ABSTRACT
Author describes the unused assets of the central location of the region of Lodz and Lodz in Poland and in the Central and Eastern Europe as the crossing of two European transport corridors TEN-T network in the region.
Current system of the Lodz Railway Junction (LRJ), formed on the border of two nineteenth century railway systems of Russia and Germany has remained almost unchanged to the present day. These railway lines were intended to handle freight traffic, which has been still having a negative impact on the organization of work for handling of passenger traffic and has been leading to the marginalization of the LRJ in routing of long-distance trains. The main railway station Lodz Fabryczna, despite many investment initiatives, remains terminal station, not linked to the rail on the western side of the city.
The modern concept of restructuring the LRJ was based on a project of building a new central station (instead of the train station Lodz Fabryczna) as a multimodal station underground (stage I-2016) and the construction of the diametrical tunnel for a conventional rail (Stage II-2021). The phase of the change of the terminal station Lodz Fabryczna into station will be crucial to improve the efficiency and operationability of the LRJ and of emerging suburban railway network. In the third stage, up to 2030 the high-speed rail “line Y” should finally stop at the functioning Lodz Fabryczna station.
In the article there was also described the implementation of the Lodz Fabryczna station restructing as a central node in multimodal LCF and the role of the Lodz Agglomeration Railway (LAR) as a modern distribution system for travellers in the region. LAR launched operation of its first line towards Sieradz in June 2013. It currently supports four railway lines with a perimeter of up to 75 km from Łódź.
There are described the functional effects of the Lodz Railway Junction modernization as well as the plans for the city development, discounting establishment of a supra-regional multimodal hub.
