PKP Intercity, Poland’s largest long-distance rail carrier, had almost 59 million passengers in 2022, up from almost 49 million in the record-breaking 2019 so far. August 2022 was the month with the highest attendance ever, the company announced.

The first monthly freight record was already set in May, when more than 5.26 million people travelled with PKP Intercity. The following months saw a continuation of the upward trend in train attendance: in June, almost 5.5 million people travelled with the carrier, while in July – almost 6.5 million. In August, even more – over 6.5 million passengers – used the carrier’s services.

“Sharply a year ago, at the beginning of January 2022, PKP Intercity announced the extension of its development and investment strategy with a view to 2030. The funds the company will invest by the end of this decade have increased from PLN 19 billion to PLN 27 billion. By then, PKP Intercity will have been largely replaced, with all the carrier’s vehicles being new or modernised. In order to achieve the assumed goals, last year PKP Intercity signed contracts for the modernisation as well as the purchase of modern rolling stock with a total gross value of over PLN 1.4 billion”.

In 2023, the company announces the launch of a completely new online sales system. The e-IC 2.0 system is to be made available to passengers in the last months of 2023, and the full functionality of the new system will be available in the last quarter of 2024. This is the largest IT investment in PKP Intercity’s history.

At the beginning of April 2022, the national carrier signed a contract with the Poznan-based H. Cegielski Railway Vehicles Factory for the modernisation of 90 carriages. The value of the order is almost PLN 495 million gross. In September and October, the company signed contracts with PESA of Bydgoszcz worth a total of over PLN 900 million gross for the modernisation of wagons and the delivery of new electric and diesel locomotives.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński