More than 6000 passengers used the service on the first day and PKP Intercity says it has already sold more than 61,000 EIC Premium tickets.

EIC Premium offers a 2h 58min journey time for Warsaw – Gdansk, 3h 42min for Warsaw – Wroclaw, 2h 28min for Warsaw – Krakow, and 2h 34min for Warsaw – Katowice. Each seven-car seats 345 passengers in standard class and 57 in first.

PKP Intercity ordered the 250km/h non-tilting multi-system (25kV ac 50Hz, 15kV ac and 3kV dc) trains from Alstom in May 2011 at a cost of €400m, and the fleet of 20 sets will be maintained by the manufacturer under a 17-year deal worth a further €265m, which includes the construction of a dedicated maintenance depot at Olszynka Grochowska in Warsaw. Nine sets from the 15 trains delivered so far are required to operate the initial service pattern, although PKP Intercity will ultimately diagram up to 17 of the 20 sets when the network is fully operational.

With the completion of the upgrading of Central Main Line (CMK) between Warsaw and Zawiercie in Silesia next year, which includes the installation of ERTMS Level 2, it is likely the trains will be able to operate at up to 230km/h on this route.