Tenders on their way as PLK unveils rail infrastructure improvement program

On Wednesday, Polskie Linie Kolejowe (PLK), a subsidiary of PKP concerned with the management of the rail infrastructure, presented its ambitious investment plan for the coming few years. PLK intends to modernize mainly international routes (covering stretches of track between Warsaw and Łódź, and Warsaw and Gdańsk), with tenders to be announced later this year. In total, the company plans to invest zł.1 billion this year to facilitate improvements to the network. "We hope that in this way we will boost capacity on these routes and thus increase our revenues," said Krzysztof Łańcucki, a PLK spokesperson. The firm will obtain EUR 1.5 billion of financing for this purpose from EU funds by the end of 2006. However, this itself will require PLK stumping up a further 25% of the figure, which will probably come from state coffers and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (Parkiet, p. 7) M.M.