Polish rail carrier steps in after Czech operator drops Warsaw-Kraków plans

Poland's state-owned long-distance rail operator PKP Intercity has said it will add three new daily services between the capital Warsaw, and the southern city of Kraków after Czech private carrier RegioJet withdrew plans to operate the route.

A high-speed PKP Intercity train gliding along the rails of northern Poland.

Photo: Petr Štefek, CC BY-SA 3.0 CZ , via Wikimedia Commons

PKP Intercity announced the decision at a news conference on Monday, saying it would take over time slots originally intended for RegioJet, which had been due to launch the services in 2026 but pulled out at the last minute.

The additional connections will be operated using PKP Intercity's high-speed Pendolino trains, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

🚄 Więcej połączeń Pendolino między Warszawą a Krakowem 🇵🇱
Od 5 stycznia w rozkładzie PKP Intercity pojawiają się dodatkowe pociągi EIP Pendolino na jednej z najpopularniejszych tras w Polsce.

🕒 Nowe kursy:
• Kraków 14:52 → Warszawa 17:23
• Warszawa 15:40 → Kraków 18:28
•… pic.twitter.com/JgtKhPw5go

— PKP Intercity (@PKPIntercityPDP) January 4, 2026

One morning service departing Kraków at 6:51 a.m. will be operated by a 400-metre-long trainset, with seating for more than 800 passengers—about twice the usual capacity.

"We said earlier that we would ensure passengers can travel between Warsaw and Kraków at the hours originally planned for the cancelled services," PKP Intercity CEO Janusz Malinowski said.

He added that demand for rail travel is expected to rise in the coming weeks due to school winter holidays and the university winter break.

The first of the additional trains departed Kraków for Warsaw shortly before 3 p.m. on Monday.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR