Option Four (and indeed Four A). Option Four cuts through the top end of Grójec itself, its edge-of-town shopping centre, and many orchards. Option Four A swings round south, bypassing Grójec, but then ensuring that the A50 has no other path to take than along the current DK50.

All of this is going on against the backdrop of a spirited election for wójt (mayor) of Gmina Chynów, following the unexpected death of Tadeusz Zakrzewski. All of the candidates are against Wariant 4 (option 4); the winner may be decided by which candidate demonstrates the most convincing strategy to ward off the prospect of a motorway running through our land.

This time last year:
The pathetic fallacy – are animals sentient?

This time three years ago:
Sunny Sunday meditations

This time nine years ago:
To Dawidy Bankowe, Łady, Zamienie and back

This time 14 years ago:
Town planning and the Sublime Aesthetic

This time 15 years ago:
On the long road from Zero to One

This time 16 years ago:
Łódź Rising

Big rail news for Chynów

Two stories popped into my social-media feeds today, both concerning local rail travel. The first is about the CPK project, the second about planned station upgrades for Chynów and Sułkowice. I'll start with CPK, the airport part of which I consider unnecessary. Summary: two successive Polish governments have decided to build a brand-new airport southwest of Warsaw (about a third of the way to Łódź). This will be the 'centralny port komunikacyjny' or CPK, linked to the rest of Poland by upgraded roads and high-speed rail. The rail element interests me. The new airport is to be built west of Chynów, and today's news concerns the rail link from Chynów and the Warsaw-Radom line to the airport. 

Below: the chosen variant will not see new lines built, merely the upgrade of existing ones. The junction at Czachówek will take on strategic importance, as trains from Chynów, Warka, Radom and the south will swing west here towards Mszczonów and the new airport, along the Skierniewice-Łuków line (which itself is due for a major upgrade and reinstatement of passenger services along its length). Also worthy is the modernisation and extension to Grójec of the Piaseczno narrow-gauge line, which is intended to be a commuter route from a satellite town neglected by the rail network.

Looking up close at the local plans, I can see that the project will entail significant changes for Chynów, Jakubowizna and Widok. The level crossing in Jakubowizna is slated for closure! It will be replaced (as will the one on ulica Spokojna between Chynów and Krężel stations) by a viaduct, carrying a completely new road that is planned to run between and parallel to ul. Spokojna and ul. Wolska, emerging halfway through the village of Widok. The closure of the level crossing will mean having to walk an extra 250m (plus 250m on the way back) when walking to Chynów. By car, it will mean an extra 3.2km to get to the shops in Chynów. The station itself will see the number of tracks double from three to six. Two new tracks are to be laid to the west of the current line, and one new track is to be laid to the east. The number of platforms will remain the same (two), the 'down' platform will see another edge, the outer two tracks will be for non-stopping expresses to pass unhindered.

So – swings and roundabouts; local inconveniences traded for the ability to travel east-west by train as well as north-south.

The second story concerns Poland's rail infrastructure operator, PKP PLK, announcing a major project to modernise 181 stations (of the total of over 2,500 across all of Poland)... and among them, Chynów and the next one up the line, Sułkowice. Below: the map, from the press release (in Polish, here). Right-click to open in new tab, then click to enlarge for full detail.

The fact that Chynów found itself on this list generated local surprise, given the recent modernisation of the entire Warsaw-Radom line that resulted in a massive improvement in service. However, as one observant local citizen pointed out, despite the new platforms and infrastructure, the actual station building hasn't changed. 

If you're asking me, I think that Chynów station needs three things: a lot more bicycle stands (especially on the east side); electronic display boards to show arrivals and departures and any delays in real time; and asphalt/paving for the car park plus convenient passenger access to it (it's currently just the rough ground left after the demolition of the old goods yard). Below: ample space to park cars, but there are no steps from the far end or the middle of the platform to get to them. Shortly before taking this photo, I saw a man jump the fence to save himself going all the way round the other side of that ochre-coloured building at the far end of the platform. 

