A Successful Move into Poland
Less than 10 years since Colas Rail Polska was established, the railway infrastructure specialist’s Polish subsidiary has seen rapid growth. Here’s a recap of its meteoric rise.
Colas Rail Polska was founded in 2013. Its first contract was for the rental of machines to Skanska, a local company later purchased by Colas. The company has prospered since then, growing at a rapid pace.
Its 111 employees are divided between its headquarters in Gdańsk, its Legnica office, and its temporary offices on location for specific projects. Colas Rail Polska’s activities are structured around its three core businesses: the design, construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure; freight, and in particular the transportation of aggregates with Colas Polska, the local Colas road construction subsidiary; and rentals of specialized machinery, such as tamping machines.
Capacity Increases at Poznań Central Station
In February 2019, Colas Rail Polska signed a contract with Polish State Railways (PKP) for the extension of the platform and the reconstruction of the underground concourse at Central Station in Poznań, the country’s fifth largest city by population. The work mainly involves increasing the station’s capacity by building a new platform 417 meters in length with a new track, including an upgrade to the track system (reconstruction of the switching mechanism), and especially by building an underground pedestrian concourse 250 meters in length. The aim is to reconnect the western and eastern parts of the city, which are separated by the train station. Poznań Central Station, the second busiest in Poland, will remain open during construction.
Modernisation of the E5 Railway Line
Also in 2019, Colas Rail Polska was awarded the contract for the modernization of a 12-kilometer section of the E59 railway line, running between the village of Słonice and the town of Choszczno, in the northwestern part of the country, about 50 kilometers from the German border. Linking Poznań to the Baltic Sea, the E59 is an especially popular line and is part of a major European rail corridor 800 kilometers in length connecting the Czech Republic and Germany. Once the project is completed, it will be possible to use trains operating at a maximum speed of 160 km/h. Eighteen months will be needed to fully refurbish the railway line and complete the related road, civil engineering, electrification and drainage work. Two bridges and the overhead line system will be rebuilt, and stations and their platforms will be modernized. Outdated power grids and the possible presence of unexploded bombs, remnants of World War II, add a further level of complexity.
Expansion of Access to the Port of Gdynia
Colas Rail Polska has also been selected by the Port of Gdynia Authority for the reconstruction of the railway siding tracks serving its container terminal and the construction of a new overhead line system. The aim is to expand rail access to the western part of the port by reconstructing 6 kilometers of tracks and several junctions, constructing the overhead line system for all the tracks, and installing rail traffic management equipment. At this port receiving shipments from all around the world, the project will allow for an increase in the frequency of train service and facilitate loading directly from the container vessels.
