PLK earmarks euro 111 million for rail track modernization

Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PLK SA), the company set up in October to manage 24, 000 kilometers of Poland's railroad, has announced plans to spend euro 111 m illion on modernization work. The bulk of the funds will be provided under t he European Union (EU)'s ISPA program, and part will come from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The company's plans include modernizing the Polish se ction of the Berlin to Warsaw route, as well as work on the Drezno-Wroclaw-K atowice-Medyka, the Zebrzydowice-Warsaw-Gdansk, and the Wroclaw-Poznan-Szcze cin lines. PLK SA derives revenue from renting track to such major users as PKP Cargo, PKP Intercity and PKP Przewozy Regionalne. It also has several sm aller clients, and is currently negotiating a number of other contracts, sig nificantly with Petrochemia Plock and PKN Orlen. It is estimated that PLK SA 's annual revenue from track rental is between zl.2.7 billion and zl.3 billi on, half of it coming from PKP Cargo. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 5) P.W.