Below: on the Jakubowizna (east) side of the station, there are just four bicycle stands. Yesterday afternoon, I counted 17 bicycles there; eight attached to the stands (two to each), the rest chained to the fence or the railings. Rather than chide cyclists for chaining their bikes where they shouldn't be, PKP PLK should just place another ten or so bicycle stands here.

Warka station now has digital indicator screens working on all platforms and in the tunnel that links them, as well as in the station building booking hall/waiting room. Chynów is due to get them soon. This will be a valuable addition in terms of keeping passengers aware of delays in real time.

I walked to Sułkowice to have another look at the station. To my surprise, it actually has a booking hall/waiting room that's still functioning! Open until 4pm, I managed to buy a ticket for the 15:56 service towards Radom, just one stop to Chynów. The ticket cost 2.73 złotys (55p with my 35% seniors' discount). I fished out a five złoty coin, but the ticket lady had no change. So I grubbed about in my wallet until I found a two złoty coin and assorted small change so I could offer the exact amount. What a faff. Normally, I'd always use the Koleje Mazowieckie app, but because the ticket office was open, I thought, why not use it? Below: climbing the steps to the small shelter, there are no obvious signs that there actually is a ticket office here, let alone that it's open...

Below: it most certainly is open and functioning! Old school but absolutely spotless. I wonder how many people actually use it. I often take the train from Sułkowice to Chynów, but wasn't aware that this place still functions. A buffet would be handy here. And in the booking office/waiting room in Chynów too.

Minor gripes aside, it is actually wonderful that the Polish state is investing so heavily in its rail infrastructure. This really is the way forward – not more motorways and airports. However, how long will all this take? September's nearly over and Warsaw West's new underground passage (it was meant to be ready for 1 September) is not yet open. Everything takes ages. I remember that when the Elizabeth Line (or Crossrail as it was originally called) was first announced in 2007, my father joked that he'd not live to see it actually working. How right he was. It opened in May 2022, two and half years after his death. Will I get to see the CPK project completed and working?

UPDATE 27 SEPT: Rynek Kolejowy has an article about how the CPK project will improve rail communication between Warka, Chynów and Grójec.

UPDATE 6 OCT: Rynek Kolejowy has more about the narrow gauge line from Piaseczno to Grójec and presents this image of how the train might look. 

This time two years ago:
Pilgrimage at day's end

This time three years ago:
First steps in cider-making

[Only in odd-numbered years – biennial bearing trees]

This time four years ago
The glories of a sunny day in early autumn

This time nine years ago:

On conservatism

This time 14 years ago:
Heritage or high-rise?

This time 14 years ago:
Shopping notes

This time 15 years ago:
My grandfather

This time 17 years ago:
Surreal twilight, ul.Karczunkowska

This time 18 years ago:
From Warsaw to Seville, via Munich and Madrid

Infrastructure: future of local projects

As 2024 comes to a close, a post about three infrastructure projects that will affect me in coming years. Two are big, the other huge. I'll start with the big one...

I've written many times about the railway line from Skierniewice to Łuków. Built during the Stalinist Six-Year Plan to expedite the dispatch of Red Army forces westwards, bypassing Warsaw, the line today is a major conduit for Chinese container trains. Long due for an upgrade; along many stretches, trains are limited to a top speed of 40km/h due to poor track quality.

A major bottleneck is the bridge over the Vistula at Góra Kalwaria. Built in 1950, it carries a single track. The plan is to double the bridge (as has been done over the Pilica in Warka), and to bring back passenger services to the entire line (currently, passenger trains serve only a short stretch, from Czachówek to Góra Kalwaria). EU funds from the Connecting Europe Facility are available to Poland for upgrading this line, of strategic importance to the entire continent. Plans had been prepared. But there was one drawback – the plans did not envisage a footway/cyclepath alongside the rails, to the annoyance of local people. But infrastructure operator, PKP PLK, has given way to public pressure. It looks like there will have an alternative to using the road bridge, which is 3.5km longer. This is a popular area for cyclists from Warsaw, and a river crossing here will come in handy. And drive trade.

