Poland sets up leasing company to open HSR market
POLAND: Poland’s high-speed rail programme has taken a structural step toward market opening: state-owned project promoter Centralny Port Komunikacyjny has established a dedicated rolling stock leasing company that will own and lease three train fleets — removing the need for future operators to purchase their own.
Port Polska.KDP, formally established 2 June, will procure high-speed trainsets capable of 320 km/h, Aero Express trains for the Warsaw–airport–Łódź route, and Regio Express regional sets — with tenders for all three categories planned before the end of 2026.
The model is designed to lower the barrier for operators entering a market with no established HSR competition and high capital requirements for rolling stock.
Three fleets, one procurement vehicle
Port Polska.KDP will buy the trains, own them, and lease them to whoever wins the operating contracts. An operator entering the Polish high-speed market will not need to finance a fleet — it will pay a periodic leasing fee instead.
Poland currently has one operator with high-speed rolling stock. PKP Intercity runs 20 Pendolino sets capable of 250 km/h. The new programme targets a different order of magnitude: 320 km/h intercity services, a dedicated airport express, and a regional layer connecting cities beyond the core Warsaw–Łódź corridor.
The three categories reflect the programme’s ambition. The HSR fleet is the intercity backbone. The Aero Express — dual-voltage, interiors adapted for airport passengers — serves the Warsaw–new airport–Łódź route that is central to CPK’s commercial logic. The Regio Express extends the network to regional authorities and their operators, broadening the programme beyond the trunk lines.
Tenders before year-end
Centralny Port Komunikacyjny sent a request for information to rolling stock manufacturers in mid-May. The HSR category will be tendered separately; the Aero Express and Regio Express will be procured through a single combined procedure. Both tenders are due to launch before the end of 2026.
The total programme value is estimated at EUR 2.37 bn through 2035. Consultancy EY is advising on equity financing for the rolling stock and depot.
CPK government commissioner Maciej Lasek described Port Polska.KDP as “a practical response to the needs of operators, whom we want to help gain access to the most modern rolling stock without the costs of purchasing or maintaining it over many years.”
The question the leasing model leaves open is who will actually operate the trains. The market is formally open under EU liberalisation rules — but PKP Intercity, as the only existing HSR operator in Poland, starts with an operational advantage no new entrant can replicate from a standing start.
The first high-speed line, Warsaw–Łódź, is planned to open in 2032.