More from the Radom line modernisation

Ready for the big track switch next weekend! Below: checking the overhead power line between Sułkowice and Czachówek Południowy - where the newly modernised track meets the previously modernised section.

Below: the new platform 2 is ready - benches, signage, passing loop (track 4) and 'up' line (track 2). I am concerned about a seeming lack of passenger access to Jakubowizna east of the railway - at present it looks like a half-kilometre detour is need to get to the new platform! I guess passengers wanting to go home to their houses in Jakubowizna will rather jump off the platform at the far end, cross the (rarely used) loop line and scramble up the embankment than go the long way round...

The map from Google Earth shows the old path from the platform to Jakubowizna (in yellow, just short of 130m) and the way that passengers returning home to Jakubowizna are expected to go while the works progress (in red, 530m, an extra 400m, or additional five minutes walking time each way).

It will soon be farewell to the old platform (below), built in 1934 (half of it has already gone). In its place will be the new 'down' line, and where the old 'down' line is (to right of frame), the new platform will arise. Note the ballast stockpile to the far right - this has shrunk considerably; the rest will go when the second track is modernised.

The new timetable comes into force on 20 October. But the promise that one track to Radom will be modernised by then, cutting the journey time by over an hour, has come to nought. An earlier version of the new time table showed that the 22:21 service from W-wa Wschodnia that calls at W-wa Jeziorki at 23:00 will arrive in Radom, as it currently does, at 01:50, with that replacement bus service from Warka still doing its bit. Three and half hours, then, to cover the 110km from W-wa Wschodnia to Radom. Seven hours there and back, for those unfortunate enough to have commute each day.

Below: an older (optimistic) version of the new timetable (posted at W-wa Jeziorki)...

Below: the version of the new timetable posted at Chynów shows the service terminating at Radom at the same time as the old one - ten to two in the morning.

 

Below: savouring the mellowness of a bright, warm, autumn day - Jakubowizna, just down the road from my działka.

Below: the road between Wola Wągrodzka and Chosna. Gorgeous weather for October, the high today was 22C.

This time three years ago:
Gliwice, much nicer than I'd expected

This time six years ago:
Poland does poorly in Global AgeWatch ranking

This time seven years ago:

Warsaw, early autumn - a photo miscellany

This time eight years ago:

The genius of Donald Tusk 

This time nine years ago:

Eighteen die in minibus crash

Warsaw-Wrocław-Warsaw-Kielce-Warsaw

A very busy week with two separate business trips - one to Wrocław (Weds-Thurs) and a day out to Kielce (Fri). Wednesday was a flurry of activity from daybreak - meeting after meeting before catching a Dart train to Wrocław. Late lunch. Again I want to try the new smoked tofu and bulgur wheat salad from the Wars in 'bar car number three'. Again, nie ma. So I have schabowy with kapusta zasmażana and boiled spuds. Tradition trumps novelty.

Below: reflection of an inversion, Wrocław Głowny station.

Below: Wrocław's famous Most Tumski bridge (the one with the lovers' padlocks weighing it down) is undergoing remont. If you're approaching it from Ostrów Tumski, there's signage informing you of this fact and rerouting you. But if you approach the bridge from Bulwar Wyszyńskiego or from ul. Najświętszej Marii Panny, or from the riverside footpath from Plac Bema, you will find no such information. No sign at all. Really, really annoying, especially if you're in a hurry.

A historic part of Wrocław that I've never visited before is Wzgórze Partyzantów ('Partisan Heights').  This small park, between Fossa Miejska (town moat) and ul. Piotra Skargi ('Peter Complaint Street') contains a pre-war German monument to the dead soldiers of colonial wars, and an old observatory. Much of it is closed off because of the threat of collapsing old buildings; there's an spine-tingling atmosphere of dread hanging over the place... Below: a wartime bunker/air raid shelter on ul. Nowa.

Back at Wrocław Główny, on the Pendolino back to Warsaw. All goes well until the train passes Lubliniec, then it slows to a crawl. It continues at this pace for a suspiciously long time, then stops. There's an announcement - due to a derailed freight train ahead of us, we have to backtrack and make our way to Częstochowa Stradom a different way (via Kalety) to bypass the blockage. Sadly, it was dark, and I could see nothing outside the train; this would have been an interesting re-route. Anyway, result: the Pendolino arrives in Warsaw over an hour and 15 minutes late. Then home to get ready for Friday's trip.

