Poland is building 2,000 kilometers of new railway lines by 2035. That’s a lot of track. The goal? Bring the national network to 20,000 km total and, more importantly, stop pretending Warsaw is the only city that matters.
Poland’s railway expansion: 2,000 km of new track to finally connect regional cities without routing everything through Warsaw.
For years, Poland‘s rail system worked like spokes on a wheel—everything pointed to Warsaw. Want to travel between regional cities? Good luck. You probably had to route through the capital first, which made zero sense. The new Integrated Railway Network project is finally ditching this monocentric model for something resembling actual cross-regional connectivity.
The centerpiece is the “Y” line, a high-speed corridor linking Warsaw, the CPK Airport, Łódź, Poznań, and Wrocław. Trains will hit speeds up to 350 km/h, though operational speeds cap at 250 km/h. Travel times will drop dramatically. Warsaw to Łódź goes from 100 minutes to 45. Łódź to Wrocław shrinks from three hours to one. These aren’t minor improvements.
About 1,000 km of the planned 2,000 km should be done by 2035, with the rest coming later. On top of that, another 8,000 km of potential corridors are under analysis, which sounds ambitious but also, frankly, exhausting. The project aims to connect all subregional and larger cities to rail by 2035, including cities that have never had rail access.
That’s a big deal for economic development and social mobility, even if it sounds bureaucratic when officials say it. CPK and PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe are running the show under the Ministry of Infrastructure. They’ve consulted over 700 stakeholders—regional capitals, universities, logistics firms, the works. The planning team analyzed 10 different scenarios for Poland’s railway development beyond 2035 to shape the long-term vision.
Preparatory construction started in late 2023. Main work begins in 2024. The CPK passenger terminal construction kicks off in 2026, with the underground station done by 2029. First high-speed section opens with the airport in 2032. Beyond Poland’s borders, officials announced plans for a Warsaw to Kyiv high-speed connection that would cut travel times by four hours.
International connections matter too. Rail Baltica links to Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia—Poland wants to be Central Europe’s transport backbone. The project isn’t canceling existing investments, just building on them. Expert recommendations land in Q1 2026. Then the real work starts.
