Tadeusz Bocheński

Collective public transport is the most important public service and its organization is the main focus of cooperation in functional urban areas. So far, research on its development in Poland concerned mainly the largest cities, excluding smaller centers and their complexes. The conducted analysis is to partially fill this cognitive gap. The aim of the research was to determine the range and assessment of the level of development of local collective transport systems in settlement complexes unrelated to voivodeship centers in Poland. The answer to the question about the scope of inter-municipal cooperation in this respect in comparison to the designated FUAs and ITIes was also interesting. The 23 settlement complexes were identified outside voivodship centers in Poland, where urban transport served intercity connections. Urban transport in these complexes was serviced by a total of 141 communes, including 76 cities. They were inhabited by a total of 3,3 million people. There were a total of 28 public transport operators operating in their area, running 656 communication lines. These communes were covered with a network of connections to a different extent. Keywords: intercommunal connections, local public transport, municipal transport, non-metropolitan centers, Poland

The aim of the study was an examination access to rail in selected cities in Poland in 2016 and an analysis changes of rail accessibility in the years 1950-2015. It has been investigated the technical (infrastructure) and organizational (service) rail accessibility. The study included cities with over 10 thousand residents in 2014. In 2016 almost 100 cities of this size were deprived of regular passenger rail connections. As a result of the cutting of the rail network in the period 1990-2015 passenger trains stopped in over 60 cities, also rail had never reached to 35 cities. In the next several cities the passenger rail traffic was stopped for a few to several years and then reactivated. The process of cutting the studied cities off from the railway took place in the analysed period with different intensity, with the culmination in the year 2000. In each of the voivodeships, there were cities, including the capitals of districts, cut off the passenger rail traffic.

The aim of the article was to examine the load on the railway network in Poland with passenger train traffic as at the beginning of 2020 and its comparison with the beginning of 2010. The years 2010-2020 are a period of intense railway investments and the development of regional carriers market. At the same time, the length of the railway network has been shortened. However, the volume of passenger transport and the intensity of train traffic increased, especially in regional traffic. Infrastructural investments and the involvement of local governments improved the railway offers. However, this improvement did not apply to the entire country. It was most visible in the areas of the Warsaw, Wrocław, and Poznań agglomerations, and the weakest in north-eastern Poland. The border of the voivodeship is also unfavorable in this respect. Silesia and Lesser Poland.

The aim of the study was to analyse the operation of passenger railway stations and station buildings in Poland, as well as the changes that occurred in connection with investments in infrastructure. The studies covered active passenger and railway stations as listed in the train timetable 2016/2017 and included comparison to the timetable 2009/2010. Two research questions were asked: about the layout of passenger stations and active railway stations in Poland and about the impact of investments in railway infrastructure carried out in the years 2010-2016 on the number of passenger stations and on the condition of railway stations.
In 2017 there were 2497 active passenger stations, located in 2063 localities. An average density of passenger stations in Poland was 0.80 station per 100 km2 and 0.65 station per 10,000 residents. At 622 passenger stations there were active station buildings, i.e. open for travellers. On many station buildings the scope of service for travellers was limited to a waiting room.
As a result of investments carried out in the years 2010-2016, about 100 railway stations were modernised and several more were renovated. Moreover, about 50 new passenger stations were built. During that time, several processes were taking place simultaneously: closing passenger stations, reducing their operation to weekend or seasonal traffic, and opening new and previously closed passenger stations.

This research is based on the analysis of unpublished data on the average daily traffic of freight trains on the railway network managed by PKP Polish Railway Lines and Broad Gauge Metallurgical Railway Line. The changes that took place at that time on the rail freight market in Poland were also presented in terms of the volume and structure of freight transport, the number of carriers, and their market share. The 2010-2020 decade was characterized by increased investments in the railway network in Poland, as well as the dynamic development of the carrier market and internal competition between them. However, these changes did not contribute to increasing the role of railways in the branch structure of transport. Rail traffic tended to be increasingly concentrated on the main routes. Invariably, for many years, the largest freight traffic was characterized by the CE65 main, connecting the ports of the Tri-City with Upper Silesia and the border with the Czech Republic. The current investments and the related track closures and routing trains by detours had an impact on the railway traffic distribution.