Transport in Kraków is based around a fairly dense network of tramway and bus lines operated by a municipal company, supplemented by a number of private minibus operators. Local trains connect some of the suburbs. The bulk of the city’s historic area has been turned into a

pedestrian zone Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town restricted to use by people on foot or ...

with golf buggies, rickshaws and horse buggies; however, the tramlines run within a three-block radius. Rail connections are available to most Polish cities. Trains to

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 ...

depart every hour. International destinations include Berlin, Bratislava, Prague, Hamburg, Lviv, Kyiv, and Odesa (June–September). The main railway station is located just outside the Old Town District and is well-served by public transport. There is an international airport west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between the main railway station and the airport in 18 minutes.

International Airport

Kraków's airport, (John Paul II International Airport Kraków-Balice, ) is west of the city. Direct trains cover the route between Kraków Main station and the airport in 16 minutes, following an upgrade of tracks on the line in 2015. . The annual capacity of the airport is estimated at 1.3 million passengers; however, in 2007 more than 3.042 million people used the airport, giving Kraków Airport 15 percent of all air passenger traffic in Poland. The passenger terminal is undergoing extension and is being adapted to meet the requirements of the Schengen Treaty.

Kraków Main railway station

Kraków Main railway station (, commonly called ''Dworzec Główny'') is the largest and the most centrally located

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. The building, constructed between 1844 and 1847 (architect: P.Rosenbaum), is parallel to the tracks. The station was initially a terminus of the KrakówUpper Silesia Railway (''Kolej Krakowsko-Górnośląska'', ). The design was chosen to allow for future line expansion. Trains entered the trainshed via an archway in a brick wall at the northern end of the station. Krakow Glowny railway station

The station opened on 13 October 1847, with the first train leaving for Mysłowice (the point where the Austrian, German and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

Empires adjoined during their military

partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

). When the railway line was extended eastwards by the Galician Railway of Archduke Charles Louis (the first section, to

Dębica Dębica (; ''Dembitz'') is a town in southeastern Poland with 44,692 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Dębica County. Since 1999 it has been situated in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship; it had previously been in the Tarnów Voiv ...

, then Dembitz in the Habsburg Empire, opened in 1856). The increasing traffic resulted in the station being modernized and enlarged in stages between 1869 and 1894. The next substantial expansion took place in the 1930s. At that time the northern brick wall and trainshed were demolished, the latter replaced by individual platform roofs. A new transport interchange was developed which included a coach station and an underground fast tram line. A new shopping center (Galeria Krakowska, ''Kraków Gallery'') opened in September 2006. The construction of the Galeria Krakowska and remodeling of the area in front of the main station building means that taxis are no longer able to drive up to the station building, instead they can drive to the parking situated directly above railway tracks and connected by lifts and steps with platforms and underground ticket hall.

Tram system

The Kraków Fast Tram system, KST ( Polish Krakowski Szybki Tramwaj) is a premetro/

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

system connecting northern and southern parts of the city. Currently two lines of KST are in operation. Line 50 operates between Kurdwanów in the district of Podgórze Duchackie which is south of

Vistula River The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra ...

, and Krowodrza Górka in Krowodrza, north of the river. Line 52 operates between Czerwone Maki P+R in the district of Dębniki and Osiedle Piastów in the district of Mistrzejowice Works on a tunnel for trams in the main railway station area started in 1974 and the 1.538 kilometer-long tunnel was finally opened on 12 December 2008. Dworzec Główny Tunnel is an underground station directly connected to the platforms of the main railway station and to the Galeria Krakowska

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

. Politechnika is an underground station located near the campus of the Cracow University of Technology. In July 2010, MPK placed an order for a further 24

Bombardier Flexity Classic The Bombardier Flexity Classic is a model of light rail, light-rail tram manufactured by Bombardier Transportation (now merged into Alstom). Although it is marketed as the most traditionally designed member of the Bombardier Flexity, Flexity fa ...

trams. File:Krakow tram network.png, Kraków's tram network

References

Bibliography

* *
Station history
at ''Magiczny Kraków'', the city's official webpage

External links

mpk.krakow.pl
Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Komunikacyjne SA w Krakowie

Getting around in Kraków

Taxi Krakow airport {{DEFAULTSORT:Transport in Krakow Transport in Kraków, Rapid transit in Poland