So – assuming no delays in the project (there are always delays to projects), the new dual-track railway bridge is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2028, and this should mean that passenger services east of Góra Kalwaria will recommence. Can I hope one day to catch a train from Chynów to Pilawa?

[source]

The second project, again covered many times on this blog, is the final opening of W-wa Zachodnia (Warsaw West) railway station after its comprehensive modernisation. In particular the underground passage linking the eight platforms of the main part of the station to Platform Nine, which is currently a ten-minute walk away. Optimally, this could be cut to seven, so still a hack. 

But the big questions for everyone coming into Warsaw along the Radom line is whether trains will return to serve central Warsaw, or whether they are condemned in perpetuity to be diverted northward via Platform Nine to Warszawa Gdańska station. I think an ideal compromise will be to send some trains this way and some  trains that way. The earliest we'll know is when the 2026 railway timetables are published.

However, while the railway part of the project, the footbridge and the underground connections, are reaching their conclusion, there's still the new tramlines that need to be laid down before the entire project becomes fully operational. This is scheduled for mid-2026. So for the meanwhile, some of the underground parts of W-wa Zachodnia will remain off limits.

[source]

And finally, the mega-project – Warsaw's southern orbital motorway. There is still no decision as to how the A50 will run. Various plans show its course as somewhere between Piaseczno and Chynów, crossing the S7 around Tarczyn and heading east towards a new Vistula crossing. But there's still the chance that the current DK50, which is just over a kilometre at its nearest point from my działka, might be upgraded to motorway standard, doubled or tripled in width.

On the map below, issued by Poland's national-road infrastructure operator, GDDKiA, we see the grey band around Warsaw's eastern periphery. The black lines are existing roads, the red lines are roads under construction, the blue lines are roads being prepared (ie. advanced planning stages); the grey lines represent vapourware, pipe-dreams, notions of concepts. Now, look at the grey lines between the existing S7 and S17. This looks good to me; but the threat of abandoning that concept and using the course of the DK50 through Grójec and Góra Kalwaria doesn't make me happy.

My inner NIMBY is against this idea. The DK50 is currently taking less east-west transit traffic than had been the case before the A2-S2 was fully opened, with its tunnel under Ursynów and its new bridge over the Vistula, but even so, on days when the wind's from the north, traffic noise can be annoying.

At this stage, we don't know (nothing more than this report from Raport Warszawski). Fingers crossed.

This time five years ago:
West Ealing by night 

This time eight years ago:
Smog starts getting to be a big problem for Warsaw

This time nine years ago:
Snow in December: A memory or figment of my imagination?

This 11 years ago:
A muddy walk along ul. Karczunkowska

This 12 years ago:
Ul. Trombity - a step closer to dry feet?

This time 13 years ago:
Matters of style

This time 15 years ago:
Real winter hits Warsaw

This time 16 years ago:
This is not Mazowsze, no?

New bridge over the Czarna river

Not much new has appeared infrastructure-wise this year around Chynów; some fresh asphalt appeared around Dąbrowa Duża and Machcin, and there's a footpath between Chynów station and the village of Widok. The biggest project of 2023 around the gmina was the replacement of the road bridge over the Czarna river between Sułkowice and Ławki, south of Gabryelin. For much of the spring and summer, detours were in place, causing much local inconvenience. Although the new bridge was open to traffic earlier this autumn, something I could see from the train, today marked my first visit there on foot to record it.

Below: here it is, with the railway line beyond (between Sułkowice and Czachówek Południowy). Note the steps down to the the river level.

Below: from the river bank. Note the coppiced willow on the other side, so characteristic of Mazovia.

Below: looking south from the bridge towards Sułkowice station (just about visible in the far distance). The river level is high; will it freeze solid this winter? Traipsing out over the ice opens new perspectives, but it must be done with care - a deep frost for a week usually is sufficient. I would very much like to explore the wetlands on the other side of the railway line - but only if the ice is thick enough.

Looking at the bridge from the north as a tractor passes over it - local farm traffic, what this bridge was intended for.

Below: coming off the bridge, heading east towards the road to Sułkowice. New asphalt, at least on this side of the river. I suspect the roadworks across on the other side will mean some time next spring some more connectivity for local traffic, which at the moment is condemned to dirt tracks.

