[6opuC]

yeep triceratops... I agree with 100%..

 

[Wolds Mariner]

Pleasing to see that significant apparent progress is being made. I still don't really understand why either country couldn't bid on their own, but at least things look like they're now moving forward compared to just a few months ago.

 

[krzysiu_]

Well, in Poland it's possible and tbh people were counting on it, that Ukraine won't make it and e2012 will be only in Poland. I guess there's no chance for that atm...Now it's just matter of how many cities in Ukraine and and how many in Poland, Uefa is going to pick...What about e2012 in Ukraine only... Since there's a huuuge problems with hotels...Actually, there's almost no hotels + many other problems which won't be solved till 2012 (railways, roads, airports etc)... It's impossible...

 

[[email protected]]

Well, in Poland it's possible and tbh people were counting on it, that Ukraine won't make it and e2012 will be only in Poland. I guess there's no chance for that atm...Now it's just matter of how many cities in Ukraine and and how many in Poland, Uefa is going to pick...What about e2012 in Ukraine only... Since there's a huuuge problems with hotels...Actually, there's almost no hotels + many other problems which won't be solved till 2012 (railways, roads, airports etc)... It's impossible...

Krzysiu, dont say that 'people were counting on it'!!! Come on, it is a joint organization and I think people are happy on both sides. Dont say that we were counting on organizaing it alone, without Ukraine because its not fair to them; they are the ones that came up with the idea in the first place.

If you ask which nation would be more prepared to organize such sport event independently, well I think the answer to that is obvious and does not need further discussion, however this will not happen in 2012:lol:

 

[Cracovia]

Yea i would agree, no one was counting on Ukraine's failure

 

[Cracovia]

http://www.2012.org.pl/news/news?r,article,articleId=2250

PKP PLK: we will complete the modernisation of railway lines before EURO 2012

PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe will be ready with the implementation of the plan of modernisation of railway infrastructure for EURO 2012 – ensured Agnieszka Safuta-Pawlak, member of PKP PLK Board during the meeting with the press held on Thursday.

In total, by May 2012, within the framework of preparations for the European Football Championship, PKP PLK will modernise 9 railway sections with total length of almost a thousand kilometres. By 2008 modernisation covered almost 450 km. By May 2012 another 540 km will be completed and put into operation.

"An impulse for the commencement of modernisation works on such a large scale laid not only in the fact that Poland was selected as a co-host of European Football Championship EURO 2012, but also in the accession to the European Union, which gave PLK an opportunity to make use of European funds", explained PKP PLK. Only in 2000-2003 Polish railway authorities were granted EU funds in the amount of EUR 876 million.

The funds, which will be used by PLK for the railway infrastructural investments under EURO 2012 shall amount to PLN 18 billion. These funds will be used by PLK to modernise lines connecting host cities of EURO 2012.

The most important investments under the Railway programme for 2012 is to modernise the following sections: Warsaw – Łódź, Warsaw – Terespol, Zgorzelec – Opole, Rzeszów – state border, Warsaw – Gdańsk, Wrocław – Poznań, Poznań Rail Junction, Warsaw Rail Junction, Warsaw – International Airport Okęcie and section Kraków – International Airport Balice.

"Modernisation works will involve not only the replacement of tracks and contact lines, but also construction or modernisation of bridges, overpasses, pedestrian underpasses, railway passes, platforms and expenditure relating to environmental protection" informed PKP PLK.

The company believes that due to such modernisation passenger safety will improve, and the time of travel in these routes will shorten considerably.

The travel time on selected routes will decrease, respectively: at the Warsaw Central Station - Wrocław Główny (via Poznań) - from 308 minutes to 260 minutes; Warsaw Central Station – Gdańsk Główny - from 270 minutes to 180 minutes, Warsaw Central Station - Łódź Fabryczna - from 90 minutes to 70 minutes, Warsaw Central Station – Terespol - from 195 minutes to 125 minutes, Wrocław Główny – Węgliniec – Gorlitz from 160 minutes to 85 minutes.

PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. belongs to PKP Group and is a company responsible for the management of the State railway network.