Friday morning I wake at 04:30, and leave home just after six am to get to Wilanowska to catch the Flixbus to Kielce. FlixBus has taken over the routes that PolskiBus.com created since 2011, revolutionising the Polish long-distance bus market. Souter Holdings Polska, the company behind PolskiBus, remains in Poland as the subcontractor, delivering services for FlixBus.

The best seats are at the front, but these carry reservations; I sat at the front from Warsaw to Radom, where I had to give up my seat to passengers travelling from there towards Kraków and Zakopane.

Below: leaving Warsaw at sunrise, towards the S79 and the expressway south. Al. Wilanowska.

Below: the canyons of Mordor - ul. Marynarska. Nearly fully opened - last tweaks and it'll be a three-lane highway carving through the new-build offices of Warsaw's shared-services district. It reminds me of a newer version of London's A406 North Circular as it winds its way through Stonebridge Park, Wembley, Neasden and Brent Cross

Kielce (below) is not a stand-out, must-visit kind of place. Its population is 187,000; it covers 109 square kilometres. The Warsaw district of Ursynów, in comparison, has 151,000 inhabitants and covers 45 square kilometres.

The main Warsaw-Radom-Kielce-Kraków railway line; looking south from Kielce station.

The FlixBus from Kielce to Warsaw was 35 minutes late arriving from Kraków and arrived in Warsaw 35 minutes late. So one hour and fifty minutes of delay over two days.

Below: back in Jeziorki, photo taken on Wednesday 9 October. Two months earlier, on 8 August, this junction between ul. Karczunkowska and the temporary level crossing was closed for re-asphalting. Traffic was re-routed over the built but famously unopened viaduct for one day only while the work was done. Two months on, the road is every bit as rubbish as it was before the patch-up.

This time five years ago:

Poland gets anglicised as Britain gets polonised

This time six years ago:
Ale, architecture and city politics

This time seven years ago:
The pros and cons of roadside acoustic screens

This time eight years ago:
Moaning about trains again

This time nine years ago:
Warsaw streets - Dolna, Polna, Rolna, Smolna, Wolna. Lost?

This time 11 years ago:
Ditches, landscapes, autumn

This time 12 years ago:
Golden autumn in Łazienki park

Radom line progress and promises

As of 20 October, the new 'up' line between Czachówek Południowy and Warka will begin to function, taking trains in both directions over the new track. Passengers will be able to use the new platform at Warka and the five intermediate stations, including Chynów. The newly built bridge over the river Pilica, standing next to the old one, will be opened to rail traffic; the old one will be dismantled and replaced by a second new bridge. Work on the line between Warka and Radom 
continues.

Here are some photos from Chynów, showing how the work is progressing. It's been one year and one month since it began, so some slight delay. The halfway point should have been reached a few weeks back. Still, the crews were at it all Saturday and knocked off work at 5pm on Sunday.

Below: two works trains just north of Chynów; the overhead power lines are in place and have been checked; photo taken just after the crew left on Sunday evening.

Below: Saturday evening, around half past five, a Warsaw-bound train passes overhead line inspection crew still hard at work.

Below: Saturday lunchtime, more engineering trains working along the new track. Looking north up toward Sułkowice from Chynów.

The remaining half-platforms that have served the old 'down' track in both directions will be dismantled; new platforms built on the other side of the new track that will soon be laid. New lighting, benches and signage will be installed. The new platforms will be higher, so it will be easier to step into and off the trains. A level, non-slip surface with guidance paths for the visually impaired is the new standard. Access to the stations will be wheelchair-friendly, and shelters are also planned.

Passengers will be able to use the new platforms from 20 October. By then, the trains will be running on the new track. In the next phase, work will focus on the second ('down') track, where new platforms will be built. Below: the north end of the new platform at Chynów station. An underground passage will allow passengers to get to the platforms without having to step over rails.

The modernisation of the line between Czachówek and Warka, worth 216m złotys, is 85% co-financed by the EU and will be completed in the middle of 2020.

A new 200-metre long railway bridge was built over the Pilica River. For its construction 185 tons of steel and 750 tons of concrete were used. Now the building is being painted and the pillars are being strengthened. Preparations for laying the track are underway. The new structure will weigh 2400 tons. The demolition of the second old structure will be completed by the end of September. The railway crossing over the Pilica River after the modernisation will be double-track. The new three-span structures will be adapted to the passage of heavier trains travelling at up to 160 km/h.