Left: ulica Południowa (lit. 'South Street'), though this is not (yet) actually Ławki, which begins across the river at a point where the borders of three gminy (municipalities) touch - Chynów, Góra Kalwaria and Prażmów. 

Ławki literally means 'little benches'. More about this area, and the old bridge, from February, here.

It's small-scale infrastructure projects such as this, which year after year after year improve the quality of rural life across Poland, connecting communities, making life easier. The alternative - decay and resignation, Russian style.

This time last year:
The Long Review of 2022 - Pt. III

This time two years ago:
The Person Who Contemplates Not.

This time five years ago:
2018 - a year in journeys

This time 11 years ago:
Wise words about motoring

This time 12 years ago:
Hurry up and wait with WizzAir at Luton

Progress at Warsaw West station

Passing through W-wa Zachodnia (Warsaw West station) on my way to the office yesterday, I decided out of curiosity to jump off my train and have a look at how things were looking. The first of the three new long-distance platforms has been opened to passengers - and to trains. A reminder - this used to be Poland's worst railway station.

Below: there's to be a full-span footbridge as well as a tunnel said to measure 60m in width in which a new tram line will run.. From the footbridge there will be ramps and stairs down to platform level.

 

Platforms old and new: here's Platform 5, overshadowed by the roof of the new platforms (6 and 7)

Looking down on Platform 6, with both tracks open to passengers. Still a vast amount of work ahead of the builders, but much has been accomplished in a relatively (for the public sector) short time.

Below: looking across at Platforms 7 and 6. Right in the very distance (click to enlarge), there's a WKD [suburban] train standing at Platform 1.

The new footbridge connecting all eight platforms, the districts of Wola to the west and Ochota to the east curves away beyond the station. Reminds me a bit of the taxi ramp at Paddington station! This is the Wola side. No rails yet alongside Platform 7. Will the station be ready by the end of this year?

Below: the footbridge currently only extends as far as Platform 5. To the right, the train to Berlin, which was meant to have pulled onto Track 2, Platform 6; shortly before its arrival, an announcement came over the public address system in Polish, then English, that the train would be arriving at Track 4, Platform 5. At first, a small rush; most people just stayed on Platform 6. Then a stampede as the bulk of the Berlin-bound passengers caught wind of the change. The Berlin train waited until it was clear that everyone who needed to catch it was on board.

This might be an opportunity to re-number the platforms and tracks as normal (UK practice) - with each platform edge having its own platform number. The current numeration in Poland is crazy, and at stations such as W-wa Zachodnia or Poznań Główny or Lublin, the practice is infuriating to passing passengers. Reminder: it goes like this: 

Platform (Peron) 1 (WKD suburban trains only)

Track (Tor) 1, track 2

Platform 2

Track 20, track 22 (with me so far?)

Platform 3

Track 23, track 21

Platform 4

Track 8, track 25 (this is where it gets complicated)

Platform 5

Track 4, track 6

Platform 6

Track 1, track 2

Platform 7

Track 5, track 3 (Logical?)

And then there's Warsaw West's Platform 8, but that's in another place altogether.

This time three years ago:
From West London to South Warsaw

This time six years ago:
Anger and hate have no place in political discourse
[Blimey! How times have changed.]

This time eight years ago:
Is Conservatism rural or urban in nature?

This time nine years ago:
Poland's roads get slightly less deadly

This time ten years ago:
It's expensive being rich in Warsaw 

This time 12 years:
Winter commuting in colour and black & white

This time 13 years ago:
Zamienie in winter

This time 14 years ago:
Really cold (-12C at night)

S2 opens, unblocking east-west transit through Warsaw

I finally got round to it today - a very long (19,000 paces!) stroll from home to the western portal of the S2 tunnel, which was opened on Monday 20 December. 

