Summary：POLAND: Dolnośląskie voivodship has awarded national local passenger train operator PolRegio (formerly known as Przewozy Regionalne) a contract to operate local passenger services in 2017-20

POLAND: Dolnośląskie voivodship has awarded national local passenger train operator PolRegio (formerly known as Przewozy Regionalne) a contract to operate local passenger services in 2017-20.

The deal is worth a total of 153·6m złoty over four years. The voivodship is to pay PolRegio 50m złoty/year in 2017, with its payments reducing to 38·2m złoty/year in 2018 and 2019 and to 27·2m złoty/year in 2020. This reflects the voivodship’s intention to transfer some of the services to its in-house operator Koleje Dolnośląskie during the contract term.

The voivodship will pay KD 75m złoty for the operation of 6·7 million train-km in 2017, under an operating contract running from 2015 to 2022 which already includes provisions for other routes to be added.

The voivodship’s long-term aim is for KD to become the sole operator of regional services in Dolnośląskie. However, the authority remains responsible for a share of PolRegio’s debts and KD would require additional rolling stock if it were to take on further routes.