THE Polish Office of Rail Transport (UTK) has approved eight new national and international open-access services on the Kraków - Częstochowa, Przemyśl - Medyka, Prague - Gdańsk, Prague - Kraków and Kraków - Warsaw routes.

This includes one service for Polish operator Koleje Małopolskie, five for Czech operator RegioJet, and one for Czech operator Leo Express.

Koleje Małopolskie plans to operate a return service on the Kraków Główny - Częstochowa route on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays between December 11 2022 and December 11 2027. Trains will will stop at Słomniki Miasto, Słomniki, Miechów, Tunel, Kozłów, Koniecpol, and Częstochowa Raków.

UTK approved RegioJet’s plans to launch a cross-border service from Poland to Ukraine. A daily train will run from Przemyśl Główny in Poland to the end of standard-gauge track at Mościska II in Ukraine. The service is required to stop at Medyka for customs and border checks.

RegioJet also received permission to operate a daily return service on the Gdynia Główna - Prague route between the north of Poland and the capital of the Czech Republic. In Poland, the service will stop at Międzylesie, Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Kłodzko Miasto, Bardo Śląskie, Wrocław Główny, Rawicz, Leszno, Kościan, Poznań Główny, Gniezno, Inowrocław, Bydgoszcz Główna, Tczew, Gdańsk Główny, Gdańsk Wrzeszcz, Sopot, and Gdynia Główna.

RegioJet will also operate two daily return services between Kraków Główny and Warszawa Wschodnia, stopping at Warszawa Zachodnia and Warszawa Centralna.

UTK declined RegioJet’s application to operate services on the Kraków Główny - Gdynia Główna and Wrocław Główny - Warszawa Wschodnia routes, as it found these could negatively impact PSO services operating on these routes. UTK had also asked RegioJet to amend its application after infrastructure manager PKP PLK informed it that capacity on the route would be reduced during scheduled upgrade works. However, UKT says it did not receive an amended application.

Leo Express and Leo Express Global received permission to operate a daily service between Prague and Kraków Glowny, stopping at Pardubice, Olomouc, Ostrava, Bohumin, Tychy, and Katowice.