Story so far - the A2 motorway/S2 expressway, which form the Polish part of European Route E30 (Cork to Omsk), got as far as Warsaw in 2012 (in time for that year's European football championships). Since then, transcontinental traffic heading east would get as far as this junction with ulica Puławska (below), and would then solidify into one huge constipated jam made up of local, regional, national and international traffic on Dolina Służewiecka. Now, over 11 years after the A2/S2 reached Warsaw, the route finally gets to cut through to the other side, via a 2.3km-long tunnel diving under the southern suburb of Ursynów. [The sign above the slip-road states that traffic over 16 tonnes is prohibited from using the S2 between 7-10am and 4-8pm. Much transit traffic will continue to use the DK50, but anyone who can will rather use the S2 - it's  27km shorter.]

For about two and half kilometres, the S2 runs parallel to a single-track railway line, the umbilical cord linking Warsaw's Metro system with the outside world. Rarely used these days (new Metro rolling stock now gets delivered by road!), the rails themselves are lightly coated with rust, suggesting the infrequent passage of a maintenance draisine. Below: looking west towards ul. Puławska, the slip-road joins the S2 to the right. The acoustic screens are effective - the roar of Puławska way behind me is louder than the traffic on the other side of the screen.

Below: looking towards the western portal of the tunnel. It dives down beneath the Metro, building the tunnel with minimal disruption to the Metro service was quite a feat of engineering! The sign says that average speed is being measured; cameras automatically capture each vehicle as it drives in and drives out of the tunnel and work out its average speed. You have been warned. 

Below: going underground. Above the tunnel, there has been much structural change to the fabric, the look-and-feel of Ursynów. I found it difficult to get my bearings along ul. Płaskowickiej, a street which I once knew intimately from morning runs to my children's primary school. 

I chose to return through the Las Kabacki forest. The Metro's rail link at this point, at twilight, takes on a very specific, eerie air. It is as if I have entered Tarkovsky's зона from Stalker by night...

Some subtle Photoshoppery going on here... That glow in the distance is from the Metro maintenance depot, but it feels like could be an atomic weapons manufacturing facility in the Urals...

On the way home I take the long way around to take a stroll over the ice on the pond on ul Pozytywki before it melts. The sign prohibits angling and littering, but there's plenty of evidence of ice-skating going on. Absolutely rock-solid ice - and you can see the high level of water in the pond this year. I like the horizon on this photo, the wires, lights and foggy sky.

Below: looking at ul. Pozytywki from the middle of the pond; a strong 1950s USA vibe. "Approaching the country club in midwinter."

I'd like to share two particularly atmospheric digital works from my brother; the one below is based on my recent photo of the new roundabout by the S7 extension viaduct - Cold fronts, Atlantic depressions and winter storms.

Below: the National Air Traffic Control radar installation, Claxby, Lincolnshire.

This time last year:
The first year of Covid-19

This time two years ago:
Last night in Ealing, twenty-teens
[A strangely prophetic post, suitably dream-like in quality]

This time three years ago:
The Day the World Didn't End
[The world's gone more shit-shaped than I dared predict]

This time six years ago:
Hybrid driving - the verdict

This time eight years ago:
Pitshanger Lane in the sun

This time 12 years ago:
Miserable, grey, wet London

This time 12 years ago:
Parrots in Ealing

This time 13 years ago:
Heathrow to Okęcie

Opening of Węzeł Zamienie gets ever closer

It's been 22 months since work began on the S7 extension as it ploughs through the fields west of Jeziorki. It has changed the character of this quiet corner on Warsaw's southern edge.

Below: bus stop at the edge of town - just beyond the pedestrian crossing. This will serve the 715 and 809 bus routes which currently stop in Zamienie just outside the Action warehouse. Once the new viaducts are open, those two bus stops (Zamienie 01 and -02) will be liquidated, leaving Zamienie without any bus stops. Passengers will either have to use the ones to the west of the new road viaduct (Starzyńskiego 01 and -02), over half a kilometre to the north in Dawidy Bankowe, or these bus stops, located in Jeziorki, also over half a kilometre away to the east. It'll be interesting to see whether the new bus stops are named 'Zgorzała 01 and -02', despite not actually being in Zgorzała. The current temporary pair, around the corner on ul. Karczunkowska, are named Zgorzała 51 and -52 (the '5' prefix signifies a temporary stop). Both are actually in Warsaw, within Zone 1.

