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A MILESTONE IN THE HISTORY OF POLISH STATE RAILWAYS

dworzec1Polskie Koleje Państwowe SA (PKP, Polish State Railways) is currently doing the biggest programme of modernization of railway stations. The programme includes railway buildings in all regions of Poland. Many works, of course, could not be done without stone industry specialists and natural stone will add functionality to a number of buildings.

In the last three years 45 buildings, including, among others, Warszawa Centralna, Warszawa Wschodnia, Wrocław Główny, Poznań Główny, Gdynia, Malbork and Przemyśl, have been rebuilt or built from the scratch as a part of the programme of PKP railway stations modernisation.  
– This year we have already opened for our passengers modernised railway stations in Koło and in Swarzędz – says Tomasz Kowalski from the press office of Polskie Koleje Państwowe SA.

– Right now, 19 railway stations are being modernised, for example in Głogów, Legnica, Sieradz, Kłodzko and Opole. At 19 other stations, including, for example, Rumia, Kościan, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Toruń, Olsztyn and Inowrocław the works are going to start soon. The contractors have already been chosen or we are getting ready to choose them. The necessary documentation which enables modernisation of more buildings, for example in Szczecin Główny, Bydgoszcz Główna, Gliwice, Piła, Środa Wielkopolska, Kielce, Ciechanów, has already been prepared.

The financial means for those projects come from the state budget, the European Union, the PKP budget and from private developers. By 2015 64 railway stations are planned to be modernised. So far the most money has been spent on the renovation of the main station in Wrocław (more than 323 million zlotys (ca. 81 million euro). Several tens of million zlotys were spent on each of the following stations: in Przemyśl, Poznań, Tarnów, Warszawa Wschodnia and Gdynia Główna. The station in Tarnów was renovated first (in 2010). The most recent renovations took place in Swarzędz and Koło (Wielkopolskie Province).

The budget without precedent

dworzec2By the end of 2013 PKP SA will have spent almost billion zlotys (ca. 250 million euro) for renovating railway stations. The money for the modernisations come from the European Union, the state budget, and, finally, from PKP SA. The company, when doing the programme, is cooperating with large developers. It was so, for example, in case of building new stations in Katowice and Poznań and when working on the project of the new station Warszawa Zachodnia. The project, prepared together with developers, is worth more than 1,5 billion zlotys (almost 400 million euro).   
For us, of course, projects with the use of natural stone are the most interesting. There are many of them. We have to mention Przedsiębiorstwo Kamieniarskie “Wolski”. Thanks to this company, for the needs of interior decorations of 13 stations of the Warsaw subway, as many as 34,000 sq metres of natural stone have been used. The floors and walls were made of granites, marbles and sandstones. This contractor has been doing the most prestigious orders in Poland and abroad for nearly two decades.

– During this time we have gained trust of the most demanding investors. Stone traditions of our company were of great importance. Stone traditions in Koluszkowce date back to 1928 when the company Kamieniołomy Miast Małopolskich Sp. z o.o. began extracting andesite on the post-volcanic mountain Wdżar – says Kazimierz Wolski.

– From the very beginning good specialists were very important for me. Therefore, I decided to educate the youth in the profession of stonemason. Till today our company has trained 300 journeymen and 25 master artisans in the profession of stonemason. We have got qualified staff then. We also possess a modern machinery park which allows for completing the most demanding orders. We are able to offer every kind of stone since we cooperate with the largest quarries in the world.

Waterjets are serving PKP SA

dworzec3PKP SA has been convinced to use syenite slabs on the floors. This stone can be found at the Central Station in Warsaw. Syenite replaced there the bitumen-backed floor covering which did not look nice. Stonemasons from Kluszowice were also working at platforms of railways stations in Cracow and in PKP buildings in Kielce, Tczew and, again, in Cracow (in Cracow the company decided to lay stone in the new part of the station (Ed.). The project in Cracow is an interesting example because PKP has been convinced to use – except for the Polish stone – decorative granites from Brazil. White granites named Cotton Motion were cut with the use of the latest waterjet cutting technology.

– Our annual average is laying 100,000 sq metres of stone, so PKP is not our biggest customer – says K. Wolski.
– Of course, we would like to make railway stations more beautiful, particularly with the use of Strzegom granites, because it is important for us to promote Polish stone, but our experience tells us that we have to be careful with such orders. For example, after the general contractor of the project in Cracow went bankrupt, till today we have not seen a penny from him. And we have laid as many as 8,000 sq metres of stone. It is even more irritating because the deadline was very tight. We had to do our works in Cracow within 3 months. We managed to do it, but it means nothing because now we have to fight for our money in the court.

