By lyndamyer
As CPK’s most advanced railway project, construction of the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) long-distance high-speed rail (HSR) tunnel in Łódź, Poland, has begun and this company has concluded the second of three construction contracts for this project. Linking Warsaw with Lódz, Poznan and Wroclaw, the route Y has been designed and this over 4-kilometre HSR tunnel in Lódz is a key element of the intended route.
While completing the construction of the tunnel will simultaneously be done with the commission of the first stage of the CPK airport, the construction process of the CPK long-distance tunnel in Lódz has been divided into three parts and the first one included work aimed at strengthening the foundations of the Lódz Cultural Centre (LDK) and started in September 2023 and Keller Polska was the funder of this part.
The location of route is directly beneath LDK, (on the western side of the Lódz Fabryczna railway station) where the HSR tunnel is due to begin.
In order to advancing the second stage, i.e. the construction of the chambers for the tunnel boring machines (TBM) launch at Retkinia and exit portal near LDK, CPK has signed a contract.
With almost EUR 34 million value, the contract was concluded with Budimex and the third stage of the investment is the drilling of the CPK railway tunnel.
According to Marcin Horala, Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Government Plenipotentiary for CPK: “Our predecessors made the fateful decision in 2011 where the preparations for the construction of a high-speed line connecting Warsaw, Lódz and Sieradz with Wroclaw and Poznan were suspended. No one can give this time back to the residents. That is why it is only today – thanks to the CPK investments – that the construction of the Y-shaped railway route can begin.”
He also added: “The contract for the long-distance tunnel in Lódz, which we are signing today, is a historic moment for Lódz. The construction of the tunnel designed to connect Lódz and the CPK airport as part of the designed High-Speed Rail system is starting’.”
The main application of this tunnel is for long-distance trains, especially the HSR ones, while in Lódz, high-speed trains are going to stop at the Lódz Fabryczna statio and the exit station for tunnel is planned as south-west of Lódz Kaliska, in the vicinity of the Retkinia housing estate and the existing railway line no. 14. The route continues westwards towards Sieradz, where it forks in the direction of Poznan and Wroclaw.
The CPK railway investment in Lódz is part of the North Sea – Baltic Sea corridor, being a part of the TEN-T core network, which means it is an element of the trans-European transport network.
