PKP puts empty sleeping cars on the road. Tourists cannot purchase seats
PKP Intercity once again attracted attention due to a certain absurdity. These are sleeping cars that are not to be accessible to passengers. What’s the problem?
The local branch of “Gazeta Wyborcza” from Tricity drew attention to the unusual situation. All because a concerned informant contacted them. The point is that PKP Intercity cannot make sleeping places available for sale in carriages that run anyway. These, instead of being filled to the brim with people interested in traveling, are empty.
PKP releases empty sleeping cars. It is not possible to buy a place
An overnight train journey with a bed and a shower can certainly be comfortable. Tourists look for such options especially when they know that there is a long way ahead of them or when they are traveling, for example, with children. It turns out that although there is a demand for such sleeping cars, unfortunately PKP does not always offer them.
The problem concerns the daily connection on the TLK train running from Warszawa Wschodnia to Szklarska Poręba Główny. As we know, the journey from the capital of Poland to the mountains is quite exhausting, which is why passengers often look for accommodation. It turns out that in this case sometimes in vain. The sleeping car runs, but sometimes it is empty and its seats are not sold.
The sleeping car is available when the train goes from Warsaw to Szklarska Poręba, but when it returns with the TLK Orzeszkowa train, it is no longer available. When it starts the next morning from Warsaw as TLK Orzeszkowa, it is still not available, and the space in it can only be used the next evening, when it returns to the capital again with the TLK Karkonosze train. Regardless of whether there are travelers on site or not, there is always service inside, including: Wars.
Empty sleeping cars at the Polish State Railways. Where does the absurdity come from?
People talk about absurdity, among others: because PKP Intercity runs an empty sleeper car on the daily train in both directions, while there is a shortage of such cars, among others. to service the Tricity – Szklarska Poręba connection. “Gazeta Wyborcza” contacted regarding this matter, among others: with PKP spokesman Cezary Nowak. “Due to the lack of free tracks at the Szklarska Poręba station and the lack of a heating installation at the station, it is not possible to leave the sleeping car in Szklarska Poręba, which must be connected to the power supply and heated, so it must be returned together with the rest of the train,” he explained. As a result, the sleeper car covers over 1,100 km during the day, closed to passengers, and carries passengers for 600 km at night.
Journalists from “Gazeta Wyborcza” found that there are many solutions that could help solve the problem, but this would require willingness and work from people dealing with logistics at PKP. Even if none of the options were perfect, there would be fewer absurdities. The problem was drawn by, among others, market-kolejowy.pl portal. He referred to data from PKP Intercity and informed that in January the company had 49 sleeping cars and 17 cars with couchettes, but 31 sleeping cars and 8 cars with couchettes remained in operation.
In 2021, the company had a much larger number of such wagons – 69 sleepers and 21 couchettes. In practice, they are still missing, which affects the comfort of travel on many long-distance routes. It seems that although there is interest from travelers, there are still no reasonable ideas on how to allocate wagons in specific train sets.