On the 40km section between Warka and Radom, the entire overhead power line has been removed. The traction poles and foundations are being dismantled. In Dobieszyn, Strzyżyna, Grabów nad Pilicą and Kruszyna, demolition of old platforms has started and the old track bed is being removed. Between Strzyżyna and Radom the track is being additionally strengthened.

The value of the Warka-Radom modernisation is 429m złotys, again co-financed by the EU. The works are planned to be completed in the middle of 2021. Once complete, the fastest trains will travel at 160 km/h, passengers will be using more accessible and comfortable platforms; new level crossings and traffic control equipment will ensure greater safety.

Below: Jabłkowizna - the apples that no one is bothering to pick - the 'wild orchards'. The commercial ones have mostly been harvested by now.

Bonus shots, having come into town on the early evening train from Chynów, arriving in Śródmieście after dusk. Below: Warsaw skyline, from the train, with the railway museum, the new Warszawa Główny station taking shape in the foreground, and the reflection of the conductor selling a ticket.

Below: looking west from Śródmieście, Varso tower up to the 25th floor - about halfway up to its intended height.

This time last year:
A short essay on economic patriotism

This time two years ago:
Things pass, things go, things remain the same

This time three years ago:
Feels like the U.S.A. again

This time four years ago:
In search of Wałbrzych's Gold Train

This time six years ago:
Warsaw's craft ale revolution kicks off

This time eight years ago:
Poland's president inaugurates Moni's academic year 

This time ten years ago:
Autumn evening, central Warsaw

This time 11 years ago:
Short-term future of suburban development

This time 12 years ago:
"You'll look funny when you're fifty"

It's that day of the year again...

Another birthday in that nondescript period between the Big Six-Oh and retirement age. In the UK now 66 for men, so I become eligible for my state pension on 4 October 2023. This is currently £168.60 a week (at the current exchange rate, 3,550 złotys a month). A weak pound = a poorer future for me. Anyway, that's another issue.

I find it hard to consider myself 'old' having a father who's 34 years and 6 months older than me. My self-awareness is far from considering myself old or even late middle-aged. Unless I catch a glimpse of myself in a reflective surface, internally I remain the same consciousness that I've always been, albeit with the capacity for more sophisticated thought.

Health is a huge asset; mental health and spiritual contentment even more so. Maintaining these takes effort, making sacrifices that impinge on comfort and convenience - good diet, plenty of exercise, avoiding cognitive dissonance in my thinking. And monitoring my health.

For the past three years, I've been taking blood pressure readings regularly; this morning's average of three readings was 117/79. That's still in the 'desired' bracket, it's not even 'high normal'. And this is without any pills.

Desired

90–119

60–79

Exercise is also important. This morning I celebrated my 62nd birthday with 62 press-ups (I was unable to do 54 press-ups on my 54th birthday). There's more walking than ever before, with a daily average of over 12,000 paces a day every day this year (as of the end of September). However, I'm forced to reduce doing pull-ups; this time last year I could do 15 in one go. Since the spring, overdoing the pull-ups (chin up to the bar) began resulting in a nagging pain or dull ache in the left elbow, which stopped when I ceased this exercise for a few days. Restarting it would lead to the pain returning... This, I guess is how it will be going forward...

The change from September into October does bring about the blues - the days are darker, clear skies are rarer, and we're in the dark side of the year for another six months before that magic of spring bursts back into life. I long for April. But during the dark side of the year, all that introspection leads to more creativity, more original thinking, more new observations, that hopefully should make their way to this blog. 

Below: birthday present from my brother, a classic late 1950s Revel 1/62nd-scale plastic kit of a grain elevator (I love those odd scales that Revel would use back then to ensure the kits would fit into standard-sized boxes!)

A big thank-you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes, online and otherwise!

This time last year:

Decline and growth

This time two years ago:
Health at 60

This time four years ago:
In search of vectors for migrating consciousness

This time five years ago:
Slipping from late summer to early autumn

This time six years ago:
Turning 56

This time seven years ago: 
Turning 55 

This time eight years ago:
Turning 54

This time nine years ago:
Turning 53

This time 12 years ago:
Turning 50

Parliamentary train at West Ealing

Have you ever heard of 'parliamentary trains'? This definition from Wikipedia: "A parliamentary train is a passenger service operated in the UK to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act required that at least one such service per day be run on every railway route in the UK. No longer a legal requirement, the term currently describes services that continue to be run to avoid the cost of formal closure of a route or station but are often reduced to just one train per week."

