"The largest rail carrier in the country in terms of rolling stock is dramatically separated from another regional operators. The average train age is over 40 years. For comparison, Lower Silesian Railways have an average of only 4 years of vehicles", says in the Thursday edition of the diary of Legal Newspaper.
As the diary recalled, the rolling stock situation of Polregio was expected to change importantly thanks to the measures from the National Recovery Plan. In March, after the Centre of EU Transport Projects decided on a competition to fund the acquisition of vehicles for regional railways, the carrier informed that it had become the largest beneficiary of the programme. At that time 10 applications were accepted for the acquisition of 98 trains with the amount of PLN 780 million. However, as it has now turned out, with money from KPO the company can buy much little trains – only 36.
"There were 7 out of 10 applications from the updated list of beneficiaries. This occurred after the majority of the marshal offices withdrew from co-financing the purchase. They're the ones who were expected to put money into their own contribution. The regional authorities mainly deterred the excessive amount of own backing required,” writes “DGP”.
"In March Polregio received information about the reduced level of co-financing from 84 percent to only 24.89 percent for 10 projects submitted by the company as part of the competition. The implementation of projects at a reduced level of support required the approval of the voivodships, which in this situation would be obliged to cover the missing funds within the declared own share. Despite expanding the level of co-financing to 41 percent, in the end only 3 voivodships decided to implement the projects under changed conditions: Wielkopolska, Łódź and Warmian-Masurian. The another six provinces withdrew from the implementation of the projects. In their case, expanding their own participation in the task would exceed their budgetary capacity", Polregio reported.
As the “DGP” writes, representatives of the Pomeranian Voivodeship admitted that in their case there was another reason for refusing funding. – In view of the request to settle the KPO aid strategy by mid-2026, it is not possible to complete the investment within the required time limit. – said the paper spokesperson for the Pomeranian marshalry office Michał Piotrowski. According to the office, the largest manufacturers can supply vehicles as rapidly as possible in the first half of 2028.
The Ministry of the Fund and Regional Policy, asked by the ‘DGP’, whether in the context of co-financing the acquisition of trains for Polregio there is simply a chance to postpone the settlement of the money from the KPO, stated that ‘Poland has included in the KPO – as a milestone – the signing of contracts to co-finance the acquisition of fresh trains for the regional railways alternatively than their delivery’. However, the hotel later acknowledged that inaccuracy had entered the answer and its press office indicated that the warehouses co-financed from the KPO should be delivered by the end of Q2 2026.
The paper recalled that the head of the European Commission's representation in Poland, Katarzyna Smyk, late stated that this deadline would not be postponed. On the another hand, the MFIPR reported that its extension could be decided by the head of KE Ursula von der Leyen. "However, this is not the case", concludes the "DGP".
Source: diary of the Legal Gazette
TG
