Poland’s Central Port Communication (CPK) – a megaproject to reshape its transport network with a new international airport and a nationwide high-speed rail network – has awarded a consortium led by Austria’s Porr Group a contract worth around €412m to build a high-speed rail tunnel under Łódź.
The tunnel will carry high-speed Line 85, a Y-shaped route connecting Warsaw and the new aiport with Łódź by 2032.
CPK wants the Y shape – running west of Łódź from Sieradz northwest to Poznań and southwest to Wrocław – finished by 2035.
Work on the Łódź tunnel will start this year. It will run 4.6km between the future Retkinia and Fabryczna high-speed stations.
CPK said the Porr team’s bid got the highest score for based on price (with a 70% weighting) and team experience (30% weighting).
The tender process began in December 2024.
A TBM with a diameter of around 14m will bore the tunnel, which will carry two tracks for trains travelling at up to 160km/h.
It will be the longest and widest single-bore railway tunnel ever built in Poland.
Protecting buildings above
The TBM will pass under Łódź’s built up downtown, so CPK commissioned 70 technical assessments to asses the risk of building damage and to recommend protection or repair measures.
The assessments “demonstrate that we are approaching this demanding project responsibly and in line with the highest execution standards,” said CPK’s chief executive Dr. Filip Czernicki.
Keller Polska has been strengthening the foundations of the Łódź Cultural Centre since September 2023.
For the tunnel, Budimex began building the Retkinia TBM launch chamber in December 2023. It’s expected to be ready in May. Work on the Fabryczna reception chamber is underway.
2025 tender plans announced
Meanwhile, CPK has unveiled plans for the tendering of other big elements of the megaproject this year, including the building of roads connecting the new airport to the road network, construction works for the Warsaw-Łódź high-speed railway, general engineering services for the airport, and what CPK called a “competitive dialogue” for the airport’s terminal.
CPK estimates each of these projects to be worth more than a billion Polish zlotys, or €234m.
The new international airport is set to open at the end of 2032, coinciding with the launch of the first section of the railway, but CPK said meeting these deadlines required the successful delivery of several key projects.
“The publication of CPK’s procurement plan for this year aims to streamline the entire process and allow potential contractors to better prepare their bids. This will contribute to greater competitiveness and the highest possible quality of offers submitted to the company,” said Maciej Lasek, Poland’s deputy infrastructure minister and government plenipotentiary for CPK.
During 2024, CPK launched around 60 tenders together worth some €1.93bn.
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