French-Polish Rail Association

Last updated

French-Polish Rail Association (Polish: Francusko-Polskie Towarzystwo Kolejowe, FPTK, French: Compagnie Franco-Polonaise de Chemins de Fer, CFPCF) was a Joint-stock company, established in 1931 to complete construction and then usage of the Polish Coal Trunk-Line. Its offices were in Paris, Warsaw, and Bydgoszcz. Its manager in chief was a Frenchman, Charles Laurent.

In the early 1920s, the Polish government decided to construct a rail line connecting Polish part of Upper Silesia with Baltic Sea coast. The Polish Coal Trunk-Line was one of the biggest investments of the Second Polish Republic, and its construction, until 1930, was funded by the government. However, the Great Depression caused growing budget problems for the Polish State Railways, and completion of the line was questioned. Under the circumstances, the Polish government decided that the newly created French-Polish Rail Association would take over construction of the middle sector of the line.

The Association was officially created on April 21, 1931, in Paris. Its shareholders were the Polish Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego and the French Banque des Pays du Nord, as well as industrial giant Schneider et Creusot, which since 1924 had been part of a French–Polish Consortium for construction of the port in Gdynia. Furthermore, Schneider et Creusot was a shareholder of some Upper Silesian coal mines and steel plants, and for these reasons, the corporation was vividly interested in completion of the line. Founder’s capital was 15 million French francs.

The French-Polish Rail Association took over construction of the following sectors of the line:

Additionally, FPTK began construction of a line Chorzew Siemkowice - Częstochowa, which was finished in April 1939. It joined the Polish Coal Trunk-Line with the industrial city of Częstochowa.

The Association was granted the use of the line for 40 years; however, the Polish government assured the right to buy the line after 20 years. In the agreement, the Poles made sure that during construction, Polish workers would be employed, and Polish material would be used. Trains of the Polish State Railways were allowed to use the line without restrictions. Military and mail transports were granted the same privileges as they enjoyed on all government-owned lines. To finance all projects, the Association took a loan from a French bank, with the Polish government as a voucher.

On Wednesday, March 1, 1933, the 156-kilometer segment Zduńska Wola Karsznice - Inowrocław was opened, which resulted in immediate opening of rail cargo traffic along the whole line. The opening ceremony took place at the newly built rail station at Karsznice, and it was broadcast by the Polish Radio. The line, with double track along its route, was not completely ready until 1937. Due to a lack of finances needed to buy rail engines and cars, from 1933 to 1937, FPTK allowed Polish Railways to temporarily use the Trunk Line, until January 1, 1938, when the line was handed back to the Association. The national budget of Poland yielded an annual profit of 12 million zlotys from taxes and dividends from use of the line. In August 1938, in order to assure closer cooperation with authority of the port of Gdynia, FPTK became part of The Council of the Port. In the 1930s, general manager of the Association was a Frenchman Charles Laurent, and his deputy - Julian Piasecki. Since 1936, general office of FPTK was located in the office building in Bydgoszcz, which had been the headquarters of the Prussian Eastern Railway.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zduńska Wola</span> Place in Łódź Voivodeship, Poland

Zduńska Wola is a city in central Poland with 40,730 inhabitants (2021). It is the seat of Zduńska Wola County in the Łódź Voivodeship. The city was once one of the largest cloth, linen and cotton weaving centres in Poland and is the birthplace of Saint Maximilian Kolbe as well as Maksymilian Faktorowicz, the founder of Max Factor cosmetics company.

The history of rail transport in Poland dates back to the first half of the 19th century when railways were built under Prussian, Russian, and Austrian rule. Of course, "divided Poland" in the 19th century was the territory of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and not that one of today's Republic of Poland. After Polish independence was declared on 11 November 1918, the independent Polish state administered its own railways until control was surrendered to German and Soviet occupiers during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PKP class ET42</span> Polish class of rail trains

The Soviet-made ET42 is PKP's most powerful standard gauge electric freight locomotive. Due to its provenance, it is often referred to by its nickname of Rusek or Czapajew (Chapayev).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polish Coal Trunk-Line</span>

The Coal Trunk-Line is one of the most important rail connections in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zduńska Wola Karsznice</span>

Zduńska Wola Karsznice is one of the biggest rail junctions in Poland, located in central part of the country, within the borders of the town of Zduńska Wola. It is a station along the Polish Coal Trunk-Line; before 1930 it had been a separate village, but construction of the Trunk-Line resulted in creation of a separate district for rail workers, with numerous condominiums. A few kilometers north of Karsznice, the Trunk-Line crosses the Łódź–Tuplice rail line linking Warsaw through Łódź and Ostrów Wielkopolski to Poznań and Wrocław.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piła Główna railway station</span> Railway station in Piła, Poland

Piła Główna railway station is the main railway station in Piła, in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland. The station opened in 1851 and is located on the Kutno–Piła railway, Poznań–Piła railway, Tczew–Kostrzyn railway, Piła–Ustka railway, Piła–Ulikowo railway and Bzowo Goraj–Piła railway. The train services are operated by PKP and Przewozy Regionalne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warsaw–Kalisz Railway</span>

The Warsaw - Kalisz Railway, also called Kalisz Railway is a railway in Poland connecting Warsaw and Kalisz. It was built between 1900 - 1902 by the Society of the Warsaw–Vienna railway in the Russian-controlled Congress Poland. The line was opened on 15 November 1902 connecting the railway junction in Warsaw with Kalisz near the border of the Russian Empire and German Empire. Unlike the earlier Warsaw–Vienna railway the line to Kalisz was built to the Russian broad gauge 1,524 mm (5 ft) to facilitate Russian military transports and limit the potential for interoperability with the European rail network.

