The Railway Research Institute (Instytut Kolejnictwa) in Warsaw was established in 1951 and was, until 2000, part of the Polish State Railways (PKP). At present, it serves as an independent entity, it is subordinated to the minister responsible for transport. Since its inception, the Institute has been the centre of competence for technology, technique and organization of operation and services in rail transport, particularly in respect to innovation. One of its fundamental tasks also includes activities connected with safety which are carried out in close cooperation with the National Safety Authority, i.e. the Office of Rail Transport.

At the same time the Institute participated in the process of upgrading and modernization of the rail network in Poland. Experience in high speed rail, gained as a result of international cooperation and basing on the effort to increase speed on railway lines in Poland (so far 200 km/h), is included in the monograph "Koleje Duzych Predkosci w Polsce" (High Speed Rail in Poland) published in 2015 for the benefit of the Polish reader.

This monograph aims at reaching an international audience of experts so as to present Polish determinants of HSR implementation. In order to elaborate this monograph, apart from specialists from the Railway Research Institute, experts from other research and academic centres were invited. Not only presenting a wide range of problems connected with future construction of High Speed Lines in Polish conditions, but also a number of operational ones. The authors have created a reference work of universal character, solving problems in order to build and operate high speed rail systems in countries on a similar level of development as Poland.

Features:

• providing requirements for design and upgrade of engineering works on High Speed Rail development
• information on restructuring and building railway lines for countries starting to develop a High Speed Rail system
• dealing with organizational, engineering, socioeconomic and economic demands for transport services and the formation of human resources for constructing and operting a High Speed Rails system.

Presenting these problems on the international arena will facilitate future cooperation and application of world experience to create HSR in Poland and integrate the Polish HSR network into the international one.

Andrzej Zurkowski, Ph.D. Eng. Managing Director of the Railway Research Institute since 2006. Andrzej is a graduate of the Warsaw University of Technology (1980), where he obtained a doctoral degree in Technical Sciences (2008), and is Lecturer at the Military University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, and the Warsaw School of Economics. Specialist of railway traffic and organization of passenger services, he started his professional career in 1980 in COBiRTK (currently the Railway Research Institute). In 1989-2000 he headed a department in the General Directorate of PKP; and in 2001 created the PKP Intercity Ltd.; and became President of the Board in this company (2001-2004).

Andrzej represented the Ministry of Transport in working group EKTM at OECD and PKP and in many other working groups of the UIC. In 2003-2006, he held the position of Vice-Chairman of the Passenger Commission of UIC. Since 2006, he has been a member of the HS Steering Committee of UIC and a member of Scientific Committee of HS World Congresses. He was the President of Polish Association of Transport Engineers and Technicians in 2012-2014, and since 2009 is a member of the Transport Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences and has been the Vice-President of the International Railway Research Board (UIC) since 2016.

He is the author of 130 technical and scientific articles and over 100 lectures at various conferences. He is also a co-author of the Railway Traffic and Traffic Control handbook and the author of a few chapters in the monographs on railways (including HSR in Poland).

1 Development of high-speed rail concept in Poland
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Preliminary feasibility study for the high-speed line Warsaw - Lódz - Poznan/Wroclaw construction
1.3 Feasibility study results for the construction of Warsaw - Lódz - Poznan/Wroclaw line
1.4 Adapting Central Trunk Line to high-speed line parameters
1.5 A high-speed system based on a Warsaw - Lódz - Poznan/Wroclaw line and a Central Trunk Line
1.6 Directional high-speed rail development program in Poland
1.7 International high-speed connection in a TEN-T network
1.8 Possibilities of using high-speed lines for regional and agglomeration transport
1.9 Summary

2 Development of the high-speed rail infrastructure - Polish experience
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Upgraded high-speed lines - international experience
2.3 Upgraded high-speed line - the Polish case
2.4 Scheduled operation of high-speed trains in Poland - the fi rst year of experience
2.5 Conclusions

3 The view on socioeconomic aspects of high-speed system
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Beginning of high-speed rail
3.3 High-speed rail as a means of local development
3.4 Socioeconomic features
3.5 Effects for regions and the country
3.6 Summary

4 Operational effectiveness of high-speed rails
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Operating costs in the functioning of train speed
4.3 Cost-effectiveness of high-speed rails
4.4 Direct benefits on the passenger transport implementation with high-speed trains
4.5 Financial effectiveness of high-speed rails
4.6 Social and economic benefits of high-speed rails
4.7 Summary

5 HSR in Poland: Demand, spatial accessibility, and local spatial planning conditions
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Demand and gravitation
5.3 Spatial accessibility
5.4 Spatial planning at municipality (gmina) level
5.5 Conclusions

6 Adaptation of the Lódz Agglomeration Railway node to a new role in the high-speed rail system
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Location of Lódz within the transport network of Poland and Europe
6.3 Historical conditions of barriers for the development of Lódz Agglomeration Railway node
6.4 The process of planning and routing of the high-speed line running through Lódz
6.5 Description of the modern concept of restructuring of the Lódz Agglomeration Railway node
6.6 Implementation of the Lódz Fabryczna station as a central multimodal hub of the Lódz Agglomeration Railway node
6.7 Role of the Lódz Agglomeration Railway as a modern distribution system for travelers in the region
6.8 Targeted effects of modernization of the Lódz railway node and its surroundings
6.9 Summary

7 European and Polish requirements for a high-speed rail system
7.1 European technical requirements for HS
7.2 Polish technical requirements for HS
7.3 European rules for HS product certification
7.4 Polish rules for HS product certification
7.5 European rules for HS rail system operation
7.6 Polish rules for HS operation

8 High-speed rail passenger services in Poland
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Passenger transport in Poland and in Europe
8.3 Railway passenger services - some basic issues
8.4 Choice of maximum train speed
8.5 Elements of HSR services organization
8.6 Summary

9 Introduction of high-speed rolling stock into operation on the Polish railway network
9.1 Introduction
9.2 High-speed rolling stock
9.3 High-speed rolling stock in Poland
9.4 Vehicle dynamics tests
9.5 Operation of trains with the maximum speed of 200 km/h 225
9.6 Conclusion

10 High-speed rail power supply systems
10.1 Power supply systems for electrifi ed railway lines