POLAND: The CPK project has called tenders for the construction of 4·6 km tunnel in Łódź which will be a key element of the Y-shaped high speed line between Warszawa, the future national hub airport, Wrocław and Poznań.
The 14 m diameter double-track tunnel to be bored by TBM from a portal southwest of Łódź Kaliska to Łódź Fabryczna station will be ‘the longest and largest-diameter underground railway passage constructed using this method in Poland to date’, said CPK CEO Filip Czernicki on August 1. ’The CPK tunnel is one of the most technically demanding pieces of the Y high speed line. At the same time, it is also our most advanced project.’
Bids are to be opened at the beginning of September, and will be evaluated on price (70%) and qualifications (30%). The chosen contractor will have 46 months from the signing of the contract to complete the project.
CPK has already awarded a 93m zloty contract for Keller Polska to reinforce the foundations of the Łódź Cultural Centre by mid-2025 and a 147m zloty contract for Budimex to build the Retkinia TBM launching chamber by the end of this year as well as the Fabryczna receiving chamber.
Construction of the CPK tunnel for long-distance trains will be co-ordinated with the ongoing construction of a tunnel for local and regional trains which is being led by railway infrastructure manager PKP PLK.
Maciej Lasek, government plenipotentiary for the CPK programme, said completion of the Łódź to Warszawa route in 2032 will reduce the travel time between the two cities to about 40 min, which is ‘comparable to a metro journey in Warszawa’.