Below: the pavement along the S7 extension's eastern service road now stretches past the roundabout and viaduct all the way to Dawidy. It will be possible to walk there - but not to Dawidy Bankowe across the viaduct as it has no pavement for pedestrians. The building to the left is the office and social facilities of the Obwód Utrzymania Drogi "Zamienie" (OUD = highway maintenance depot). I guess this place will have a 24-hour canteen for the road workers - I just wonder whether it will be open to the general public (this is quite usual in Poland, especially where the catering is outsourced). It would be great to be able to pop in for a bowl of żurek and plate of pierogi at half past midnight. 

"Welcome to Warsaw where the local time is twenty to three in the afternoon and the temperature is two degrees Celsius. The speed limit is 50km/h and there is to be no overtaking on this stretch of road."

Below: looking south towards Zgorzała from the eastern end of the new road viaduct. The lane markings are in place as are the road signs - can't be long until it's all opened. The reverse view of the photo above (note the OUD buildings now to the right).

Below: looking across the viaduct towards Dawidy Bankowe. I love the look of fresh asphalt, still black with newness, virginal-white lane markings, unused by traffic.

Let me take another look. Note lack of pavement. Pedestrians are not meant to be crossing here. If you want to walk from Jeziorki to Dawidy Bankowe, you are supposed to do so via Zamienie.

Below: the brudasi are at it already, even before the service road is open. Most probably the same brudas that dumped plastic and other non-metal car parts by the railway line (in the distance) over the summer; I guess it's a car recycling plant that makes its money on steel for whom plastic needs to be disposed of at the lowest cost. Time to bring back the stocks and the lash. Happy to administer.

Below: a 715 heads towards the Park & Ride on Al. Krakowskie. Hybrid buses serve this route; I like how quietly they pull away from stops.  To the left, temporary bus stop Zgorzała 51, not actually in Zgorzała. This is the border between Zone 1 (within the boundaries of the City of Warsaw) and Zone 2 (the outer suburbs).

Below: hauling back a rake of empty coal wagons, a 'Gagar' (Soviet-built M62 diesel loco) passes W-wa Jeziorki station on its way back to the sidings at Okęcie. In the livery of private-sector operator, Orion Kolej.

This time two years ago:
South of the river, London Bridge way

This time three years ago:
Brexit going nowhere

This time five years ago:
News from Nowa Iwiczna

This time six years ago:
Modern governance for a complex world (prescient post!)

This time seven years ago:
Contagion - CEE's foreign-exchange markets 

This time eight years ago:
Muddy Karczunkowska

This time ten years ago:
Ul. Trombity - a step closer to dry feet?

This time 11 years ago:
Matters of style

This time 12 years ago:
Real winter hits Warsaw

This time 13 years ago:
This is not Mazowsze, no?

Pavement comes to Jakubowizna (...but not to Jeziorki)

It was back in May that pallets of paving stones and kerbstones were left along the side of the main street running through Jakubowizna. I wondered when work would start to actually lay them. It was to be nearly four months on. Such is the rate of inflation in building materials that had the contractor who won the tender to lay Jakubowizna's pavement not bought the stones when he did, their new price would have bankrupted him. After four months, some of the pallets had been unwrapped and some paving stones stolen; other pallets had been hit by passing traffic. A propos of building materials inflation, a neighbour told me that he had to put the re-roofing of his house on hold after the price of the roof tiles he had chosen had gone up from 80 to 130zł a square metre.

Anyway, at last they're getting on with it. Below: from outside the Jakubowizna entrance to Chynów station, looking east along the road to Machcin and Rososz. The crew has knocked off for the evening, parking diggers and dumpers in the courtyards of farmhouses happy for the extra revenue.

This EU-funded project will make walking through Jakubowizna safer and more comfortable. It is ironic that here, where traffic is sparse and locals take care not to mow down their neighbours in acts of mindless piracy there is a pavement, whilst in Jeziorki - part of the capital city of Warsaw - a main road along which strangers race their cars and vans with scant regard for speed limits still has no pavement.

