News About Poland - The Polish Outlook

Warsaw Central Train Station Renovation Nears Completion

The renovation of the Warsaw Central Train Station (Dworzec Centralny) is slowly coming to an end. The major work should be finished this year. Some minor finish work will be continued next year, but it will be done on areas where passengers have no access.

There were two major issues with which the contractor had to deal with. One was planning the work in such a way as to allow semi-normal functioning of the station and underground passageways. Closing it down for renovation was not an option. Second issue was the water leaking from the street level into the passageways and tracks. Everybody who came through there during rain remembers puddles and water dripping from the ceiling.

This second problem was much bigger than initially assumed. There had to be done much more insulation and sealing than initially planned.

The contract for renovation was signed in July 2010, work started a couple of months after that. The contractor's job was to clean the station and paint it. Additionally the contract involved installing monitoring system and building a security monitoring center, building of seven new ventilation units, building of fire monitoring system and passenger information system.

The station has also been adapted for the disabled: elevators leading to first floor were installed in the main hall, special paths on floor were installed to help people with vision impairment and two ticket counters ware supplied with hearing aids.

The cost of the renovation so far is 51 million zloty.