Railway electrification in Poland is the process aimed at increasing the efficiency of railways and improving the railway services offered by supplying Polish railways with electricity and implementing electric rolling stock, which replaces rolling stock with other drives, mainly conventional diesel traction (in the past it was also steam traction). By the end of the 1970s, thanks to massive electrification and the introduction of a large amount of electric rolling stock into service, it allowed to replace a large number of steam locomotives and older diesel rolling stock. Despite the abandonment of works in the 90s, currently PKP and other entities managing the railway infrastructure, such as PKM or DSDiK, are working on the implementation or are already implementing the electrification of their lines. Currently, the electrification of railways in Poland is aimed at improving rail transport by increasing competitiveness and attractiveness and replacing diesel traction of national importance and saving fuel on regional lines and railways mains such as line 31 from Siedlce to Siemianówka, line 137 from Kędzierzyn-Koźle to Legnica and line 203 from Tczew to Kostrzyn.
The electric railways in Poland are powered by 3 kV DC and the length of electrified lines is over 12,236 km. The share of electric rolling stock in Poland is over 84.3%.
Early electrifications under German rule The first plans for the electrification of railways in Poland appeared before the outbreak of World War I, but works on the electrification of railways in the contemporary Polish lands was started by the Germans starting on August 15, 1897, the construction of an electrified railway line in the city of Wąbrzeźno. The railway line was put into use on April 1, 1898, and it was the first electric railway in Poland, and the line itself was of a suburban nature. In 1914 at Lower Silesia electrifying and opening the railway line from Szczawienka to the Czech Meziměstí on 15 kV AC system. In the same year, the Jugowice - Walim railway line was also opened. In the following years, the number of electrified railway lines in Lower Silesia grew, thanks to which it was possible to run electric trains from Wrocław via Wałbrzych, Jelenia Góra to Węgliniec as well as Zgorzelec and Leśna. Until the 1939, over 391.87 km of railway lines were electrified in Lower Silesia. Further works were suspended due to the outbreak of World War II.
Second Polish Republic
At the request of the Government Commission, professor R. Podoski developed a project for the electrification of railways in Poland, which included the electrification of the Warsaw Junction Kolejowy and the electrification of the Warsaw – Kraków – Katowice, Warsaw – Przemyśl – Lviv lines. In 1921, according to the request of prof. Roman Podoski, a bold decision was made at that time that the electrification would be a modern DC system with a voltage of 3000 V, not widely used at that time. so a small number of them) and allowed for the collection of energy in the form of 3-phase current from existing power plants. In 1926, for financial reasons, there was a standstill in works, in 1928 a detailed schedule of works was adopted for the years 1928 to 1931, providing for the commissioning of the electrified cross-city line in November 1931.
In the years 1925–1927, thanks to the support of English capital, a line managed by the carrier from Warsaw to Grodzisk Mazowiecki was built on the basis of a concession for a section from Warsaw to Żyrardów, issued to industrialists from Łódź, who - interested in the project - relinquished it to EKD. The EKD was made available to passengers on December 11, 1927.
At the beginning of 1931, the Ministry of Communications turned to larger foreign enterprises dealing with electric traction for offers for the electrification of the Warsaw cross-city line with a variant of electrification of suburban traffic on three lines, on credit terms. At the request of the Ministry, 17 offers were received, the comparison of which confirmed the advisability of electrification of the rail with 3 kV direct current, but the proposed credit terms were unacceptable. It is interesting that there was no offer from England among them, even though, as it turns out, the electrification was carried out by English companies.
On August 2, 1933, PKP concluded an agreement with two English companies: The English Electric Company and Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company, with experience in the construction of 3 kV devices, for the implementation of the first stage of electrification of WKW within 4 years on credit terms.
The Warszawa Wschodnia – Otwock section was ready on August 14, 1936, and on December 15 of that year, the trains on the section from Otwock to Pruszków were officially launched.
In 1937, electric trains were launched on the section Pruszków – Grodzisk Mazowiecki. On September 6, on the section Grodzisk Mazowiecki – Żyrardów, on December 15, on the last section scheduled for electrification in the first stage, that is, from Warszawa Wschodnia to Mińsk Mazowiecki.
For the maintenance and repair of electric rolling stock, initially consisting of 6, and later 10 4-axle electric locomotives of the English EL 100 and Polish EL 200 series and 76 wagon unbalanced electric multiple units, popularly known as 91000 and 92000 series units, and a few years after the war as EW51 and EW52 for those refurbished in East Germany, was built in West Warsaw at Armatnia Street, the Main Electrotraction Workshop with an adjacent power plant in Grochów.
Further electrification plans were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
Communist era
Post-war condition After the end of hostilities, the railway infrastructure was in a very bad condition. Due to the terrible condition of the economy, especially the electrotechnical industry, it was impossible to undertake the production of rolling stock in the country. Already at the end of the 1940s, the planning of further electrification of the lines, including the Coal Main from Chorzów to Tczew, began, but at that time this was not possible. However, the reconstruction of the pre-war traction network at the Warsaw railway junction was undertaken. In addition, shortly after the end of the war, the German traction network in Lower Silesia, except for the Jugowice-Walim railway line, was completely liquidated, on which the traction network remained at 1000 V DC for some time.
