A short section of railway totalling around 1km that connects Poland with the German town of Görlitz in Saxony will finally be electrified, after years of deliberation.
The German Federal Railway Authority (EBA) issued a formal and final determination decision in December 2023 stating that the planned work did not require a full environmental appraisal and that it would have no major environmental impact, allowing the project to move forward.
For many years infrastructure manager DB Network had been unable to commit to electrification as a bridge over the line east of Görlitz main station had insufficient clearance for overhead wires. This was finally resolved in 2021-22 by raising the bridge.
Unusually for electrification in Germany, the catenary will be energised at the Polish voltage of 3kV dc, rather than the German standard 15kV ac. This is because none of the lines to Görlitz are currently electrified. On the Polish side of the border, which is midway across the viaduct over the River Neisse, the line has been electrified at 3kV dc on the 900m from the final station in Poland at Zgorzelec since 2019.
The planned electrification work, which includes the modernisation of part of Görlitz main station, will be undertaken in 2025-26, with electric services to Poland due to start in late 2026.
Direct regional services to Wroclaw and Jelenia Góra are likely to be operated, connecting in Görlitz with diesel trains to Dresden and Cottbus. Electrification of both of these routes is planned, but is unlikely to happen before the 2030s. When 15kV ac electrification reaches Görlitz, it is DB Networks’ intention to change the voltage on the short section to the Polish border.
