PKP Intercity discovered the secret. They already know what to do to make trains less late

Last fall, the Ministry of Infrastructure adopted new regulations that abolish the rule that there must be two drivers in the cabin for a train to travel at a speed of 160 km/h. Previously, when there was only one driver on the train, the maximum speed it could reach was 130 km/h. The new regulations have significantly improved punctuality at PKP.

PKP Intercity trains are less late. One change was enough

PKP Intercity’s punctuality has been improving for several years. Already in 2023, the percentage result was 10 points higher than in 2022. Despite this, Intercity has not exceeded punctuality of 80% in any month for two years, and the best result in 2023 is 78%. from October –

However, the new regulations regarding maximum speed with one driver seem to be bringing first benefits. “PKP Intercity’s punctuality has increased dramatically since the beginning of 2024,” writes Tomasz Gontarz, vice-president of the company’s management board on X. He enumerates that punctuality in recent months amounted to 83 percent in February. on arrival, and in March 82.4 percent.

Main reason: enabling driving with one driver above 130 km/h. This allowed us to limit the causes of delays due to the carrier’s fault. There is still a lot to do on our side. But punctuality increased by 10%. Compared to last year, it’s a big success

– Gontarz summed up.

PKP could not improve punctuality on its own. A change in regulations was needed

Journalist Jarosław Ditrich asked why this change could not be introduced earlier. Tomasz Gontarz replied that a change to the regulation was necessary for this. The portal ryb-kolejowy.pl wrote then that attempts to change the regulation “which limits the possibilities of railways in a scientifically unjustified way” had been going on for years. The industry has repeatedly pointed out that this provision has no equivalent in Europe. Its introduction a few decades ago was dictated by concerns about jobs for train drivers. Today, however, there is no shortage of work for train drivers. Not at all, because the situation has reversed and the market lacks several hundred train drivers, and there are no jobs for them.

“The Office of Rail Transport was on the fence, additional analyzes had to be done, which prolonged the legislative process. Fortunately, the regulation entered into force at the end of last year,” wrote the vice-president of PKP Intercity in response to Jarosław Ditrich, who was surprised that this simple move had not been made earlier .

The speed limit for one driver to 130 km/h was one of the reasons for frequent train delays (e.g. on the Warsaw-Radom route) after the recent adjustment of timetables for trains that can run at 160 km/h. Because although new timetables were created based on the change in speed, the trains could not always accelerate so fast due to the shortage of drivers and the above-mentioned regulations.