Pendolino hits 253 km/h in tests — Warsaw–Kraków under two hours from next year

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A speed of 253 km/h (157 mph) has been reached by a Pendolino train during tests carried out as part of preparations to speed up rail connections between Poland’s major cities from next year. The plans will see the journey time between Warsaw and Kraków cut to well under two hours.

“Polish rail is accelerating – and 250 km/h is just the beginning,” declared the infrastructure minister Dariusz Klimczak, alluding to plans for Poland to later begin running trains at speeds of up to 320 km/h.

Osiągnęliśmy 250 km/h na Centralnej Magistrali Kolejowej❗🚅

Dzisiejsze nocne testy systemu GSM-R na linii nr 4 zakończyły się pełnym sukcesem. Oznacza to, że pociągi pojadą tą trasą z rozkładową prędkością 250 km/h już w przyszłym roku❗

Pozwoli to znacznie skrócić czas… pic.twitter.com/ndXvePZP4t

— PLK SA (@PKP_PLK_SA) August 18, 2026

The tests on the GSM-R data transmission system, a communication standard designed to be used at very high speeds, were carried out on Monday night.

Trains will be able to run on Poland’s Central Main Line (CMK), which connects Warsaw with Kraków and Katowice, at a scheduled speed of 250 km/h from December 2027.

That will cut the expected journey time between Warsaw and Kraków, the country’s two largest cities, by around half an hour to 1 hour and 52 minutes, reports rail news service Portal Kolejowy.

It will also be possible to travel from the capital to Wrocław, Poland’s third-largest city, in around three hours. The fastest current connection is 3 hours and 30 minutes.

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Reaching the target speed of 250 km/h was a “very important moment for Polish rail”, said Maciej Kaczorek, a board member of PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe, the state railway infrastructure manager, quoted by news website Money.pl.

Poland has been operating Pendolinos, built by France’s Alstom, since 2014. The trains are designed to run at speeds of up to 250 km/h, but currently operate at a maximum of 200 km/h in Poland and run on routes connecting Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław and the Tricity area

However, this week’s tests are not a record rail speed in Poland. In 2013, a Pendolino reached 293 km/h during a test on the CMK a year before the high-speed trains commenced passenger services in the country.

A Polish Pendolino high-speed train has begun running in the Czech Republic for the first time.

The Prague-Bohumín service will run until June as part of a certification process that Polish operator PKP Intercity hopes will lead to a Warsaw-Prague route https://t.co/hmUNd7ft0E

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 10, 2026

Speaking to Rynek Kolejowy, deputy infrastructure minister Piotr Malepszak said that it had “taken too long” for the network to be adapted to allow regular speeds of 250 km/h.

The current government, which took power in December 2023, has much broader plans for expanding high-speed rail travel in Poland, including building 2,700 km of tracks capable of carrying trains at 320 km/h.

In December 2025, state rail operator PKP Intercity launched a tender for 20 such trains. They would cut the journey time between Warsaw and Gdańsk, on Poland’s Baltic coast, to around 100 minutes – from 2 hours 25 minutes currently – by 2040, Malepszak told the Polish Press Agency in June.

Passenger numbers on Poland’s rail network have been booming in recent years. In the first half of 2026, a record 44.7 million passengers travelled with PKP Intercity, more than 10% up on the previous year’s record and some 45% higher than three years earlier.

Poland has launched a tender to buy 20 trains that can reach speeds of 320 km/h (199 mph), making them the fastest ever to travel on Polish tracks.

Currently, Poland's fastest trains, Pendolinos, can reach maximum speeds of 200 km/h https://t.co/XcGdJJggkx

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 31, 2025

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Nasza Kolej (press materials)