Transport in 2024: further, faster, more modern | Województwo Kujawsko-Pomorskie

On 26 May, one of this year’s most important sessions of the regional government will take place, during which a vote of confidence and discharge for the regional government will be held. The debate will be based on two documents: a report on the state of the voivodeship and a report on the implementation of the budget for last year. We present materials summarising the activities of the regional government in 2024.

Last year was marked by many positive changes in public transport: new rail and bus connections, the purchase of rail vehicles and hybrid buses, the introduction of agglomeration tickets in the largest cities of the voivodeship, and the opening of new directions for air connections.

– We are consistently betting on public transport,” emphasises Marshal Piotr Całbecki. – We are responding to signals from residents, we are launching new rail, bus and air connections. We are buying modern rolling stock and renovating infrastructure. We want to ensure a high standard and comfort of travel for passengers.

Trains to the sea

Eight thousand passengers were carried by the seasonal train “Rybitwa”, which was new in the timetable and on holiday weekends ran regularly between Toruń and Kołobrzeg. An average of 192 passengers travelled on each train. The record-breaking run was recorded on 3 August, when 394 people used the journey to Kołobrzeg.

Given the great interest in the “Rybitwa” train, this seasonal connection will also be continued in July and August of the year. But not only. This seasonal offer will be complemented by a new direct train from Bydgoszcz to Kołobrzeg, which we are permanently introducing into the timetable. The train will run on weekdays.

This is not the end of the positive changes to train services to the seaside. Since December, the ‘Barnim’ train, co-financed by the Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Wielkopolskie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodship governments, has been running from Bydgoszcz Główny station to Szczecin Główny station. ‘Barnim’ makes it easier for passengers to get to the capital of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship and to the Baltic Sea.

Last year, we decided to put the seasonal direct daily train to Hel back on the tracks, and as early as 19 June, the ‘Lighthouse Keeper’ will leave from Bydgoszcz Główna station, making stops in popular resorts of the Gdańsk Coast and the Hel Peninsula, among others.

At the request of residents

We respond to the requests of residents by introducing courses to the timetable to meet their demands.

The most important changes to the timetable (introduced in December):

the train which on weekdays ran from Toruń to Jabłonowo Pomorskie (Brodnica poviat) via Kowalewo Pomorskie and Wąbrzeźno started to run also on Saturdays,
a new weekend course from Bydgoszcz to Toruń, which from October enables extramural students to get to classes,
a new train from Czersk to Laskowice Pomorskie, which makes it easier for students to get to school, now runs not only on weekdays, but also on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays,
a new service on Sundays from Chełmża to Bydgoszcz and a new train from Toruń Główny station to Chełmża, which makes it easier for employees of the Ostaszewo Economic Zone to get home from work,
additionally from 15 June until the end of the year we will launch a new morning service from Inowrocław to Jabłonowo Pomorskie.

Also for a year, an additional pair of trains has been running between Czerników and Toruń. The annual cost of maintaining this pair of trains is 540,000 zlotys, 40 per cent is covered by the regional government and the rest jointly by the governments of Toruń, Toruń district and the municipalities of Lubicz, Obrowo and Czernikowo.

Passengers benefit from new bus stops in the Grudziądz area commissioned in 2024: Grudziądz Śródmieście and Grudziądz Rzadz. The investments were carried out by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. at a cost of around PLN 5.2 million.

We will go to Ciechocinek…

Last year here was a time of intensive work on restoring connections to Ciechocinek. An agreement signed in October between the regional government, the company PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (Polish Railways) and the municipality of Ciechocinek opened the door to the project. The parties undertook to renovate a seven-kilometre section of the railway line (Aleksandrów Kujawski – Ciechocinek), to improve the infrastructure around the station and to finance services to Poland’s most famous spa.

Currently under way:

the renovation of the railway line being carried out by Pomorskie Przedsiębiorstwo Mechaniczno-Torowe on behalf of the railway company,
the tender for the carrier operating the line.

Rides to our most famous spa will be launched as early as December.

Into the Tuchola Forest

After the so-called mid-year timetable adjustment, we will launch 37 new rail connections in June 2025.

One of the novelties, the “Borsuk” train, will travel daily from Toruń through the Tuchola Forest and Wdecki Landscape Park to Czersk (Pomorskie Voivodeship) during the holidays, stopping, among others, at stations in Tleń and Osie.

New rolling stock

Seventy-five per cent of the trains running regional passenger services belong to the regional government. We have thirty-three vehicles at our disposal, and the fleet of Marshal’s railway vehicles is steadily growing.

In 2024, we signed an agreement with Pesa Bydgoszcz for the purchase of seven modern trains for a quarter of a million zloty from the European Funds for Kuyavia and Pomerania 2021-2027 regional programme and the state budget. The trains will go out on the tracks in 2027.

We subsidise the tickets

The year 2024 was another year in which the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship’s Tariff was in operation on all rail routes, thanks to which we kept the cost of purchasing tickets unchanged compared to previous years. A normal ticket cost in 2024. PLN 4.10 for the first 10 kilometres, with the price increasing by 21 cents for each subsequent kilometre.

The regional government subsidises regional passenger transport with PLN 237 million. This amount includes the costs of compensation for Arriva and Polregio, as well as the costs of access to railway infrastructure and station fees – PLN 31.3 million.

Buses

The regional government will buy 25 electric and 15 hybrid low-floor buses to serve intercity lines in our region for PLN 91 million from the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO). The contract was signed in 2024 and deliveries are scheduled for late 2025 and early 2026.

The network of bus routes funded from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie voivodship budget is also expanding. In 2024, we launched a further eight new routes, which are used by the residents of the districts of Bydgoszcz, Nakiel, Sepolen, Toruń, Wąbrzeźno, Aleksandrów, Włocławek, Radziejów and Żnin. We now maintain a total of 68 lines in all the counties of our province, on which we have spent more than PLN 18 million.

Agglomeration ticket

The single agglomeration ticket BiT City, which enables travel on Polregio trains between Bydgoszcz and Toruń and the use of buses and trams for one hour after arriving in either of these cities, has been joined by the regional WiT City ticket. Thanks to it, rail, bus and tram services have already been used for a year by travellers between Włocławek and Toruń.

Spain and Egypt at your fingertips

In 2024, more than 366,000 passengers used the services of Bydgoszcz Airport. The number of travellers using charter connections increased by 50 per cent. Two new destinations were launched – to the Spanish island of Majorca and to Marsa Alam in Egypt. Cruises to Antalya and Crete were also very popular.

This year, nearly 70 000 travellers have already used Bydgoszcz Airport. The maintenance of old connections and the launch of new ones is the result of last year’s efforts by the airport’s management, supported by the regional government.

Departure directions from Bydgoszcz Airport:

UK (London, Bristol, Birmingham),
Dublin (Ireland),
Marsa Alam (Egypt),
Antalya (Turkey),
Majorca (Spain)
Rhodes and Crete (Greece) ,
Alicante (Spain),
Frankfurt (Germany),
Warsaw,
Krakow.

Particularly important for the region and its residents is the resumption of flights from Bydgoszcz to Frankfurt am Main by the German Lufthansa. Flights to this, Germany’s largest commercial airport, enable further communication with two hundred cities around the world.

In addition to Lufthansa, connections from Bydgoszcz airport are made by Lot and Ryanair.

Transport in figures: