Poland megaproject launches tender for 4.6km rail tunnel

Catrin Jones Editor, Construction Europe

01 August 2024

Poland-based Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (Central Communication Port) has launched a tender for the construction of a 4.6-kilometre tunnel for High Speed Rail in the city of Łódź, Poland

The CPK company plans to open the bids at the beginning of September (Photo: Centralny Port Komunikacyjny)

The Central Communication Port is a megaproject run by the government of Poland to construct a new, built-from-scratch airport to be located approximately 40km southwest of Warsaw.

The company says that this will be the third major construction contract. The other two are reportedly already underway in the centre of Łódź.

“The CPK long-distance tunnel is the key element of the so-called Y-line, the planned High Speed Rail (HSR) route between Warsaw, CPK, Łódź, Wrocław and Poznań. This investment is crucial for the operations of the Polish railways and respresent a significant milestone in the realisation of the Poland in 100 minutes project,” said Dariusz Klimczak, the Minister of Infrastructure in Poland.

“We are also dedicated to modernising infrastructure and enchancing train speeds to reduce travel times between cities,” he added.

The CPK company plans to open the bids at the beginning of September. The selected contractor will have 46 months from the signing of the contract to complete the order.

Trains running on railway line 85 (LK85) from Warsaw will enter the tunnel behind Łódź Fabryczna station. The tunnel exit will be located south-west of Łódź Kaliska, in the vicinity of the existing railway line 14 (LK14). Further on, the route will lead westwards towards Sieradz, beyond which there will be a fork of the ‘Y-line’ - towards Wrocław and Poznań.

To date, the CPK company has signed two of the three major contracts relating to the city of Łódź. The first is a contract for the reinforcement of the Łódź Cultural Centre (ŁDK) foundations, which is already in progress. The second contract which has already been signed, includes the construction of the Retkinia launching chamber and the Fabryczna receiving chamber.

Filip Czernicki, CEO of CPK, adds, “It will be the longest and largest-diameter underground railway passage constructed using this method in Poland to date. The CPK tunnel is one of the most technically demanding pieces of the Y HSR line. At the same time, it is also our most advanced project.”