Dom’s train quest.2 : 2 homes, 1 European Union adventure – Part 1 – From Wroclaw to Berlin NJ456 (PKP)

In this part, I will talk about my experience with travel on PKP Intercity from Wroclaw Główny to Berlin Hbf. More about my quest can be found here: https://dominiksymonowicz.com/2019/06/09/doms-train-quest-2-2-homes-1-european-union-adventure-quest-synopsis/ ).

I was so excited about this travel that I couldn’t sleep. I went to bed at 21, but I may fall asleep at 23, and then I wake up at 2.52 (even if my alarm clock was set to 3.30). As you can see in the picture, I looked like a zombie.

I arrived around 4.15, so I will have enough time to do pictures of the train station at night, except, it was already getting bright.

At least I could do a picture of the almost empty main concourse.

I will write more about Wroclaw Central (Wroclaw Glowny) in another post (check table of contents in https://dominiksymonowicz.com/2019/06/09/doms-train-quest-2-2-homes-1-european-union-adventure-quest-synopsis/ ).

Anyway, let’s check departures board.

Well, I hope my train will not crash as departures board.

Anyway, I spent this time to see what train fleet is in use in Poland. I am happy to see that the fleet got much better since the last time I used a train in Poland. One thing I miss to record is train arriving at the platform on the reverse. That was impressive.

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After exploring the station and observing a trains arriving and departing, it was time to be ready for arrival of my train.

My train arrived on time while I was recording the video I pushed by somebody who was in a rush to get into the train. I just forgot about this habit in Poland. I can understand this behaviour 20-30 years ago when there was no seat reservation but rushing to train where compulsory seems a bit odd. Sadly, I miss the opportunity to do pictures too. Maybe next time.

Anyway. I went to the train, and a few minutes later, we start to depart and begin my adventure.

Let’s start from the train. The train is formed from carriages from various operators from various countries. This train’s main route is from Vienna to Berlin but diffrenet operators starts from different places and they merge it on the way. Polish carriagies starts in Przemyśl Główny. I joined in Wroclaw and I will travel to Berlin Hbf.

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Carriage is split into six seat suits. I prefer this over open carriage as it adds lots of privacy and allows decent sleep on the seat. The seat itself was comfortable, but I think, seats on Caledonian sleepers are the best so far. It has a mini tray for a drink. The last feature that is worth mention is a bottle opener. It can be found under the table! I found this amazing feature only in Polish Railways so far.

AC is something that is considered a norm, but for me, the fact that AC works in PKP train is something brand new, and I never experience something that with polish railways before. That’s not all. The train was clean. It was shocking as I have never seen carriage so clean in Poland.

What happen to PKP ?

What was even more surprised that Train manager was friendly and spoke very good English. Security guards were patrolling the train, but I think the role was to wake up everybody with a very loud walkie talkie system. It will wake up even a deaf person.

While we were in Poland, there was no voice announcement. They started to appear when we were in Germany, and they were in English and German while our train was already in Germany. However, they were very difficult to hear.

This train does not offer any food/drink option. I feel this kind service should have a vending machine for a drink, snack and some sandwich but I guess it will not generate enough income to justify installation and vending machine are not famous for being quiet, but I will spend a fortune on coffee as due to lack of sleep I urgently needed it.

I didn’t check if the train has Wifi internet as I tried to use a mobile network only to save battery.

The trip itself went smooth, and I enjoy views of Polish landscape in summer (well, almost summer) is idyll.

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I was surprised to arrive on time to Berlin. I was impressed with how amazing Berling Hbf looks like (more about it in the next post).

Overall. I never said so many good things about PKP before. I am still shocked while I am writing this post. The trip was smooth. Views of Poland was breathtaking, and I am glad that I did it.

I am looking forward to trying Polish Pendolino next time, but in the next post I will write about the second leg of my journey from Berlin to Köln (Cologne). https://dominiksymonowicz.com/2019/06/20/doms-train-quest-2-2-homes-1-european-union-adventure-part-2-from-berlin-to-cologne-ice-650/