The success has many fathers, but for respective days the absent and many parents of the election defeat of Rafał Trzaskowski have besides been appearing. The charges were besides formulated Jan Mencwel. "Think about what – or to whom – almost all Mazoviaj voted, for example. Yes, these people voted against, not necessarily. possibly they voted against the power, which, having occupied the seats for decades, is incapable to bring even a simple change, like improving connections with the capital of the voivodship?” wrote the Warsaw councillor.
The local government reminds that the Polish Marshal Adam Struzik, who runs the region for almost 25 years, did not build a single fresh railway line connecting the remainder of the voivodship with Warsaw. possibly that's why the towns, municipalities and districts, from which you can't get by train to the capital, said no to the Citizen Coalition candidate.
This thesis seems convincing erstwhile we look at the electoral map of Mazovia, where – as she called it “Electoral” – at the Nawrock Sea You can see the island of Trzask. Apart from Warsaw, its bagel and another well-connected municipalities, Trzaskowski did not convince the inhabitants of the region. However, this cannot be explained only by the eternal rule that the PiS has the top support in villages and tiny towns.
I live in Warsaw myself, I come from 1 of these Mazovia districts where uneducated conservatives do not necessarily live. That's where Nawrocki won too. I totally realize why.
In my family's 20 1000 Płońsk, there is inactive no direct connection to the capital, although these 2 cities are only 70 km apart. The nearest railway station that allows this is located 30 km from the city, and the bus does not make it easy to scope the site, especially in the evening, on weekend or holiday. That's erstwhile I visit my parents. I didn't make a car, so I don't drive much.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the exclusion of transport Płońsk and another Mazovia towns causes the breakdown of household relations and makes intergenerationally little and little of an understanding. But it's just the tip of the mountain of consequences of an inoperative gathering. For details, I asked the editor-in-chief of the two-monthly “With Rails” by Karol Trammer.
Paulina Januszewska: Did the railway communication exclusion in Mazowsze origin the defeat of Rafał Trzaskowski in the presidential election?
Karol Trammer: In another voivodships, large cities besides voted for Trzaskowski and the periphery on Nawrocki. In terms of election results, Mazowsze is not a unique area, but an interesting case, which sheds more light on the causes of this phenomenon. 1 of them is undoubtedly the fact that good communication accessibility allows to satisfy aspirations, to benefit from educational or cultural offer, to make a career or passion, to feel part of a larger, let us call it a metropolitan family, that is, they simply do not feel excluded, which affects beliefs and more liberal political choices. Indeed, in Mazowsze, this is clearly seen by the course of railway lines and the cities best connected to Warsaw. Even if the Citizen Coalition loses in them, it is not with moles like where there are no connections with large centres and thus the frustrations resulting from transport exclusion are increasing.
And if it's frustration, it's for the PiS?
Or simply to the opposition organization against elites digging in Warsaw, the anti-system protest organization or only anti-government. In Poland, rebellion is little common on the street, and more frequently by voting for a candidate who is criticized as dangerous or undergrown to democracy.
But I don't think Trzaskowski himself is guilty of the fact that the railroad in Mazowsz doesn't work everywhere.
Depends on how we look at more or little authoritative and transforming into improvement policy the Trzaskowski alliance with the marshal of the Mazowieckie state Adam Struzik. A clear symbol of this cooperation seems to be that the marshal acts as a associate of the Supervisory Board of Tramwajów Warszawski, and the officials of the Capital Town Hall are members of supervisory boards in the companies of the voivodship. However, more crucial in this context is the historical way of allocating funds from the European Union, which has been decided over the years by the GDP per capita of the full voivodship.
I take it Warsaw has been falsifying him?
Yeah. In line with mostly accepted policies across the EU, EU funds depend on the level of regional development. The top support is to flow where the level of improvement is lowest. So before the Mazowieckie state was divided into 2 statistical areas: the Warsaw agglomeration and the remainder of the voivodship, the rich capital not only overstated the results of the full Mazowieckie state and thus understated the amount of grants, but besides had access to funds, from which as so rich, even in the context of Europe, the city should not draw.
