Great news from Warsaw. On 31 August, the Ministry of Regional Development updated the list of individual projects which may benefit from EU funding. The “Infrastructure and Environment” programme now includes the most important projects of the New Centre of Łódź: modernisation of the Warsaw-Łódź railway line, including the construction of the Łódź Fabryczna underground station, creation of a multimode communication node and the preliminary works leading to the construction of high-speed railway.

Individual projects are the most important investments which in the coming years may benefit from EU funds outside any calls for proposals. Such initiatives are of strategic significance as their implementation accelerates the social-economic growth of our country. The Ministry updates the list of key projects in order to verify the level of development of the investments. It is not enough for a project to be listed to receive the financial aid; if the beneficiaries do not meet the deadlines for gathering the necessary documents, the project may be excluded from the list and its place will be taken by another one. The financial aid assigned for a given project may be released for competition proceedings.

Measure 7.1 “Development of Railway Transport” includes a huge project managed by PKP PLK S.A.: “Modernisation of the Warsaw-Łódź railway line, stage 2”, divided into Lots A, B and C. The total cost of this investment is estimated at PLN 3.6 billion, out of which 2.4 billion will come from subsidies. Lot A covers the modernisation of the section from Warszawa Zachodnia to Miedniewice (Skierniewice), whereas Lot C covers the remaining work: the construction of a viaduct in Rogów and the Local Control Centre in Skierniewice. Thanks to these investments, journey time from Warsaw to Łódź will decrease to 65 minutes. However, from the point of view of Łódź, the most important part is Lot B, which covers the section from Łódź Widzew to Łódź Fabryczna, including the Łódź Fabryczna station and the construction of the Łódź Fabryczna underground transfer and city station. The cost of this part of the investment is estimated at PLN 1.9 billion, while the total financial aid PKP PLK S.A. may receive is more than PLN 1.2 billion.

PKP PLK may be also subsidised another PLN 247 million for the 291-million project which covers analysis and preparatory works for the construction of high-speed railway which will link Warsaw, Łódź, Poznań and Wrocław.

There is more great news: the primary list for Measure 7.3 “Public transport in metropolitan areas” now includes the project of the multimode Łódź Fabryczna station. Łódź can receive up to PLN 230 million for the investment which is to cost of nearly PLN 600 million in total. The construction project of the multimode station is to include such work as: construction of a tram line along the northern side of the station, redevelopment of the existing tram line along Kilińskiego Street, creation of new bus stops for metropolitan and regional public transport as well as creation of car parks and access roads to the station. All this is going to be located at 3 levels below the city surface. Thanks to this, the station may become a transfer station for public transport from the entire metro area. The end of July witnessed some controversy about this investment, as according to some rumour Łódź would have to compete with Warsaw underground for the status of the key investment and for EU funding. The Ministry of Infrastructure officially denied any such rumours, confirming that the Łódź and Warsaw projects are not mutually exclusive. Today we know that both investments have been included in the list.

The cherry on top of all this is the information that the list also includes the first stage of the construction of Łódź Metropolitan Railway system (ŁKA). The project which will cost the Łódź Voivodeship PLN 344 million may receive PLN 145 million in subsidies. The investment will include the purchase of 18 railcars which will enable the citizens of the voivodeship to quickly and comfortably travel to Łódź. 12 local governments from the Łódź Voivodeship will participate in this project: Głowno, Kutno, Pabianice, Ozorków, Stryków, Łowicz, Zduńska Wola, Łęczyca, Zgierz, Łask and Koluszki.

Thanks to EU funding, it is possible to financially support most of these large investments. This is a great opportunity which cannot be wasted.