Below: farther on up the road. The work is being undertaken thoroughly, with due care taken to health & safety of pedestrians. The total length of pavement is nearly 1.4km. Note the brick shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary on the right-hand side of the road.

As of today, about one third of the length of the village has been paved. Below: beyond this point, the kerb has been laid, but the pavement is still to come. There will be still be plenty of tidying up to do. An interesting fact about Jakubowizna is that it lacks a single shop, a single café or bar, despite its length. Widok, the next village south to Jakubowizna has two shops, yet there's no direct road or even official footpath between the two. Note the drainage ditch running along the south side of the road.

UPDATE: 27 September - since these pictures were taken two weeks ago - exactly nothing more has happened. The crew, the plant, has all gone. I wonder how long it will be before they're back?

This time last year:

My local craft brewery

This time 11 years ago:
Time to change gear.

This time 12 years ago:

Spidery autumn

This time 13 years ago:
Early, cold start to autumn

Karczunkowska opened for traffic - but not for pedestrians

While I was in London, a long-awaited event occurred in Jeziorki - the opening to vehicular traffic of the viaduct carrying ulica Karczunkowska over the Warsaw-Radom railway line. This happened (thanks Bartek!) on 15 November - nearly three years and three months after the level crossing it replaces was finally closed.

But while cars and trucks can use the new piece of infrastructure to cross from one side to the other, pedestrians can't. Barriers have been erected on both footpaths on both side of the viaduct, and at the top and the bottom of all four sets of steps down to platform level. I can only guess that this is while the level-access lifts are installed, checked and signed off. In the meanwhile, pedestrians have to cross a live railway line - something that rail infrastructure operator PKP PLK says is dangerous.

Below: on the other side of the viaduct the same story - note the sign telling pedestrians to cross on the other side. Przejście drugą stroną ulicy. Which as you can see above, is also closed. "Pedestrians, piss off!"

Below: the man on the right is partially sighted. He has a stick and is on his way from the temporary bus loop. It is apparently safer for him to cross over three live railway tracks than it is for him to use the pavement upon the viaduct. Note the barriers bolted into the newly laid asphalt. This is to stop cars from using this new stretch of road to get close to the station. Why? Poor planning, lack of thought and joined-up project management. PKP PLK and the city and district road departments are unable to talk to each other. And note the lift in the distance - it's halfway down the shaft. Still not working.

The health and safety of pedestrians is of secondary concern to the contractor. Ahead of me on the pavement towards the station, an excavator is shovelling away, swinging the arm hither and yon. The same is happening on the other side of the road (out of shot). There is no safe way to get to the station.

On the platform. You can see barriers at the top and bottom of each of the two sets of steps on this side of the viaduct. These are fastened securely with cable-ties to stop passengers from using the stairs. To get from one side of the line to the other, there's no alternative but to cross the tracks.

No doubt there will be a few more months of inconvenience for passengers and locals until full pedestrian access to the viaduct is granted. But at least there are plans for this to happen. Unlike the pavement for ul. Karczunkowska, which remains something for which the city of Warsaw and the district of Ursynów have no plans. Below: once down from the armour-plated crash-barrier security of the viaduct, pedestrians step out onto the margin of a field, divided from the roadway by not even a standard raised kerb. This is dangerous.

Below: this week has been mercifully dry, but imagine what this puddle looks like after several days of incessant rain. Pedestrians have no choice but to step out into the roadway. This is dangerous.

Below: under the viaduct, as an evening train departs from W-wa Jeziorki on its way to Piaseczno.

This time last year:
Edinburgh's Polish statues

This time two years ago:
Edinburgh - walking the Water of Leith

This time three years ago:
Poland's north-west frontier

This time four years ago:
Cars must fade from our cities

This time six years ago:
Unnecessary street lighting wastes money
[Would you believe six years later, this is still going on!]

This time nine years ago:
Warsaw's heros on the walls 

This time eight years ago:
Tax dodge or public service? 

This time 10 years ago:
Warsaw's woodlands in autumn

This time 11 years ago:
Still here, the early snow

This time 12 years ago:
Another point of view