Already in 1945, equipment for the Brwinów substation and two mobile substations assembled on railway vehicles were ordered from the Swedish concern ASEA. At the beginning of 1946, preliminary talks were started with the ASEA concern regarding the conclusion of a loan agreement for large deliveries of electrotraction equipment for the Warsaw node. The Swedish delivery was to include 44 three-car electric multiple units, 8 BoBo electric locomotives, complete equipment of 6 traction substations and section cabins, and equipment for remote control electric system control room. The contract was signed on April 16, 1947.
The electric policy is not yet the preparatory period, but steam traction was almost electric. There was resistance or what is complemented by the entries for the correction of this transaction on the entry transaction record. The effectiveness of the Railway Electrification Office has developed in practice:
Efficiency Reconstruction of the pre-war state and further electrification of suburban traffic in WWK Electrification of urban and suburban traffic on the Gdańsk Coast, i.e. in the Tri-City Gdańsk – Sopot – Gdynia Electrification of the Warsaw – Częstochowa – Katowice – Gliwice line with a branch to Łódź and Kraków
Complementary ASEA mobile substations, periodically constructed for the construction of 1948. The queue first passed to replace substations and missions, which prevent the operation of traffic to Warsaw East - Mińsk Mazowiecki. The trains started from Warszawa Wschodnia station to Miłosny 3 February, and to Mińsk Mazowiecki on March 14, 1948. At the turn of 1947 and 1948, technical possibilities of technical problems related to technical problems on the market, problems related to PKP with breakthrough capital due to the traditions of the interwar period. Due to the future electrification of the GWK using the standard voltage of 3 kV direct current for PKP, it was decided to build a traction network with dimensions and insulation typical for a voltage of 3 kV. Direct current with a voltage of 800 V was to be provided by traction substations, for which equipment was ordered in United Kingdom at the turn of 1947 and 1948.
In the years 1948–1951, the electrification of the lines on the Coast from Gdańsk to Sopot was carried out, on which the traction network was put into service in 1951–1952. The rolling stock operated on the line were electric multiple units of the EW90, EW91 and EW92 series, imported from the Berlin S-Bahn as part of war reparations. In the following years, from 1953 to 1957, further fragments of the Tricity line from Sopot through Gdynia to Wejherowo were electrified.
1952–1963
From 1952, the pace of electrification of railway lines in Poland gained momentum. On March 14, 1952, the railway line from Warszawa Wileńska to Zielonka was electrified. On the same day, the traction network from Zielonka to Tłuszcz was put into use. At the turn of 1957–1958, the electrification of the line from Otwock to Pilawa was completed.
On September 10, 1954, the first electric train from Warsaw arrived in Łódź, entering the Łódź Fabryczna station.
In 1955, the Piotrków Trybunalski – Częstochowa section was electrified, but the first electric train arrived in Częstochowa on January 21, 1956. A few months later, on May 1, electric trains began to reach Zawiercie. On June 3, the traction network for Łazy was put into operation. Then, until 1957, the railway line from Łazy to Gliwice was electrified. After the Warsaw – Gliwice main line was fully commissioned in 1957, the speed of electric trains - compared to steam trains - increased for passenger trains from 40.8 to 65.3 km / h, and for freight trains - from 29 to 49 km / h. Compared to the operation with steam traction, 60% carbon savings and significant savings in wagons were achieved. Rail transport between Silesia and Warsaw has been improved for a long time.
The obtained investment and operational experience related to the first main line and the WWK electrification allowed the Ministry of Communications to develop general assumptions for the electrification of railways in Poland, which were used, among others, by to make a significant decision by the minister to abandon the purchase of steam locomotives for PKP from 1957. It is worth adding that during its construction, a practically large team of specialists was educated for the electrification of subsequent railway routes. In the area of the Łódź junction, the Bedoń - Łódź Olechów - Łódź Kaliska and Łódź Widzew - Łodź Chojny connections with a total length of 26 km were electrified (January 25, 1958). In this way, it was possible to connect three most important stations of the Łódź agglomeration by electric traction. (Widzew, Chojny, Łódź Kaliska) In the years 1961–1962, the electrification of the very important Warsaw-Poznań bus began. On March 22, 1961, 71 km electrified section Sochaczew - Łowicz - Kutno was put into operation. On the 29 September 1962 section Kutno - Konin 79 km, electrification thus reached the area of DOKP Poznań.
Ongoing plans for the electrification of the PKP network include the main lines connecting Upper Silesia with the developing Kraków district and connecting Upper Silesia with Lower Silesia, i.e. with the Wrocław district. The following set of lines were among those electrified and commissioned:
Katowice – Szczakowa 22 km, May 14, 1959 Ząbkowice – Szczakowa 16 km, April 30, 1959 Szczakowa – Mydlinki – Kraków Płaszów 59 km, September 29, 1959,