High-speed rail service commenced in Poland on 14 December 2014, with the introduction of 20 non-tilting New Pendolino trainsets operating on 4 designated lines radiating out from Warsaw. Polish State Railways started passenger service using Pendolino trains operating at a maximum speed of 200 km/h on 80 km line Olszamowice-Zawiercie. From December 2017 there are two 200 km/h sections, 136 km long in total. All high-speed services operated by PKP in Poland are branded as Express Intercity Premium (EIP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poznań Główny railway station</span> Railway station in Poznań, Poland

Poznań Główny, anglicised to Poznan Main, is the chief railway station for the city of Poznań, Poland's fifth-largest city, and capital of the Greater Poland Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bydgoszcz Główna railway station</span> Railway station in Bydgoszcz, Poland

Bydgoszcz Główna is the principal railway station serving the city of Bydgoszcz, the largest city and co-capital of Poland's Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warszawa Zachodnia station</span> Railway station in Warsaw, Poland

Warszawa Zachodnia station, in English Warsaw West, is a railway and long-distance bus station in Warsaw, Poland on the border of Ochota and Wola districts. The railway station is the westernmost terminus of the Warsaw Cross-City Line. It serves trains from PKP Intercity, Polregio, Koleje Mazowieckie, Szybka Kolej Miejska and Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa as well as international trains passing through Warsaw. It is one of the busiest railway stations in Poland, with over 800 daily trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grodzisk Mazowiecki–Zawiercie railway</span> Railway line in Poland

The Grodzisk Mazowiecki–Zawiercie railway better known as the Central Rail Line, designated by Polish national railway infrastructure manager PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe as rail line number 4, is a 224 km (139 mi) long railway line in Poland between Zawiercie outside the Katowice urban area and Grodzisk Mazowiecki in the suburbs of Warsaw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pesa Gama</span>

Pesa Gama is a family of diesel and electric locomotives built from 2012 by Pesa SA company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prussian Eastern Railway Headquarters, Bydgoszcz</span>

The Prussian Eastern Railway Headquarters in Bydgoszcz is a historical building, formerly the Prussian Eastern Railway headquarters. It is registered on the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Heritage List of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gniezno railway station</span> Railway station in Gniezno, Poland

Gniezno railway station is a railway station serving the city of Gniezno, in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland. The station is located on the Poznań–Skandawa railway and Oleśnica–Chojnice railway. The train services are operated by PKP, Przewozy Regionalne and Koleje Wielkopolskie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zgierz railway station</span>

Zgierz is a main railway station for the town of Zgierz, Łódź Voivodeship, serving two major railway lines connecting Łódź with Kutno and Łowicz, as well as being a key station of the railway ring surrounding city of Łódź.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zduńska Wola railway station</span> Railway station in Poland

Zduńska Wola is the main railway station for the town of Zduńska Wola, Łódź Voivodeship. Initially built in early 1900s to serve Warsaw-Kalisz Railway, it is currently an important interchange, serving trains running on Coal Trunk Railway from Karsznice station toward Sieradz and Kalisz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Łódź–Tuplice railway</span> Railway line in Poland

The Łódź–Tuplice railway is a 388 kilometer-long railway line in Poland running between Łódź Kaliska station and the Germany–Poland border between Tuplice, Poland, and Forst (Lausitz), Germany. It is commonly used for passenger and freight services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railway electrification in Poland</span>

Railway electrification in Poland is the process aimed at increasing the efficiency of railways and improving the railway services offered by supplying Polish railways with electricity and implementing electric rolling stock, which replaces rolling stock with other drives, mainly conventional diesel traction. By the end of the 1970s, thanks to massive electrification and the introduction of a large amount of electric rolling stock into service, it allowed to replace a large number of steam locomotives and older diesel rolling stock. Despite the abandonment of works in the 90s, currently PKP and other entities managing the railway infrastructure, such as PKM or DSDiK, are working on the implementation or are already implementing the electrification of their lines. Currently, the electrification of railways in Poland is aimed at improving rail transport by increasing competitiveness and attractiveness and replacing diesel traction of national importance and saving fuel on regional lines and railways mains such as line 31 from Siedlce to Siemianówka, line 137 from Kędzierzyn-Koźle to Legnica and line 203 from Tczew to Kostrzyn.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.