On 26 August 2021, Budimex SA signed a contract with PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe for PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. for almost PLN 587 million net for the reconstruction of the Ełk station. The investments in Ełk are the first stage of works on the Białystok – Ełk section, as part of the project “Works on the E75 line on the Białystok – Suwałki – Trakiszki section (state border), stage I Białystok – Ełk section”. The project, worth almost PLN 587 million net, is co-financed by the EU funds of the CEF “Connecting Europe” instrument.
The deadline for the order is 28 months. The warranty period is 5 years. After the Czechowice Dziedzice station and the Warszawa Zachodnia station, the Ełk junction is another one being implemented by Budimex SA. This year, Budimex completed the modernisation of the Warsaw-Lublin railway line. In addition to these investments, the company also carries out railway contracts in Gdynia and on the E30 and E59 lines in Silesia and the Greater Poland Voivodeship.
I hope that the general contractor will be up to the task, as it has been doing in recent years, and will complete this investment according to the schedule. I wish that when politicians have already completed their tasks, organized financial and prepared projects, engineers will take matters into their own hands and no obstacles will stand in the way of investment plans and that in 2023 we will be able to use the new Ełk Osobowy station – said Andrzej Adamczyk – Minister of Infrastructure during the signing of the agreement.
The Ełk station is the heart of this section. They will start the works within the next three months. I hope that Budimex will be able to cope with what it is doing on many construction sites in the country – said Ireneusz Merchel – President of PKP PLK during the signing of the contract.
Construction works will begin after the investor obtains a building permit and completes work on the phasing project. The work schedule predicts that it will happen in approx. 3 months. At the moment, the general contractor is preparing the construction site and starting to order materials.
The scope of the investment includes:
– reconstruction of railway tracks with a total length of 38 km together with subgrade and drainage as well as Railway Control Devices at the Ełk Passenger and Ełk Towarowy stations
– construction of 118 turnouts
– construction of 5 platforms (including 2 options); total 2600mb edge (400mb in option) customized
to the needs of people with disabilities along with full infrastructure
– reconstruction of the overhead contact line and the network and lines with railway power equipment,
– construction of a control room building with new equipment at the Ełk station
– we will rebuild the sanitary infrastructure, rainwater drainage system and teletechnical networks.
In terms of engineering structures, the construction of:
– five rail-road viaducts
– one railway bridge over the EŁK River, and an underground passage under the tracks of the entire track system of the Ełk station
Brief characteristics of the engineering structures in question:
The aim of the project is to modernize four railway lines, i.e.: LK38, LK41, LK219, LK 223 within the Ełk station, Ełk Towarowy station and the Ełk Szyba Wschód passenger stop.
The main objectives of the project entitled: “Works at the Ełk station” include:
– shortening the travel time of trains in international, interregional and inter-agglomeration traffic between the Białystok and Ełk stations,
– improvement of line capacity,
– increasing the availability of rail transport,
– improving static and dynamic passenger information and information for carriers,
– improvement of railway traffic safety,
– rationalization of the costs of operation and maintenance of the managed infrastructure,
– ensuring the interoperability of railways,
– reducing the negative impact of rail transport on the environment.
Ełk has the largest junction station in Masuria, where lines to Białystok (extended to Brest, electrified in 1990), Korsz and further to Bartoszyce, Gołdap, Olsztyn and Czerwonka intersect. There are direct trains from Ełk m.in. to Olsztyn, Białystok, Toruń, Poznań, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Szczecin, Gdynia, Warsaw and Łódź.
