A Polish broad-gauge operator expands in anticipation of the post-war boom in traffic to Ukraine.

Polish company PKP Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa, part of the state-owned PKP group that operates a nearly 400-kilometer broad-gauge railway connecting with Ukraine, is investing in expanding and modernizing in anticipation of a post-war boom in traffic.

In the first 10 months of the year, PKP LHS’s traffic volume reached over nine million tons (around 11 million tons are expected by the end of the year), compared to 8.3 million tons last year. Around 43% of this volume is Ukrainian iron ore, and 85% of total traffic is imported from Ukraine.

The company hopes that the situation will improve after the war ends and is already noticing an increase in traffic in the building materials segment being sent from Poland to Ukraine. In response, it is investing in the construction of local automated control centers, having already built two centers at a total cost of about PLN 100M ($25M) and with plans to build two more. The company is counting particularly on the development of container transportation.