But yet there was a division.
But inactive in Warsaw on the renovated streets you can see the signs that the investment was financed from the instrument for the equal improvement of Mazovia. It is not an EU fund, but a regional government and it is scandalous that funds from this origin go to a rich Warsaw.
Like what?
For example, for renovation of Śmiała Street in the villa part of Warsaw Żoliborz. Struzik has ruled the state for a 4th of a century. Although only representing an eight-member PSL club, after the municipal election in 2024 he retained this position. The 20-member club of the Civic Coalition voted in favour of this candidacy, among another things, due to this Warsaw-Mazovia political symbiosis. Moreover, Marshal Struzik himself is the leader of its pro-platform wing of the PSL and has besides dug into his position thanks to his cooperation with Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, and then with Rafał Trzaskowski, who provided the chance for Warsaw to draw funds, which should go elsewhere, i.e. to places located 50, 80 or even 100 km from the capital, with considerable unemployment and transport exclusion. In addition, the PSL has mastered the creation in the Mazowieckie state of improvement appearances.
What is this game of appearances?
Although we hear all the time, according to the fact that the provincial government is financing the Mazowieckie Railways with large money, which actually make large purchases of fresh rolling stock, these are, however, mainly long electrical warehouses to operate the besieged routes that coincide in Warsaw. The buying of busses goes hard, making the rolling stock shortages large adequate that there are abrupt cancellations on the outskirts of the region. It is besides symbolic that the Mazowieckie Railways have not decided to acquisition combustion and electrical trains that could handle direct connections from peripheral lines not straight electrified to Warsaw. However, the worst is with regional public transport where the railway does not scope – more than 60% of municipalities are mentioned.
Is it better in another regions?
There's a different approach. In Lesser Poland, Łódź and Lower Silesian provinces, the regional public transport strategy is based on railways and buses delivering passengers to the nearest railway stations from villages and towns distant from the tracks. In Małopolska, the strategy has been developed for years and 46 specified transportation lines already exist. These include all Małopolskie powiats. Only at the turn of 2024 and 2025 only 10 regional bus lines were opened as part of the pilot service. For example, they combine the railwayless Żuromin with stations in Mława and August. It sounds good in theory, but in practice it's very weak.
What another mistakes were made?
Firstly, these buses are not tariffly integrated with the Mazowieckie Railways at all. Secondly, most bus lines only run on business days, which, in regional transport, completely misses the request for travel on Sundays afternoon and evening. It is then that a large number of people from their hometowns return to Warsaw, where they learn and work. There are besides missing evening courses on Friday the another way. The last course of the bus from Mława to Żuromin is at 15:50 in order to catch it from Warsaw you gotta get on the train of the Mazowiecki Railway in Gdańsk Warsaw at 13:29 pm. So, how can a individual working in Warsaw until 4:00, 5:00 or, God forbid, by 8:00, usage this bus to return to his hometown for the weekend on Friday?
However, in the case of Mazovia lines, there are those that drive outside working days.
But only 2 by 10 lines. Besides, these lines were only launched in tiny areas of the voivodship. Also, bus and train transfers are not always stacked. It happens that the bus to be delivered to trains stops almost a kilometer from the railway station. erstwhile the Mazowieckie province, the richest Polish province, announced that it was yet starting to make bus lines, it could be expected that it would be a model strategy – with modern and spacious buses, with a common tariff with the Mazowieckie Railways, with good promotion and information for passengers and plans for the successive improvement of the network. It turned out that in the way there were narrow buses of the external contractor and its subcontractors, to which a kid wheelchair cannot be accommodated, the problem of getting carried distant is besides a individual who is travelling in a wheelchair. In the neighbouring Łódź Voivodeship, modern vehicles were purchased to operate the bus lines of the Łódź Agglomeration Railway, and in Mazowsze, the pilot program of regional buses seems to show that no 1 is utilizing bus lines to halt dealing with this problem erstwhile and for all.
