Interview with Krzysztof Celiński,
President of the Board,PKP Intercity SA

When will PKP Intercity make its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange?  Are you still opting for the year 2010 to be that moment?
I reckon the year 2010 is rather attainable for PKP Intercity's entering the stock exchange. When I think about the privatisation of our company, I recollect an article in "The Economist" about Chinese companies on the stock exchange in Shanghai.

All IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) were withheld for a longer time there, too, and now there is such demand for these stocks that their prices achieved in IPO for small enterprises are, at present, equal to those planned in the times of prosperity. The situation in our country may develop according to a similar scenario.

It is not much for China, but for Poland it would be rather a lot. These companies obtained the prices that were planned in the times of prosperity. Therefore, the scheduled introduction of PKP Intercity to the stock exchange in the first part of the year 2010 is quite attainable.

Where will the gained means be invested?

Our company is judged from the perspective of a passenger. That is why, when speaking about investments, there will mainly be investments in our rolling stock and in the system of sales. The first contact of a passenger with the carrier is buying a ticket. We want to introduce ticket machines on the best Polish railway stations. We will gradually develop the system of e-sales and invest in Customer Service Centres.

In January, 2010, the 3rd railway package will come into force. It assumes, among others, the opening of the rail transport market and liberalisation of international rail transport. How will these new regulations affect Intercity?

1 January, 2010, will not bring a revolution. This is only a date in regulations. We will still closely cooperate with our international partners. PKP Intercity and German Railways have developed a new project – a joint marketing office in Berlin, where our representative and a representative of German Railways work together. The Office will encourage choosing railways for travelling between our countries. In the international transport, many people travel by bus or car, and only relatively few travellers choose international railways.

PKP Intercity bought modern Eurosprinter locomotives from Siemens. When will they appear on Polish railway tracks?

We were given a proposal of a new timetable for the year 2010. Thanks to new locomotives, passengers will be able to travel from Warsaw to Cracow in 2 hours and 20 minutes and from Katowice to Warsaw in 2 hours and 28 minutes. The travelling time is shortened. Of course, approximately 3-4 minutes are added to the official timetable for late-coming travellers. The Eurosprinter locomotives will be used on those lines.

What would you consider a success of the company?

Introduction of many new initiatives is a success. I mean, first and foremost, the replacement of our rolling stock – plans to buy new locomotives are formulated all the time. The substantial growth in the number of tickets sold through the Internet may be called a success, too. We want to develop it and we work on expansion of the sales system of e-tickets for various trains, not only for those with seat booking.

We will introduce machines for selling tickets very soon. We want to introduce them on a broader scale to make buying a ticket on the Central Rail Station easier. These machines will be operating with the use of credit cards, because buying railway tickets requires a bigger sum of money than buying tickets in public transport. A machine, in which you have to put a PLN 100 or 200 banknote, could cause concerns that if something goes wrong you will not get your money back. Paying with a credit card is becoming more and more popular now.

We are planning to modernise the Customer Service Centre located in Łódź, which, unfortunately, is not accessible in the whole country. We reached an agreement with TP SA and will be negotiating with mobile phone operators. It will be possible to call from anywhere in Poland to one Centre to get information about railway connections, not only Polish ones.

In what area do you notice the biggest problems?

The basic problem of this industry is its backwardness and being in a state of neglect for many years. Of course, there are many reasons for that. In the past, this industry was expanded too much in all communist countries. It was mainly orientated towards monopolistic passenger and cargo transport – mainly for heavy industry, which collapsed after the change of the  political system. That is why it had to be restructured. Money was spent on restructuring, and not on development. Nowadays, we have obsolescent wagons and carriages. There are still twenty-year-old carriages on the cross-province lines. It is like we were still in the old times of Martial Law in Poland and as if it was still the year 1984. The basic worry is how to find quick financing for the replacement of the obsolescent fleet, namely carriages, locomotives, as well as for the infrastructure where we still have some ‘ancient' lathes that have even been registered as historic monuments. They should be taken to the Museum of Technology. We need modern appliances. Moreover, it is a period of recession now. In the times of prosperity, it was easier to invest and take loans. Nowadays, it is much harder to obtain bailouts for modernisation.

In addition, due to the recession many people hesitate whether to go on holiday or not. Even if they go on holiday, they decide about this at the last moment. All European railways complain that not many tickets are bought in advance. The demand for cheaper transport rather than for expensive one is noticeable, too.

Do you not fear that Polish people will stop choosing railways and opt for cars and airplanes for longer distances?

I see less and less space for airlines for connections between cities in Poland. Of course, Polish people will fly to other countries more often but not within Poland. More regions in Poland will become much more accessible due to highways. Simultaneously, the modernisation of railways will proceed. This will lead to a revision of previous habits.

Railways will be able to offer journeys between major cities in Poland lasting approximately 2 hours. That is the reason why railways will still be attractive – and I am sure of that. In order to get to highways you have to drive through cities that are becoming more and more congested. It will not change. Railways will be competitive.

What is the future for Polish passenger?

Certainly, railways will be more open because of the implementation of modern solutions. Our passengers may already buy tickets through an on-line selling system on intercity.pl for InterCity, Ekspres and TLK trains (in the future also for fast trains), and they can book rooms in hotels in hundreds of places in Poland and abroad. We are planning to establish further Customer Service Centres. Passengers are served in comfortable and air-conditioned interiors of six existing Centres (in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Wrocław and Poznań). In the future, those Centres, because of user-friendly architectural solutions, might become Centres offering all-embracing service for passengers before and after the journey. We need to pay more attention to disabled passengers due to the condition of Polish railway stations and platforms.
Interactive machines for selling tickets and giving information are going to appear on railway stations.

What can we expect from Intercity in the autumn?

We have a nice surprise for those returning from their holidays – you can now buy tickets at bargain prices thanks to the ‘Cheap Ticket’ offer – PLN 19 for Intercity and Ekspres trains. For example, day and weekend trips to Cracow, TriCity or Zakopane will be comfortable and affordable. The offer embraces more than 40 connections. We invite you to use our on-line e-IC ticket selling system, where, thanks to the ‘Earlier and Cheaper’ offer, you can buy tickets starting from PLN 59 for all Intercity and Ekspres connections.