The European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency (ECIA) announced the completion of verification and the successful closure of EU funding for pre-project work on the Katowice-Border railway line. The recipient of a €1.75 million grant was Centralny Port Komunikacyjny, the company implementing the Port Polska investment programme. Funds allocated under the CEF’s Connecting Europe instrument covered 50% of eligible costs and enabled the completion of seven key preparatory stages, including an environmental inventory, the development of a feasibility study (STEŚ), the development of a spatial concept, and the submission of an application for an environmental decision.
The cross-border railway project will connect Katowice with the Czech border and Ostrava and is part of the TEN-T (Baltic-Adriatic Corridor) core network. The route will provide fast international connections between Katowice and Warsaw with Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. Travel time from Warsaw to Vienna is expected to be approximately 4 hours 20 minutes, from Vienna to Katowice – 2 hours 20 minutes, from Katowice to Prague – approximately 2 hours 30 minutes, and from Katowice to Ostrava – 35–40 minutes.
On the Polish side, a 60-kilometer section will be built to high-speed rail standards, with speeds of up to 250 km/h, including branches to Żory, Rybnik, Jastrzębie-Zdrój, and Wodzisław Śląski. This will significantly reduce regional travel times: Katowice-Żory from 90 to 20 minutes, Katowice-Rybnik from 45 to 24 minutes, Katowice-Wodzisław Śląski from 60 to 38 minutes, and Jastrzębie-Zdrój will be connected by rail for the first time. In November 2025, CPK also secured nearly 80 million zlotys under CEF 2 for design work, which will be carried out by a consortium of Dohwa Polska, Dohwa Engineering, and Korean Railways from 2023; the environmental approval process is in its final stages.