Warszawa - Wroclaw, Poland by PKP Pendolino

Warszawa - Wroclaw, Poland by PKP Pendolino

Since the new timetable starting 14 december 2014, PKP Intercity offers a new trainservice, the Pendolino, or Express Intercity Premium. This premium train connects Warszawa the capital of Poland with other large Polish metropoles; Gdansk, Krakow, Kattowice and Wroclaw.

I made a journey from Warszawa to Wroclaw monday 15th december.

I made a lot of pictures of the train, and together with me, a lot of other people who enjoyed this new train came to the stations. On the rainy sunday, the first day of the new service, there were some 25 people with cameras on the platform.


Warszawa Wschodnia.




About one hour later, EIP 1402 to Katowice.



The next day we made a journey:


Warszawa Centralna. The railwaytracks are underground in the citycenter.


Train information on the platform in Warszwa central station.


First class chairs. The chairs were very comfortable. We booked in advance a superpromo ticket for first class; 79Zloty for a 400km journey. 79Zloty is about 20€ of 90Lei. The booking system needs some modification, we were with two persons, and the system placed us behind each other, not realy practice...


First class.


As you can see, every passenger get's a free drink; Coffee, Tea, water or fruit juice and a bonbon for free at your place.


Chair with reading lights.


Information brochure of the train.


Between two coaches.


Luggage room and a machine to clean your shoes. I never seen such a machine in a train.


Second class chairs. Like the first class, there is a power socket per 2 chairs, an individual reading light and the chairs are adjustable, so you can relax when you pull your seat back.


Bar coach.


Second class.


Second class.


Door.


Second class again.


Compartment for 4 people in the 2nd class.


Luggage room and place for 2 bycicles.




Toilet.


Bistro.




We ate something in the bistro.


Toilet for disabled people.


Door with elevator for disabled people.


View from the back-driver cabine.


Arrived on time in Wroclaw Glowny.











Some facts: the train is 187 metres long, and cosist of 7 coaches. The maximum speed is 250km/h.
This speed can't be reached at this moment in Poland, but after installing new signalling systems and some railway upgrades it's the intention to drive 250km/h on the main route between Warszawa and Krakow/Kattowice.

Our train departed on time in Warszawa, but some kilometers outside, we stand about 15 minutes for a red signal.
During the route, I saw a lot of maintanance and upgrade works on the route. Most sections were for 160 kilometers per hour, and there was one part of about 40 kilometers werre the train reached 200+ kmh. When reaching 200km/h the trainstaff announced that via the intercomspeakers.

But due to the works on the tracks, after 40 kilometers the train slowed down to 80km/h for going through a swich, and going further on the leftside. And some kilometers away, again through a switch, rightside again. After that the train continued with 160km/h till we left the main corridor. After that we had a section of some 40 kilometers with 120km/h till Czestochowa (230.000 inhabitants), the first stop of the train. After that, the train continued with 100/120km/h to Opole (125.000 inhabitants) the second stop. After Opole, the section was 160km/h till Wroclaw. Average speed between Opole and Wroclaw is 138km/h. (92km in 40 minutes).
The average speed of the total journey was 108,1km/h. (400km in 3h42)
Although the train had to stop 15 minutes in front of a red signal, the train arrived on time in Wroclaw. When all the works are finished, maybee the EIP Pendolino will do this yourney under 3 hours.

My overall conclusion; one of the most modern and beautifull trains in the world are now running in Poland.  

I found this clip on youtube, the Pendolino at 291km/h on the Warszawa - Krakow mainline:

Hi Caspar!

I have some friends in Poland and all of them said that Pendolino is an unnecessary spending by PKP. That Poland doesn't need a high speed train at the moment. Also, they complained that the tickets are more expensive than normal trains.

Have you noticed the same feeling among Polish people or I have grumpy friends?

Also, how was the food? In the picture looks "eatable".

I see some images on the screens. Polar bears and stuff like that. What do they play on them during the trip? Documentaries?

Thanks.

Sorry for the off topic but the corect word is EDIBLE not EATABLE.......

https://www.englishforums.com/English/EdibleOrEatable/dndz/post.htm

,,Although both words mean can be eaten, there is a slight difference between them. Edible refers to waht may normally be eaten whereas eatable refers to the taste or flavor of the food. For this reason, something which is edible may sometimes be uneatable."

Holy Mary and Jesus those trains have ugly driving vans, much like the Talgo 350 :shock: but then again, if CFR bought and used them we would all be so happy. Are there 6 seat compartments or only 4 seat compartments?

Maybe we sould say a few word about the price... from Warszawa to Wroclaw the price is 150 zlots, while a normal train costs only 65 zlots (2nd class). However, the time necessary it's 2 times better on the Pendolino, so this trains can became very apreciated by those who travel for business.

Off-topic: I wonder if a FIP ticket can be used for this train.

There are only 4 seat compartments, 2nd class. So if you book a seat in such a compartment, you'll have much space around you.

The food in the bar is good for a train, if I compare it to DB (ICE/EC/IC) and SNCF (TGV/Thalys) standards. It's only a bit expensive to eat on board, and the meal shown on the picture is not enough if you are looking for dinner. But the taste was o.k.

The prices of the train are low if you book some weeks in advance, 20€ for 400 kilometers in the first class. I think thats the same as the CFR asks for IC trains sencond class. But if you decide to travel last minute, you'll have to pay the full fare; 37,5€ second class and 50€ first class for the 400km ride.
For Polish standards, thats quite a lot of money, but it's defenitely one of the most comfortable and modern trains of Europa at this moment. (a bit like the Railjet).

