PKP Intercity carried 44.7 million passengers
PKP Intercity carried 44.7 million passengers between January and June 2026, its highest first-half total on record. Passenger numbers rose 11% year on year, 21% compared with 2024 and 45% compared with the first half of 2023. The summer timetable includes about 560 services a day.
May traffic reached 8.4 million
May was the busiest month of the first half, with 8.4 million passengers travelling on PKP Intercity trains.
The operator carried almost 247,000 passengers per day on average. Traffic peaked on Sunday, 7 June 2026, when 346,000 people used its services.
The Poznań–Szczecin route recorded the fastest growth, with passenger numbers up 32%. Traffic rose 31% between Kraków and Tarnów, 22% between Kraków and Rzeszów and 21% between Tczew and the Tricity.
About 560 daily summer services
PKP Intercity operates about 560 services a day under its summer timetable. That is 46 more trains than during the previous summer season.
The operator has added services to destinations on the Baltic coast, in the mountains and in the Warmia and Masuria region. One new service is a direct EIP train from Bielsko-Biała to Ustka. More than 25,700 reservations were recorded between 27 June and 19 July.
During the same period, passengers made 30,600 reservations for the Pendolino service from Zakopane to Kołobrzeg. Long-distance trains also returned to Łomża after more than 30 years. The IC Orzyc and IC Omulew services carried more than 370 passengers per day on average between 14 June and 19 July.
Traffic rose on routes to Warsaw
Passenger numbers increased by 16% on the Toruń–Warsaw, Łódź–Warsaw and Białystok–Warsaw routes. The operator recorded the same growth between Opole and Wrocław and between Poznań and the Tricity.
These routes include major domestic corridors used for business travel. More services and longer trains increase seat capacity, although PKP Intercity did not disclose how passenger numbers were divided between private and corporate travel.
More carriages added at peak times
PKP Intercity strengthened 3,800 trains between January and June by adding 5,600 carriages.
Compared with 2023, the number of strengthened trains rose 42%, while the number of additional carriages increased 58%. The operator deployed longer trains mainly on services with higher reservation volumes.
Children and students made 5 million journeys during the first half of 2026, while senior passengers made 2.5 million. Passengers also carried 332,000 bicycles and 167,000 animals.
