Wawel (train)


Wawel was a named international express train. Introduced in 1995 as an InterCity service, it was uplifted to EuroCity category by its operators PKP Intercity and DB Fernverkehr in 2006. The service was withdrawn at the end of 2014. It is planned to reinstate the service as InterCity train between Kraków and Berlin from December 2020.
The train linked Kraków and Wrocław in Poland with Berlin and Hamburg in Germany. It was named after the Wawel, former residence of the Polish kings in Kraków.

Route

Initially Wawel was running between Kraków, Poland and Berlin, Germany. Trains started at Kraków Główny railway station via Katowice and Wrocław and used the railway line towards Szczecin up to the Rzepin rail hub, from where they ran on the Warsaw–Kunowice railway to the Polish-German border and Frankfurt. Between Frankfurt and Berlin, Wawel ran on the Lower Silesian-Marcher Railway line.
In 2001, weekday services were extended to Hamburg while weekend services continued to terminate in Berlin. At that time trains were running via Cottbus, passing the German-Polish border at Forst, then via Żary, Żagań, and Legnica 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.
The Wawel has never been able to achieve journey times of fast diesel multiple unit trains operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn that has been running on the line in the 1930s. Therefore number of passengers significantly decreased upon construction of the parallel A4 and A18 motorways in Poland. Service was discontinued in December 2014. In mid 2017 it was announced that service may resume in December 2019. In September 2019 it was pushed back to June 2020 and in April 2020 was announced to be planned for 2020/2021 timetable starting in December 2020.
Operator of that service, PKP Intercity, has 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.