Budimex and KZN Rail begin construction of Małopolska Railway base

On 01.10.2021 the representatives of the Budimex and KZN Rail consortium, together with the representatives of the investor – the local government unit for Małopolska Voivodeship; and the ultimate beneficiary – Małopolskie Railways; inaugurated the construction of technical facilities for servicing rolling stock in Kraków worth over PLN 92 million.

The contract for the investment, realised in the design-and-build model, was signed a year ago. During this time, the contractors managed to make the necessary multilateral arrangements of the project – which, due to the pandemic, involved numerous difficulties and prolongation of the process. Finally, at the beginning of September this year, the Governor of Małopolska issued a decision approving the building design and granting a building permit.

The symbolic shovel-digging, which took place 4 weeks later, started the actual construction process. Within the next 10 months, a modern technical backup facility for Małopolska Railways will be built, which will guarantee the reliability of the rolling stock and the high quality of the carrier’s services. The facilities building itself, constructed by Budimex, will be divided into four zones, which will include the actual repair facility, a two-storey office and social part with a control room, dispatching centre or facilities for conductor crews, a workshop and warehouse part and a full-pipe wash station. The facilities will be equipped with a wastewater treatment plant as well as a toilet emptying and tank launching station, a track lathe, a bridge crane and rail vehicle hoists, wheel load measuring devices and wheel wear monitoring devices. According to the project, the hall will also house water supply, sanitary, central heating and air-conditioning systems. Budimex, the consortium leader, will also be responsible for the general development of the area (pavements, access road, car park).

The scope of the undertaking also includes partial demolition and construction of the track system and traction network, for which the co-conspirator – KZN Rail – will be responsible. In the repair zone, three 140-metre-long tracks will be constructed in the ballast-free technology – two for inspection and repair, and one for the washing station with closed circulation. Outside the zone, 15 parking tracks with a total length of almost four kilometres will be built. A dozen or so necessary turnouts will be produced by the Kraków plant of the KZN Bieżanów Group. The entire track system will make it possible to accommodate and freely service up to 30 modern 4-5 section vehicles.

The construction of the service centre for the Małopolska railway operator is the first investment of this type for Budimex. However, Budimex has years of experience in the management of railway construction projects. Budimex completed a retrofit of LCS Kutno along an 18 km railway link from Żychlin to Barłogi and is currently redeveloping the Port Gdynia railway station, a project worth 1.8 MPLN. KZN Rail completed a project very similar to this one for Koleje Dolnośląskie, a railway operator. Budimex and KZN Rail boast an extensive portfolio of joint projects, like the ongoing construction of Trasa Łagiewnicka (a road link) and upgrading of the Nowa Huta Depot, where KZN Rail is the trackwork subcontractor for Budimex. Both companies have railway construction equipment and a dedicated team of engineers to allow timely completion of awarded projects with superior quality deliverables.

Project: “Construction and equipping technical facilities for servicing rolling stock” is one of the strategic investments of the Małopolska Region aimed at comprehensive support for regional rail transport in Małopolska. The investment is financed from EU funds under the Małopolska Voivodeship Regional Operational Programme for 2014-2020 Measure 7.2 Rail transport, Sub-measure 7.2.1 Rolling stock, the budget of the Małopolska Voivodeship and the Małopolska Railways’ own funds. The total value of the investment is PLN 92,384,199.76, eligible costs - PLN 75,165,102.56 and the value of the EU funding: PLN 63,890,337.18