Since last December, one such parliamentary train has been running from West Ealing to High Wycombe, once a day during weekdays. Leaving West Ealing at 11:47, it is not an overcrowded service, particularly given that it is not advertised anywhere. Indeed, searching Trainline, you will be directed from West Ealing to Paddington, round the Circle Line to Marylebone, and on from there to High Wycombe for £18.80, journey time between one hour 15 mins and one and half hours. The direct train from West Ealing to High Wycombe takes just 38 minutes and is not shown on Trainline. But how much does this cost? One to work out with the guard... The train runs to High Wycombe with a stop at South Ruislip to change crews, but passengers cannot alight there.

Below: a strange sight befell me as I strolled down the platform to await my TfL Rail train to Heathrow. It's a Chiltern Rail train! Goodness - what's it doing here?

And then I remembered that in December the parliamentary (or 'ghost') train running from Paddington to High Wycombe had to be rerouted to start from West Ealing because of engineering works at Old Oak Common (to do with HS2). Chiltern Rail trains normally run in and out of Marylebone; this 'ghost train' is used to keep the line between Paddington and South Ruislip open to trains from that operator.

Below: three operators' trains at West Ealing; from the left, the TfL Rail service from Heathrow to Paddington; the Great West Railways shuttle service from Greenford to West Ealing, and the Chiltern Rail ghost train. TfL Rail's web page for West Ealing mentions GWR and acknowledges the presence of Chiltern at the station, but won't show you any timetables.

Below: bonus shot. I changed trains at Hayes & Harlington, where my off-peak TfL Rail train terminated. While I waited for the Heathrow train, I could see in the distance a Class 37 diesel loco hauling a rake of what looked like passenger coaches. "An enthusiasts' special," I thought at first. But no  - this was a Great Northern electrical multiple unit that looked like it had broken down and was being loco-hauled on its way to the repair sheds.

This time last year:
Progress in Jakubowizna

This time two years ago:
Miedzianka by Filip Springer

This time four years ago:
Out of the third, into the fourth

This time five years ago:
Inverted reflections

This time six years ago:
Observations from London's WC1
and Observations from the City of London

This time seven years ago:
Civilising Jeziorki's wetlands

This time eight years ago:
Warsaw's Aleje Jerozolimskie

This time nine years ago:
Melancholy autumn mood in Łazienki

This time 11 years ago:
Autumn gold, Zamienie

This time 12 years ago:
Flamenco Sketches - Seville

A Change in the Weather

Whenever I'm thinking about the weather, I get drawn into thinking about the climate, and how its changing, whether the change will accelerate or slow down, whether our actions can hold back a process that threatens mankind.

"A terrible signal
Too weak to even recognize"
...
"A change in the weather"

[Talking Heads, The Overload, from the 1980 album, Remain in Light]

Freak weather events - even non-threatening ones - are happening more often. My last few posts were the result of a five-day-long spell of cloudless skies over London - spiritually uplifting, gorgeous days that boosted my well-being. Since then, unsettled weather has been punctuated by frequent cloudbursts of torrential rain. Below: caught by a downpour near St Paul's.

On Tuesday afternoon, sitting outside a pub in the City, rain fell so hard and so quickly, that water rushed down the steps into the basement, flooding the floor and short-circuiting the electrics. The beer pumps and cash tills didn't work so we had to go to another pub once the rains eased. Yesterday, returning from Pitshanger Lane with our fish-and-chip supper, I was caught in a similar deluge. Rain of such ferocity that I was soaked to the skin after a ten-minute-run home despite wearing a 'waterproof' jacket. The inside of my Samsonite rucksack became damp as were the fish and chips stored within.

Hotter oceans mean more energy stored in the waters, greater evaporation of water vapour stored in clouds, heavier rainfalls. It's just that simple.

Not usual September weather for London - certainly not weather like I remember from my childhood or my youth.

Climate change is happening. It's my duty here to nudge my readers - drive less, fly less, source locally, turn down the thermostat, buy less - think about what you're doing through the prism of the earth's ecosystem.

I am all in favour of Greta Thunberg and the whole movement to take urgent action to halt climate change. I do, however, worry about the extreme end of this movement which talks of 'climate reparations' and 'climate justice' - the latter slogan a throwback to the 'class justice' of the Russian Revolution. Getting it right is all down to us - seven billion people making more educated decisions - and to our governments, which can take more decisive action at the macro level.

In a dystopian future, I can see an autarkic England in a civil war between 'green Brexiteers' and 'brown Brexiteers' - the former seizing the chance to impose a ruthless environmental agenda on a sealed-off island economy, the latter denying any climate change and wanting the right to hang on to their increasingly elderly foreign-made SUVs and to continue driving them wherever they want, however they want.

"Excuse me Sir, we're from the Department for Exiting the EU. I see you have an Audi Q8 parked on the drive outside your mansion. This is in direct contravention of Article 22 of the Foreign-Made Vehicle (Climate Protection) Act of 2029. Your car will be taken to a scrapyard for recycling, you are under arrest and will held in custody until your trial - the maximum punishment should you be found guilty will be five years in prison and a £5 million fine."

This time last year:
Zamek Topacz classic car museum

This time four years ago:
Curry comes to Jeziorki
[didn't stay long - but then not a good one]

This time five years ago:
Why we should all try to use less gas

This time six years ago:
Polish supermarket chain advertises on London buses

This time 11 years ago:
Well-shot pheasants

Sublime September sun

Obviously I'm not a golfer. But I do appreciate the aesthetics of golf's spirit of place, that man-made contrivance of tees, fairways, water hazards, bunkers and putting greens, perfectly maintained lawns and the play between shade and light. And all the more so when the sky above puts one in mind of a Palm Springs country club. But here I am, on the banks of the River Brent, the border between Perivale up there to the north and Ealing, here, to the south.

This is Ealing Golf Club, looking distinctively unEalingy under crystalline blue skies.

Bordered to the south and east by Pitshanger Park and the River Brent, to the north by Perivale Lane and the A40, and to the west by playing fields and allotments, Ealing Golf Club has an 18-hole course opened in 1898. A footpath between Perivale Lane and Pitshanger Park cuts across it. Another footpath branches off and forms the western boundary of the golf course. The photos left and below were both taken from these footpaths.

Below: south of the Brent, in Pitshanger Park, the golf course is to the left, through the trees and across the river. Running twins or double exposure?

Another oft-taken photo, St Mary's Church, Perivale in the sun under a cloudless sky. Behind the church, the golf club buildings.

The church itself dates back to 1135. Today, the footpath that cuts across the golf course was full of runners, walkers and cyclists, making the most of the last day of summery heat. Maximum temperature today was 25C. Tomorrow, for the first time in a week, it will rain heavily.


This time two years ago:
Stepping up the pace

This time last year:
Evolution of human consciousness

This time two years ago:
Farewell to Ciocia Jadzia

This time three years ago:
By train from to Konstancin and Siekierki

This time four years ago:
Summer's end, Jeziorki

This time six years ago:
Ząbowska, Praga's newly-hip thoroughfare

This time nine years ago:
Catching the klimat

This time ten years ago:
Road to Łuków - a road trip into the sublime

Suburban sunshine

The fourth day of unbroken blue skies over London - at this time of year, a phenomenon that lifts the spirits to exalted heights. Below: Highview Road; note the 20mph/30kmh speed limit - as much about emissions as road safety, and the rowan berries (jarzębina) on the tree to the left.

Below: Highview Road. My father pushed his wheelchair all the way home from Lidl in Hanwell, a distance of 1.5 miles/2.5km, without a break, an amazing feat for a 96 year-old man.

Below: junction of Drayton Bridge Road and Cavendish Avenue. Note the zebra crossing - zigzag approach markings, Belisha beacons and barriers to stop children from dashing out of the park into the roadway. And this is a 20mph zone.

Below: another zebra crossing; the junction of Church Road and Greenford Avenue. Pedestrian fatalities in road accidents in 2017: UK 470. Poland 861. Per million: UK 7, Poland 23. More than three times more pedestrians killed per million in Poland than in the UK.

To the right of this frame once stood the legendary Park Hotel, a large Victorian pub with dance floor. Demolished to make way for flats.

Left: Where Church Road, just north of the railway viaduct. A traditional shop front of an upholsterer's business.

Below: Hanwell Methodist church, one of three churches within 150m of each other.

Below: quintessential Ealing; the bottom of Barnfield Road where it meets Meadvale Avenue.

This time six years ago:
The cat that came back

This time seven years ago:
Farewell to the summer pavement tables

This time eight years ago:
The Old Sailor's Tale - a short story