{"id":543,"date":"2009-05-17T17:18:39","date_gmt":"2009-05-17T21:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=543"},"modified":"2009-05-17T17:18:39","modified_gmt":"2009-05-17T21:18:39","slug":"traveling-by-train-in-poland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/traveling-by-train-in-poland\/","title":{"rendered":"Traveling by Train in Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve never traveled much around Poland. Apart from Tr\u00f3jmiasto<\/strong> (Tri-city: Gda\u0144sk, Sopot, Gdynia<\/strong>), I have only been to Warsaw. So, I thought it was high time that I got off my exponentially growing four letters (three in American and four in British English) and saw a bit more of this beautiful country of ours.
\nAnd that\u2019s how I ended up in Pozna\u0144<\/strong>, a lovely town with a lovely shopping mall (Stary Browar<\/strong> rules!) and lovely people. The food was good too. Actually, everything was good about Pozna\u0144<\/strong> except the weather \u2013 it was pouring yesterday.
\nBut in order to end up in Pozna\u0144<\/strong> I had to get there first. And that meant either driving or traveling by train.
\n\u201cAh, why not?\u201d<\/em> I thought, \u201cpojad\u0119 poci\u0105giem<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em> (I\u2019ll go by train.)<\/p>\n

In Poland, just like in almost all other countries, there are several options when it comes to trains: slow, less slow and kinda fast. Forget about TGV or Acela. There\u2019s no such thing here. Instead there\u2019s InterCity, which technically is an express train with speed up to 160 km\/h, but in reality, well\u2026 chances are it will go much slower and be late.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there wasn\u2019t any kinda fast InterCity express available to Pozna\u0144<\/strong> and my only choice was either a slow or less slow train. I chose the less slow. Technically it\u2019s a quasi-express “rapid” train (po\u015bpieszny<\/strong>), which stops only every so often. But when it takes this \u201crapid\u201d train about five hours to travel the distance of 313 kilometers, you really begin to wonder just how slow the normal slow train (osobowy<\/strong>) is.<\/p>\n

Then, there\u2019s the question of tickets. Let\u2019s say you wanted the slow boat, I mean train, and bought a ticket for poci\u0105g osobowy<\/strong> (slow train). But the sheer amount time required for such a journey made you reconsider and you decided to upgrade to a faster \u201crapid\u201d train. It should be easy, right? Ha! Not in Poland. Until last year you could simply pay the difference and get a new ticket. But that would be just too easy and convenient to stick with such a simple system. So now, first you have to return the ticket for poci\u0105g osobowy<\/strong> and get a refund. You won\u2019t get a full refund, because\u2026 well, I\u2019m not sure why anymore. Then, you have to buy a new ticket for poci\u0105g po\u015bpieszny<\/strong> (faster \u201crapid\u201d train).<\/p>\n

Why is that? The trains are run by two different companies. Both have deceptively similar names starting with PKP<\/strong> (Polskie Koleje Pa\u0144stwowe<\/strong> \u2013 Polish State Railways). But one is PKP SA<\/strong> and the other \u2013 PKP Intercity<\/strong>. And yes, even though the second one is called PKP Intercity<\/strong>, it operates not only the fast Intercity express trains (all reserved), but also the slower \u201crapid\u201d trains (po\u015bpieszny, no reservations required).<\/p>\n

OK, before I confuse you any further, let\u2019s recap:<\/p>\n