What results from the opposition to the extension of railway connections? Savings?
I will answer to the example of the Sierpc-Rajań-Płońsk-Nasielsk line, which was in very bad form for years, trains rode slowly, which prevented the creation of an attractive timetable. In the end, however, it was full renovated by PKP Polish Railway Lines, the railway network manager in Poland. Train speeds have been importantly increased, which improved line bandwidth: erstwhile the train drives faster, it takes shorter distances between stations, so you can make more connections. Unfortunately, the Mazowieckie Railways did not willingly take advantage of these opportunities and make a new, attractive offer on this line.
And what would be the full usage of its potential?
Direct Sierpc-Rajań-Płońsk-Nasielsk-Warsaw trains of Gdańsk should be created. This would supply the north-western part of the province, which is present on the side of the railway, with an attractive connection to the capital, which is the main direction of access. On the section from Nasielsk to Warsaw, these trains should take a tiny number of stops, so that they would scope the capital faster — the Płoński and Sierpecki districts would get close to Warsaw.
The Mazovia railroads go easy?
They have a very attractive and advanced turnout transport offer on lines moving straight to Warsaw. On most of them they supply a large number of trains to the capital from the borders of the voivodship itself. Although there are besides cases specified as the fact that passengers from the north-east of the region are forced to switch. alternatively of direct connections between Czyżew-Warsaw, trains of separate relations between Czyżew-Malkinia and Malkinia-Warsaw run. We must merge these trains into a single account and do not force passengers from Zaręby Kościelne and Szulborze Wielkie communes to make meaningless transfers. It is akin on the Ostrołęka-Wyszków-Fatch line. Most of the trains from Ostrołęka only scope Fata and there passengers who want to scope Warsaw request to change. If the offer were to be based on the direct trains of Ostrołęka-Warsaw, the merger of Vyszkowski and Ostrołęcki counties with the capital would become much more convenient.
We have quite a few connections on the Fat-Insect line.
Yeah, most likely the most in history. However, the problem lies in these uncomfortable crossings in Fat, which discourage passengers – in Poland the timetable on the railway is unfortunately changed all 2 to 3 months, which means that erstwhile the crossing is at the same platform, and erstwhile you gotta run through the underground passage, erstwhile the crossing is comfortable and takes a fewer minutes and erstwhile requires longer waiting and wasting time. Paradox, let us call it a fat paradox, is that the Mazowieckie Railways aversion to support the service of the way from Ostrołęka to Warsaw on direct connections explain that the warehouses would should be longer, due to the fact that many passengers would be able to get to them in the Warsaw agglomeration. And this is how you can handle the Ostrołęka-Wyszków-Fat section with shorter compositions.
Are they right?
Indeed, there are less passengers between Ostrołęka and Fat than in the section from Fat through Wołomin to Warsaw. But these fewer trains, which go straight from Warsaw to Ostrołęka, enjoy greater attendance besides on the section behind Fat. This is due to the fact that direct connections attract passengers.
Transport policy or simply a rail transport offer can affect election results as much as possible. If the timetable, train relationships, service of individual routes sustains the contrasts in the region with respect to the level of prosperity, unemployment rates or the availability of education — alternatively of stimulating mobility and eliminating inequalities — a large proportion of the population feels excluded, and this affects who they vote for. In the case of the Mazovia province, whose surface area is about the same as Denmark, Belgium or the Netherlands, the question arises, of course, why the function of specified cities as Ostrołęka, Płock, Siedlce or Radom is so obscured by Warsaw. Why must the Marshal's office be in Warsaw alternatively than Ciechanów? Why must the Mazowieckie Provincial Road Administration be in Warsaw alternatively than Ostrołęka? Why is the Mazovia improvement Agency in Warsaw and not in Zyrardów? Why is the Mazowieckie Social Policy Centre in Warsaw and not in Wyszkow? Work should be spread across the region. Another thing neglected by Marshal Struzik.