The people we were talking to are often irritated because of that. The reason is always the same – a bad system of orders. The contractors related with stations’ building very often choose the cheapest subcontractor who subcontracts stone works to the companies with little experience. Low price is, not for the first time, the most important criterion which finally lowers the quality of services and causes a lot of problems. It is a pity, because in press notes we can often read that PKP company, by deciding to modernise railway infrastructure, wants new stations to be cities signatures. Architectural pearls by getting back their previous looks are supposed to be lively public spaces. Modernised railway stations are supposed to be associated not only with travelling, but they are going to be meeting places and places where you can spend free time. PKP wants railway stations to be modern junctions connecting various transport means with large car parks, enriched by additional commercial, entertainment, office, hotel and restaurant services.  

Thinking about historical buildings

dworzec4Quite a big group of specialists who document historical  character of paving craft is complaining that when doing those projects the advantages of natural stone are not taken into consideration. It was so some time ago in case of andesite from the Pieniny region which used to decorate a large part of the square in front of the main station in Cracow. The cobblestone was removed. The same also happened to the cobble made of sandstone Carpathian sett.  

Renovated stations are supposed to be full of modern architectural solutions, and in case of historical buildings the works have to take into account their unique and historical character. For sure it is going to be like that in Opole. Building works will be finished there in the first quarter of 2014. In one and a half years this building will undergo a serious metamorphosis, respecting, of course, its historical character. The renovation is supposed to include not only historical wooden window frames of ticket offices or ticket office desks, but also richly decorated floor in the hall of the station. One of the most important elements of those works is cleaning and filling of architectural details made of sandstone which are situated both in the building of the station “Front” and “Wars”. Also the square in front of the station will change its look.

Prestige, but only prestige

dworzec5Such orders are surely worth being treated as prestigious. Millions of passengers at railway stations mean a great chance for a successful ad for companies which decided to do works with the use of natural stone. As we found out, quite a big group of stone companies is also interested in putting some boards with the information about the works. It is no surprise that the temptation is huge. Finally, we deal with buildings which become important elements of urban architecture. They could be one more element of a company’s image.

– For us it is an interesting order because we changed the subcontractor who did not fulfil his duties. The deadline is tight then, because from the end of March to 10 May we have to pave 1,000 sq metres of Strzegom floors with inserts from Kośmin and ca. 400 sq metres of wall slabs from Morawica. This is for our company a challenge without precedent, which will surely publicise our project – says Damian Marszałek, the president of Marstone, which decided to do works at the station in Radom.
– It is a pity because we have almost run out of the financial means during the works done by the previous subcontractor, who was not only doing his task inefficiently, but, finally, he backed out of his work. As a result, the budget got much smaller, and the range of works got reduced.

As we managed to find out, a greatly reduced budget will affect the expected result to a little extent. The renovation of floors is going well. It is not going to be a general renovation though. Instead of, for example, polishing the surfaces, they are going to be thoroughly cleaned. But, still, the result is supposed to delight. The order, unfortunately, is not lucrative. The company is located around 45 kilometres from Radom, but they managed to optimise the workers’ transport costs. The majority of the 10-person staff lives in Radom.

And what is the situation with brand new works of art made of stone? PKP seldom wants to have small architecture projects done. This, however, happened in Wrocław. Specialists from M+Q Polska made a set of stone benches. They attract attention with their massiveness, because all their elements were made of a 15-cm slab.
– 15 benches were made in accordance with the project delivered to us by PKP. Dozen of them can be found in the main hall; the rest is located by the entrance to platforms – says Dariusz Karcz, a technical advisor of M+Q Polska in Jaroszów.
– They have been in perfect condition for a year, because together with a warranty we gave PKP a manual, in which we can find how to take care of stone with the list of impregnating agents which can be applied in order to keep the natural gloss of granite.  

Are railway stations going to become real cities’ signatures and really friendly and lively public spaces? The time will show. It is important that those renovated railway stations cannot be only full of modern architectural solutions. In case of historical buildings, all the works should be done paying respect to their unique, historical character.    

Rafał Dobrowolski

 

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