''Wawel'' is a named international

express train An express train is a type of passenger train that makes few or no stops between its origin and destination stations, usually major destinations, providing faster service than local trains that stop at many or all of the stations along their ...

. Introduced in 1995 as an

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the train categories in Europe, classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to InterRegio, regional train, r ...

service, it was upgraded to

EuroCity EuroCity (EC) is an international Train categories in Europe, train category and brand for European inter-city rail, inter-city trains that cross international borders and meet criteria covering comfort, speed, food service, and cleanliness. E ...

category Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) * Category ( ...

by its operators PKP Intercity and

DB Fernverkehr DB Fernverkehr AG (, "DB Long-Distance Traffic") is a semi-independent division of Deutsche Bahn that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of Deutsche Bahn, under the ...

in 2006. The service was withdrawn at the end of 2014 but reintroduced in December 2020. In its early years, the train linked Kraków and

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

in Poland with Berlin and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

in Germany. It was named after the

Wawel The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established o ...

, former residence of the Polish kings in Kraków. Since 2022, the eastern terminus of the line has been located further east at

Przemyśl Przemyśl () is a city in southeastern Poland with 56,466 inhabitants, as of December 2023. Data for territorial unit 1862000. In 1999, it became part of the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Subcarpathian Voivodeship. It was previously the capital of Prz ...

, a short distance away from the Ukrainian border.

Route

Initially ''Wawel'' ran between Kraków, Poland and Berlin, Germany. Trains originated at Kraków Główny railway station via

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

and Wrocław and used the railway line towards

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

up to the Rzepin rail hub, from where they ran on the Warsaw–Kunowice railway to the Polish-German border and

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With around 58,000 inh ...

. Between Frankfurt (Oder) and Berlin, ''Wawel'' ran on the Lower Silesian-Marcher Railway line. Ec wawel zary

In 2001, weekday services were extended to Hamburg while weekend services continued to terminate in Berlin. At that time trains were running via

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

, passing the German-Polish border at

Forst (Lausitz) Forst (Lausitz) ( German, ) or Baršć (Łužyca) (Lower Sorbian, ; Polish: Barść) is a town in Lower Lusatia, Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It lies east of Cottbus, on the Lusatian Neisse river which is also the German- Polish border. It i ...

, then via

Żary Żary (, , , ) is a town in western Poland with 37,502 inhabitants (2019), situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship. It is the administrative seat of the Żary County and of the Gmina Żary within the county, though the town is not part of the gmina (c ...

Żagań Żagań (French language, French and , ) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019), capital of Żagań County in the Lubusz Voivodeship, located in the historic region of Lower Silesia. Founded in the 12th ce ...

, and

Legnica Legnica (; , ; ; ) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River and the Czarna Woda. As well as being the seat of the county, since 1992 the city has been the seat of the Diocese of Legnica. Le ...

to Wrocław and continued to Kraków. From 2010, trains ran from Żary via Węgliniec railway station. In December 2012, the eastern section of the route was cut back to Wrocław, and in May 2013, the terminus of the western weekday extension was temporarily moved east, to

Lüneburg Lüneburg, officially the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg and also known in English as Lunenburg, is a town in the German Bundesland (Germany), state of Lower Saxony. It is located about southeast of another Hanseatic League, Hanseatic city, Hambur ...

. The ''Wawel'' has never been able to achieve the journey times of the fast diesel multiple unit trains operated by the

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

that ran on the line in the 1930s. Therefore, passenger numbers significantly decreased upon construction of the parallel A4 and A18 motorways in Poland. Service was discontinued in December 2014. The operator of the service between 1995 and 2014, PKP Intercity, then used the name Wawel on some of its domestic InterCity trains from Kraków to Bydgoszcz in 2016, Kraków to Szczecin in 2017 and 2018 and from Zielona Góra to Łódź in 2019. In mid 2017, it was announced that service may resume in December 2019. In September 2019, resumption was pushed back to June 2020 – due to different reasons including the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

crisis. The service finally restarted in December 2020. Compared with the 'old' Wawel train, the route changed completely: The train now originated in Berlin Hbf instead of Hamburg Hbf, between Berlin and Legnica it uses the faster and electrified route via Frankfurt (Oder), and the eastern terminus has been moved further east to Kraków Główny instead of Wrocław Główny. Later, beginning in the 2021/2022 timetable, the eastern terminus was shifted even further East, thus lengthening the line. The line now connects

near the Ukrainian border, via

Rzeszów Rzeszów ( , ) is the largest city in southeastern Poland. It is located on both sides of the Wisłok River in the heartland of the Sandomierz Basin. Rzeszów is the capital of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship and the county seat, seat of Rzeszów C ...

and

Tarnów Tarnów () is a city in southeastern Poland with 105,922 inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 269,000 inhabitants. The city is situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east– ...

, to Kraków and destinations further west.

References

External links

* {{EuroCity trains EuroCity International named passenger trains Named passenger trains of Germany Named passenger trains of Poland Railway services introduced in 1995 Railway services discontinued in 2014

Route

See also

References

External links