Road works around the Łódź Widzew station are nearing completion – the building’s renovation is also proceeding smoothly. The entire investment is to be ready by the end of July. Already in a month’s time, Łódź Widzew will be a modern station handling several times more passengers than before.

For many years, the Łódź Widzew station has been almost at the end of the world – hidden behind blocks of flats somewhere in the Widzew estate. Few people knew how to reach it with public transport which stopped several dozen metres from the station building. The tiny station had little chance of managing even a part of the traffic that it will have to take over in June, when the Łódź Fabryczna station closes down. That is when the “operation on an open city” starts. The railway tracks linking Łódź Widzew and Łódź Fabryczna will be hidden under the ground. For the following few years, trains from Warsaw will arrive at Łódź Widzew. What used to be one of the stops will become the final destination, and the traffic will increase several times. For that reason, the City together with the Polish Railways (PKP S.A.) prepared a modernisation plan. The tender for renovation was won by building company Skanska S.A., and the works began already in December. The agreement is worth ca. PLN 6 million.

A bus terminus where three lines will run is ready, together with one of the two car parks. Its capacity is 140 cars. This part of the investment was commissioned by the Roads and Transport Authority. Moreover, the road surface of the Augustów street and the Służbowa street that lead to the station was renovated. The second of the two car parks is now waiting to be finished. Once the works are done, 400 cars will be able to park around the station, which is twice the number of vehicles that can be parked around Łódź Fabryczna now. An aesthetic revolution is underway around the station – freshness will be brought by street furniture like flower stands, bicycle racks and benches.

Seen from outside, the station building is also impressive. At last it does not seem unfinished, which was its main defect for years. It has become a truly elegant, cosy and symmetrically-arranged railway station. The new wing is going to house ticket windows, an information centre and a waiting room, while the old wing is going to have kiosks, restaurants and a cake shop. A breath of modernity will also be brought by ticket machines. Already in a month’s time, Łódź Widzew will be a modern station handling several times more passengers than before. At the same time, it will retain its cosiness, which will be fully appreciated once the multimodal Łódź Fabryczna station has been opened.

The end of renovation works does not mean the end of changes around the station – more of these will follow already in spring. It is then that the platforms will be roofed and the overpass that leads to them will be replaced by an underpass. Simultaneously with the construction of the underground Łódź Fabryczna station, railway tracks and the traction system between the stations will be replaced. Some of the trains bound for Warsaw will depart from Widzew. PKP PLK S.A. also plans to renovate the track between Łódź Widzew and the Łódź Kaliska station so that trains can cover that distance in approximately 10 minutes.