Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna (Łódź Metropolitan Railway) is a

commuter Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular o ...

and

regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

service operating between the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

city of

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

and surrounding towns in the

Łódź Voivodeship Łódź Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province is named after its capital and largest city, Łódź, pronounced . Łódź Voivodeship is bordered by six other voivodeships: Masovian Voivodeship ...

(province). The company was founded in 2010. It is fully owned by the Łódź Voivodeship government.

Services

The Railway operates services to destinations between Łódź and the following towns and cities:

Koluszki Koluszki () is a town, and a major railway junction, in central Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship, about 20 km east of Łódź with a population of 12,776 (2020). The junction in Koluszki serves trains that go from Warsaw to Łódź, Wrocław, Cz ...

Kutno Kutno is a city in central Poland with 42,704 inhabitants (2021) and an area of . It is the capital of Kutno County in the Łódź Voivodeship. Founded in the medieval period, Kutno was a local center of crafts and trade, owing its growth to i ...

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

Sieradz Sieradz (,) is a city on the Warta river in central Poland with 40,891 inhabitants (2021). It is the seat of the Sieradz County, situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Sieradz is a capital of the historical Sieradz Land. Sieradz is one of the olde ...

Skierniewice Skierniewice () is a city in central Poland with 45,184 inhabitants (2023), situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is the capital of Skierniewice County. Through the town runs the small river Łupia, also called Skierniewka. Located in the hist ...

Zgierz Zgierz is a city in central Poland, located just to the north of Łódź, and part of the metropolitan area centered on that city. As of 2021, it had a population of 54,974. Located within the historic Łęczyca Land, it is the capital of Zgie ...

. On weekends, services operate between Łódź and the

Warszawa Wschodnia railway station Warszawa Wschodnia, in English Warsaw East, is one of the most important railway stations in Warsaw, Poland. Its more official name is ''Warszawa Wschodnia Osobowa'' (translated as ''Warsaw East Passenger''). It is located on the eastern side of t ...

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. The main termini stations of the network are Łódź Kaliska, Zgierz and

Łódź Widzew Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's fourth largest city. Łódź fi ...

. Services are operated on railway tracks owned by

PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe (; PKP PLK) is the Polish railway infrastructure manager, responsible for maintenance of rail tracks, conducting trains across the country, scheduling train timetables, and management of railway land. The company was founded in 2001 as part o ...

, which are shared with other rail operators. The central sections of ŁKA form a circular line encircling the city of Łódź, running between

Łódź Kaliska railway station Łódź Kaliska is one of the two main railway stations in the central Polish city of Łódź. It is located west of the center of the city, in the district of Polesie, and it consists of six platforms. The first complex of the station, designed b ...

and the Widzew railway station in the Łódź suburb of Widzew, the town of Zgierz, and concluding at Łódź Kaliska railway station. Although the system maps and timetables depict a circular line, in reality, there is no service that runs continually around the city. Instead, commuters must catch trains travelling to an outlying destination, and change at one of the three main stations to continue travelling around the circular line.

History

The company was established in May 2010 by the Łódź Voivodeship Government. The Voivodeship undertook a major rail upgrade program worth €72m, 50% of which was funded by the European Union. The program involved upgrading rail tracks and existing railway stations, constructing new railway stations at a number of regional locations, and undertaking a major reconstruction of the existing station in Widzew. A new train maintenance depot was also constructed in Widzew. The program also involved improving bus connections, building

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

facilities, ticket facilities, and purchasing a fleet of 20 new trains. The Railway commenced operation on June 15, 2014. The Voivodeship Government has indicated that it intends to purchase 14 more trains and extend services to

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the capital of Piotrków County and the second-largest city in the Łódź Voi ...

Bełchatów Bełchatów () is a city in central Poland with a population of 55,583, as of December 2021. It is located in Łódź Voivodeship, southwest of Warsaw. The Bełchatów Power Station, Elektrownia Bełchatów, located in Bełchatów, is the largest ...

and

Złoczew Złoczew is a town in Sieradz County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland, with 3,340 inhabitants (2020). It is located in the historic Sieradz Land, south of Sieradz and north of Wieluń. Złoczew is a relatively young town in the region, da ...

. On 11 December 2018, the company launched a new route between Skierniewice and Łowicz (extended to Kutno on 15 December 2019), and on 10 March 2019 it launched new routes from Łódź Fabryczna station to Piotrków Trybunalski,

Radomsko Radomsko () is a city in southern Poland with 44,700 inhabitants (2021). It is situated on the Radomka river in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is the county seat of Radomsko County. Founded in the 11th century, Radomsko is a former royal city located ...

and

Tomaszów Mazowiecki Tomaszów Mazowiecki (, or ''Tomashuv'') is a city in central Poland with 60,529 inhabitants (2021). It is the fourth most populous city in the Łódź Voivodeship and the second with free public transport. It is the seat of Tomaszów County, Ł ...

Rolling stock

ŁKA began operations with an order of 20

Stadler FLIRT Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

two-car EMUs, which entered service starting in 2014 and were delivered through early 2015. In September 2016, Stadler was named the preliminary winner of a contract to supply 14 three-car EMUs, but after a legal challenge from

Newag Newag S.A. (pronounced ''"nevag"'') is a Polish company, based in Nowy Sącz, specialising in the production, maintenance, and modernisation of railway rolling stock. The company's products include the 14WE, 19WE, 35WE types electric multiple u ...

, the latter was in February 2017 awarded the contract for its Impuls II EMU, the first of which entered service in December 2018. Also, 10 of 20 FLIRT EMUs are scheduled to be elongated into three-car form. In February 2023, Pesa Bydgoszcz was named the winner of a contract to supply 4 three-car EMUs, with an option for 20 more.https://www.rynek-kolejowy.pl/wiadomosci/pesa-z-umowa-na-nowe-ezt-dla-lka-111978.html File:Łódź Kaliska ŁKA train 2015 01.jpg, ŁKA Stadler FLIRT at Łódź Kaliska station File:2021, Warszawa Centralna, Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna ŁKA.jpg, ŁKA Newag Impuls II at Warszawa Centralna station File:Zaplecze ŁKA.jpg, Inside the ŁKA Widzew workshops

Lines

ŁÓDŹ CIRCULAR LINE (Purple)

ŁÓDŹ - KUTNO (Red)

ŁÓDŹ - SIERADZ (Orange)

ŁÓDŹ - ŁOWICZ (Blue)

ŁÓDŹ – KOLUSZKI - SKIERNIEWICE - WARSZAWA (Green)

SKIERNIEWICE - KUTNO LINE (Dark Blue)

ŁÓDŹ – KOLUSZKI - PIOTRKÓW TRYBUNALSKI - RADOMSKO (Yellow)

ŁÓDŹ – TOMASZÓW MAZOWIECKI (Pink)

Tickets

References

External links

* Łódzka Kolej Aglomeracyjna Home Page (Polish) http://lka.lodzkie.pl/ * UITP.org http://www.ceec.uitp.org/%C5%82ka-new-rsr-operator-poland {{DEFAULTSORT:Lodz Kolej Aglomeracyjna Railway companies of Poland Transport in Łódź Companies based in Łódź Railway companies established in 2010