The election decisions besides coincide with the depopulation rate – where cities depopulate, more right-wing parties win.
The major problem lies in the administrative division introduced in 1999. It is based on the fact that the capital of the region is always the largest city of a given voivodship. As a result, the needs of the largest agglomeration are mainly visible from the Marshal offices. For example, in Germany, the capital of the Land of Hessen is Wiesbaden, not the largest and metropolitan city of Frankfurt am Main. The capital city of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is not Rostock's largest port landa, but half the smaller Schwerin, lying inland.
Let's go to national level. If so many Poles voted not for Karol Nawrocki, but against Trzaskowski, or alternatively the organization he represented, does that mean that no 1 believed in Donald Tusk's announcement about large investments in railways? Did this government win in doing anything right?
In my opinion, transport policy in practice has not changed much compared to the 1 implemented for the government of the Law and Justice Party. but possibly CPK, around which Donald Tusk's government created full news chaos — as opposition they were against, after winning the election they guarantee they are in favor. But the government typical for CPK was Maciej Lasek, who was an ardent opponent of the project. In addition, for example, the construction of the Konin-Turek railway line and the reconstruction of the railway to Jastrzębie-Zdrój, the largest Polish city without railway, fell out of the erstwhile government program. It all allows the politicians of the Law and Justice to say that the Tusk government is abandoning ambitious projects. Indeed, at least erstwhile it comes to railways, narration has changed a small – all now and then, from a government typical we hear that building a railway station in a tiny town is simply a waste of money.
What does that mean?
Under the Law and Justice, no 1 would say that. To the degree that the Law and Justice Service has successfully dealt with the problem of depopulation of tiny cities or their transport availability, it is another matter. But politics has it against itself that it doesn't should be effective at all to get her applause. Voters do not necessarily anticipate a politician to solve a problem, frequently it is adequate that he notices and talks about these problems. Persecution is only the next stage. For example, the Railway Plus programme announced in 2018, although it was extended for years and the trains did not return due to it to a single locality, it inactive brought a clear message that the Law and Justice Service cared about restoring railway connections that had liquidated erstwhile governments.
The opposition parties to PiS besides talked about restoring railway connections.
Yes, Simon Holovnia in 2023 said that he would reconstruct railway connections to all cities of at least 10,000 inhabitants. Only erstwhile the government was formed, it did not give any typical of its organization to the Ministry of Infrastructure, and, for example, it placed as many as 3 representatives of Poland 2050 in the climate resort. How, then, does Holovnia intend to fulfill his promise, what did he do for a year and a half to fulfill it? The Left declared that it would reconstruct the railroad to all counties. It would have been rather a compensation for what the government of the Democratic Left Alliance did between 2001 and 2005: then decisions were made to liquidate as many as 2.4 1000 kilometres of railway lines. Leszek Miller's and Mark Belka's governments have reached a shameful evidence on this issue. But after the election, did the Left present a plan to bring the railway to all counties? Nope. I think she forgot that she made that promise.
But Donald Tusk says we have a fresh era of transport in Poland. The government will invest billions in railroads. Is he lying?
The problem is that, as the Prime Minister organises a conference under the slogan “New era of transport”, it speaks about fast connections from Warsaw to Gdańsk, Krakow, Wrocław, Poznań and Łódź. On the another hand, Karol Nawrocki performed in the election run on platforms in Koński, Bytów, Spółnocje Krajeński or on the celebrated station in Włoszczów, which, erstwhile created for the first government of the Law and Justice, was collectively criticized by elites from Warsaw and Krakow, incapable to accept the fact that the train connecting the 2 largest Polish cities began to halt on the way in a city of 10 1000 inhabitants. Only that 1 cannot forget that in the last presidential election 60% of the votes were cast in urns in villages and in cities with no more than 50,000 inhabitants.
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Karol Trammer is the editor-in-chief of the bimonthly “With the Run of Sin” and author of the book Sharp cut. How Polish Railways Were Destroyed.