The prices are slightly lower than West-European standards:
400 km ride, second class in IC:

Netherlands; 47,50€
Germany: 80€ (ICE are more expensive)
France: 61€ (TGV are more expensive)
Austria: 65,40€ (Railjet)

I think that Poland deserves a highspeed train; every year there are more domnestic flights from Warszawa to Wroclaw and Krakow. Warszawa has changed completely last 10 years, skyscrapers are everywere and there are a lot of businesspeople there. With older and slower TLK trains (like the Romanian IR) you won't attract those business people, they might prefer flying. But when the infrastructure is up to date, I'm confinced that the PKP Pendolino is a true concurrent for domnestic airplanes.

I hope PKP Pendolino will go to Berlin in the future.

Dr2005 a scris:

Off-topic: I wonder if a FIP ticket can be used for this train.

The Superpromo tickets were cheaper than the 50% Fip discount card.
Fip discount cards are more and more useless; you'll get 50% discount on the normal fare, lets say 65 Zloty in your example. Thats 32,5 + the difference in train rank above.

So 32,5 + (150 - 65= 85) = 117,5 Zloty...

Caspar a scris:

The prices of the train are low if you book some weeks in advance, 20€ for 400 kilometers in the first class. I think thats the same as the CFR asks for IC trains sencond class.

We have no IC trains anymore, since only some trains between Bucureşti and Constanţa could fulfill the legal requirements for an IC train... but there is already a huge competition with the buses on that route (they can use the highway), so making those trains IC would not be a good decision... plus, the IC trains does not recieve subisides from the state budget.
In Romania, a 400 km train ride would take about 7,5 - 9 hours, even more on trains that detach and attach a lot of direct cars on the route... apparently, the romanian passengers prefere direct cars rather than moving their rear side from a short-route DMU to the IR train in a junction station, even if this operation adds 15 - 20 minutes to the total time of the journey. Travelling from Bucureşti to Dej, for example (490 km) would take more than 9 hours, because the train must stop 16 minutes in Braşov (changing locomotive and change of dirrection), 12 minutes in Deda (detach cars for Tg. Mureş), 13 minutes in Sărăţel (detach cars for Bistriţa) and then, on its route to Baia mare, will also stop 11 minutes in Dej (chnaging locomotive and dirrection), 10 minutes in Jibou (detach cars for Zalău), 9 minutes in Someş Odorhei (single line), 20 minutes in Baia Mare (God knows why...)... so we have 684 km in 14 hours and 6 minutes, with 1 h 31 minutes long stops.
The normal price for a 400...450 km trip is 21 euro in the day of departure and with less than 6 days in advance, while if you buy your ticket with more than 21 days in advance you will get a 25% discount, so you would pay aboaut 15,75 euro.
But keep in mind that we work on salaries about 200 - 300 euro per month, so most Romanians consider these prices to be high. Of course, students get 50% discount, so they prefer to travel by train (in the limit of 24 trips/year on IR trains and unlimited number of trips on R trains and with IR or R monthly passes) and so does other categories that are entitled to discounts: retired people gets 6 50% regio trips/year, handicapped people get 6 free IR trips/year and railway employees also get only 6 "free" trips/year (but their coupons are charged by the state with a fare... I paid about 250 lei for those coupons!), than they must pay full price ticket. Also, buying monthly passes (on shorter routes, of course, not on 450 km) can be very cost-efficient on short distances, but CFR Călători preferes to waste a lot of cars on very long distance trains, rather than on commuters trains.

@Dr2005:

I don´t know if the Pkp offers abbonements for travellers in EIP Pendolino.
Railway employers can travel for "free" in the Netherlands, actually every month some 15€ montly is restrained of the netto salary for it, but then you could take 365 days a year all trains. Furthermore is there another rule, officially you may only use it for for home-work traffic. When you live near the station were you work, you don't get free traveling at all.
But when you have one, your husband and children get also one card for 15€ montly. so the whole familly can travel.

Besided that we can use "International travel facilites" option 1 is the 50% FIP discount card for whole Europe (exl. Sweden)
This card has a value of about 50 euro (also restrained at the netto salary) Companies like Veolia, Arriva etc don't accept them in Germany, and sindce 4 of the 6 boarder lines between Netherlands and Germany are operated by those companies, its not a very popular card.
In Thalys between Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, we have to pay 35€ per trip with that card. But the number of seats is very limited
And other high speed trains in Europe with a Global price system like Italy and France, You only get 50% discount on the regular part of the ticket. The extra supplement has to be payed fully. The supplements are often so high, that Fip discounts are only 20% or something. (like the example some posts above).

The second FIP option is a coupon:

Per country in Europe we may order 1 coupon like this. Before ordering this, we have to choose how many (sets of 2) days we will travel. One coupon is 3 months valid. So I can travel for a maximum of 8 days for free in Romania per year, but only within one period of 3 months. Again, this is not complete free, in case of Romania its about 11€ set of 2 days.
Germany and France are the most expensive; 35€ per 2 days.
And again you have to pay a supplement for highspeed trains or IR/IC. In Romania it was 3 Lei (?) In France between 1,5€ and 15€ per TGV (depands if a train is marked as a "Heure de pointe") and in Germany there are no extra costs. But again, it's only valid in trains operated by the state, so not at Arriva/Veolia/Regiotrans etc.
In Italy i had to pay 10€ per train above the coupon.

All these things I have learned myself, because there is hardly any information about this on internet, and train staff at ticket windows in Netherlands don't know how it works in Italy for example...

I have to add that when trainstaff from other countries will travel with NS in Netherlands, showing a pass or something else that you can prove that you are Romanian trainstaff, will get you in most cases a free travel as well. (depanding on the mood of the NS trainstaff... )