Trains and other things: Łódź

New day in Poland, today I'll leave Gdansk and continue to Lodz, the third largest city in Poland after Warszawa and Krakow.

Pesa Swing tram

During my trip in Poland, I have been taking trams in each town and I'm surprised over how easy it is to buy a ticket, either in a machine outside the stop or in a machine inside the tram. In most cases it's also working with contactless card system, so no pin codes are required.

A statue outside the station

Pesa Atribo

Purchase of these trains were made with financial help from the EU

EN57AL 1550

The train was modernised in 2012 also with help from EU

EP09-016

Manufactured in 1992, modernised in 2011

Intercity/Eurocity train to Vienna

EP07-370 with train from Poznan

My first train today will be ED250 to Warszawa

As I mentioned earlier, I was very disappointed about the weather. During previous years July month has been warm and sunny, but not this year. Many days during my trip will be like this, rainy and grey.

The train is taking railway line nr 9 Warszawa Wschodnia – Gdańsk Główny and it is 323 km long. Here is Pszczolki station.

Tczew station and old Bhp (former Bipa) coach manufactured by VEB Waggonbau Görlitz plant in 1959-1977

Pesa Link DMU

Malbork

From Wikipedia: "The line was opened in stages between 1852 and 1877. Today's Line 9 was created separately in the Russian zone and German zone. It was built as part of the Prussian Eastern Railway linking Berlin with Konigsberg (today's Kaliningrad). Between 2006 and 2014 the line was completely modernised and made suitable for passenger trains to travel at 200 km/h (160 km/h for trains without ETCS) and 120 km/h for freight trains with axle load of 22.5 tonnes."

Gdakowo

Prabuty

EIP train has no stops between Gdansk and Warszawa. 1st class passengers can enjoy free snacks and drinks. Coffee is served first.

Ilawa

Since 2016 the EIP network was extended to Kołobrzeg, a cost town at the Baltic sea.

1st class coach

Rakowice

Promotion for Interrail

Snack included in the price

Dzialdowo

Newag Dragon locomotive, E6ACT-007 from Lotos Kolej. It is a Polish made six-axle electric locomotive, built since 2009.

Ciechanow

Modlin station which belongs to town of Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. Today it has 5th busiest airport in Poland, served by low cost airlines, like Ryanair.

Modlin station

Approaching Warszawa

ET22

ET41

EN57AL

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Warszawa East station

The train to Vienna which I saw earlier in Gdansk

ED160

Pesa Elf train and the National stadion

Wisla river

The train has arrived to Warszawa main station

I have some time before my next train so I'll have a short visit outside the station

Palace of Culture and Science was a gift from Soviet Union

Constructed in 1955

I'm back at the station. Another ED250 train arriving from Gdynia

Train to Berlin

PKP Intercity version of Siemens Taurus ES64U4, EU44-009 Husarz

Approved for 4 countries

EP09-019 with a train to Prague

The train has coaches from České dráhy

My next and last train for today is an Intercity service to Łódź

Since 2016 the new Pesa Dart train is operating this and some other Intercity routes.

Pesa Dart, ED161 is an EMU with 8 coaches

Inside 1st class coach

Warszawa West station

People trespassing the railway

Stadler Flirt ER75 train

Newag Impuls and Newag 19WE trains

The railway I'm taking now is numbered as nr 1 between Warszawa and Katowice. It was constructed in 1835 from Warszawa (at that time in Russian partition) to the border of Austrian partition and further to Vienna. It was modernised during 2008-2011 to have a 160km/h standard.

Another Dart

Grodzisk Mazowiecki

The train is doing its maximum speed of 160km/h

Żyrardów

EN57

EN57AL

Skierniewice

Unlike EIP trains, the IC service is making frequent stops

Statue of the actor Stanislaw Wokulski at Skierniewice

Roundhouse Skierniewice with a railway museum

Many freight trains along this line

Koluszki

From Koluszki, our train is switching from railway nr 1 to nr 17 between Łódź Fabryczna - Koluszki.

From Wikipedia: "The line - managed by the Fabryczno-Łódzka Railway Company - played an important role in the initial stage of the turbulent development of the textile industry in the Lodz industrial district. Thanks to it, Łódź and its district have advanced to the third largest textile production center in the entire Russian Empire , taking a sharp and often effective competitive battle with the Moscow and Ivanovo districts."

Approaching Lodz

Widzew is the Eastern station of Lodz and the third largest in town

A reconstruction of the line was made between 2011-2016 resulting in a new tunnel starting near Łódź Niciarniana station

The tunnel is meant to transform the main station of Lodz from terminus to through one, but the construction of the line westward will start earliest 2020.

The new underground station opened in 2016, it has 4 platforms and 8 tracks

Construction of the Łódź Fabryczna train station was one of the largest railway investments in the European Union at the time.

It's an impressive facility, designed to handle high speed trains in the future connecting Warszawa with Poznan and Wroclaw.

Today it has mostly local trains operated by Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna. Here is one Stadler Flirt3 train with destination Koluszki

EN57 train operated by Łódzki Zakład Polregio from Lodz to Warszawa. The train service is of type Interregio, compared to Intercity it has only 2nd class.

Facades of the old station building is preserved to the left/right

Outside the station there is a bus/tram stop. Here are two buses from two different generations

Tram type Konstal 805NaND

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

From Wikipedia: "After Poland regained its independence in 1918, Łódź grew to be one of the largest Polish cities and one of the most multicultural and industrial centers in Europe. The interbellum period saw rapid development in education and healthcare. After the invasion of Poland in 1939, the German Army captured the city and renamed it Litzmannstadt in honour of the German general Karl Litzmann."

Konstal 805Na tram, the most used tram type in Poland. Manufactured between 1977-1990, there are 254 trams of this type in Lodz.

Meanwhile I have arrived to my hotel, which turned to be one of best ones during my trip.

The hotel opened in 2009 and it is located in the building of the former spinning mill of Izrael Poznański, in the area named Manufaktura.

From "Poland travel": "Manufaktura was the former factory that belonged to Izrael Poznanski, one of the most famous industrialists in the history of Lodz, who bought the barren land along Ogrodowa Street in 1871. Within three decades, he created a textile empire with weaving, spinning, bleaching and priming, dyeing, fabric printing and finishing. The complex also included workshops to repair and construct machinery, an ironworks, a foundry and shed, gasworks, a fire station, warehouses, railway sidings and factory administration offices, the owner's palace and residential buildings for the workers."

Today Manufaktura is rebuilt to have a hotel, restaurants, shopping mall, and entertainment center. I'm having my lunch in one of the restaurants, here eating Pierogi (Polish dumplings).

Bombardier Flexity Outlook Cityrunner tram

To the right is the Izrael Poznański Palace

Düwag GT8 tram, previously used in Freiburg.

Mural of ROA

Liberty square with a monument of Tadeusz Kosciuszko who was a Polish–Lithuanian military engineer and a military leader who became a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States. He fought in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth's struggles against Russia and Prussia, and on the American side in the American Revolutionary War.

The main street of the town is Piotrkowska, running from north to south for 5km.

From Wikipedia: "The city's coat of arms is an example of canting: depicting a boat. It alludes to the city's name which translates literally as "boat."