Planned mega-investments in Malaszewicze

The capacity of the railway station in Malaszewicze is to increase almost fivefold by the year of 2026.

CARGOTOR – a company from the PKP Cargo Group, plans to carry out a mega-investment in Malaszewicze – the Polish gate to the New Silk Road, consisting in the expansion of the railway terminal belonging to the PKP Cargo Group. The investment value (with the support of EU funds) is approximately 4 billion PLN.

The Brzesc – Terespol border crossing and the terminal complex located right behind it in the region of the Malaszewicze commune are the gateway to the constantly increasing rail container transport between China and Europe. A main line from Russia and Belarus runs this way – and the track with a gauge of 1520 mm ends in Malaszewicze. Containers and other loads are reloaded onto wagons with a European gauge (1435 mm) or onto trucks in the group of terminals (the largest of which is owned by PKP Cargo).

The constantly growing number of cargo in rail freight (especially transport from China) with the unchanged capacity of the railway line itself and terminals more and more often causes congestion in Malaszewicze and thus delays in transport.
Investments in infrastructure are necessary to keep up with the growing demand for intermodal transport between China and Europe.

Investment plan in Małaszewicze

The first investment has been underway since 2017, i.e. the reconstruction of the E20 line in the Terespol area, for which PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. is responsible. Unfortunately, it is delayed. Currently, PKP PLK is proceeding with an annex to the contract with the contractor, extending the deadline for the project implementation entitled “Works on the E20 railway line, the Siedlce – Terespol section, stage II – LCS Terespol”. The annex will contain a new schedule for the investment. The extension of the project implementation is the result of works extension – instead of one track, a double-track connection of the PLK infrastructure with the Cargotor infrastructure in the area of the Magdalenka branch post will be created. This will increase the possibilities of transporting goods on the rail network.
The second investment – the construction of a new bridge over the Bug River – has not started yet due to the difficult political situation in Belarus. In the Ministry’s of Infrastructure opinion, the construction of a new, third railway bridge over the Bug River is a priority, but the investment implementation depends on the political situation on the other side of the border.
The third (and the largest) investment is the modernization of the railway infrastructure in the Malaszewicze Reloading Region. It is 170 kilometers of tracks on both gauge bases, where reloading centers operate. They are managed not by PKP PLK, but by Cargotor – a company from the PKP Cargo Group.
At the end of January 2021, Cargotor announced the completion of (almost all) preparations and the construction project submission to the provincial office with an application for a building permit.
The company expects a building permit to be issued at the turn of the third and fourth quarter of this year. The application covers approx. 90% of the area of the Malaszewicze Transhipment Area (which is to become a Logistics Park after the reconstruction).
The contractor of construction works will be known by the end of 2022. The works themselves – with the least possible interference with train traffic – are to last from the beginning of 2023 to the middle of the year 2026.

Expected results

The investment is to allow the Park to accept longer trains (1050 meters instead of 750 meters) and heavier (axle load 25 tons instead of 22.5 tons) and the maximum speed will increase to 40 km/h. The track layout, traction network and traffic control will also be rebuilt.
Investments completion will increase the capacity in the area of the Malaszewicze-Terespol-Brzesc border crossing from 12 to 55 pairs of trains a day.