And also

Poland finalises motorway contracts
A contract for construction of a 180 kilometre section of the A1 motorway is to be signed on Thursday, ‘Rzeczpospolita’ daily reports quoting ‘reliable sources’.
According to the newspaper the contract will go to Autostrada Południe, a consortium of Budimex, Cintra Concessiones and Ferrovial-Agroman construction and development companies.
Budimex, who owns a 5% stake in the consortium, hopes that at least 50% of the construction costs estimated at EUR 2 billion will be covered by the European Investment Bank.
‘Rzeczpospolita’ also writes that an agreement on the construction of a 92-km section of A2 motorway from Łódź, central Poland, to Warsaw may be signed on the same day. The bidders include Autostrada Południe and Autostrada Mazowsze, a joint venture of Stalexport and the Italian company Autostrade.

http://www.polishmarket.com.pl/document/:19003?p=/MONITOR+GOSPODARCZY/

Tender to build second stretch of A4 now in progress

The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways has announced a tender to build the second fragment of the A4 motorway between Szarow and Tarnow.
The 57 km section is to be ready by Q2 2011 and on its completion the A4 will run from Poland’s western border at Zgorzelec, via Katowice and Krakow to Tarnow. The investment has been divided into three separate projects (Szarow-Brzesko, Brzesko-Wierzchoslawice and Wierzchoslawice-Krzyz), and bids can be submitted up to 2 February this year. Construction work will begin simultaneously on all three stretches of the planned route, which will be a class A dual carriageway. It will feature four communications junctions and six service stations.

http://constructionpoland.com/next.php?id=68282

 

[krzysiu_]

Yea i would agree, no one was counting on Ukraine's failure

I can easily find tons of articles about it...I'm not saying that it was me or everybody but many other people...And you can also switch word 'counting' to 'would be happy'...w/e. Ofc, it woudn't be fair. And I really want to see those matches in Ukr. and Pol. I just hope that our team won't lose 3 matches in the groupstage :lol:

 

[Locke]

I just hope that our team won't lose 3 matches in the groupstage :lol:

They won't, they'll lose the first two and then win the last one once it doesn't matter.

On the subject of trains, what's the latest on the TGV's. I hear 2018 or something? Good that they are going for a proper full high speed system and not some Pendolino cheapie stuff.

 

[Triceratops]

Want to hear about Rail Baltica project, which will cover a destination from Warsaw (or maybe even from Berlin) till Helsinki (actually till Tallinn) with high speed trains! Are there any preparations going ahead in Poland concerning this EU-finanaced project?

 

[Warsawbynight]

The contract for A1 Stryków-Pyrzowice motorway (180 km) has been signed today!!

We are waiting still for A2 Stryków-Konotopa and Warsaw will finally have it's motorway connection!!

 

[Jasix]

The contract for A1 Stryków-Pyrzowice motorway (180 km) has been signed today!!

We are waiting still for A2 Stryków-Konotopa and Warsaw will finally have it's motorway connection!!

Stryków - Pyrzowice

 

[paku]

Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland and Ukraine make progress; work still ahead
11 hours ago

WARSAW, Poland — Poland and Ukraine have earned UEFA's endorsement - again - for the 2012 European Championship after months of speculation that they'd lose the tournament.

Recent visits to host cities, however, reveal the giant task that lies ahead.

The jubilation that erupted in Poland and Ukraine after UEFA's April 2007 decision to award them European football's showcase event turned to fear last year as false starts on the construction of stadiums, roads, airports and hotels in both countries fuelled speculation UEFA could dump the eastern Europeans and hand the tournament to a backup host - possibly Italy, Germany or Scotland.

Those concerns have subsided following a successful meeting with UEFA chief Michel Platini in December. The former French star came out of the session saying he has "full confidence in Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine."

Proving Platini right won't be easy.

While some progress has been made, recent visits by Associated Press reporters to five of the eight planned host cities indicate both nations have a long slog ahead of them.

With 3 1/2 years to go, Ukraine decidedly has the tougher task, a job made all the more difficult by rampant corruption, poor management and endless political turmoil.

Preparations in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, nestled in rolling hills about 70 kilometres from the Polish border, lag the furthest behind.

A crumbling, one-lane road riddled with potholes runs from the border to Lviv, winding though towns and villages along the way. Chickens peck at the muddy shoulder in some spots, while in others dogs wander across the pavement.

The city's airport dates from the late 1950s. The main waiting lounge is no larger than a tennis court and doesn't have a bathroom.

Work has begun, however, on a new 33,000-seat stadium near the city's southern bypass that provides easy access to the main road east to Kyiv.

Preparations are more advanced in Ukraine's three other host cities - Kyiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk - although the trio are all grappling with problems, too.

In the capital Kyiv, after a nearly yearlong delay, work has finally begun on a US$260 million overhaul of the Olympic Stadium, which is slated to be finished in 2010 and opened in 2011. The arena is to host the tournament final, and UEFA has warned that without a renovated stadium Ukraine will not co-host Euro 2012.

Donetsk already boasts a brand new stadium built by the owner of a local club, while Dnipropetrovsk should finish its stadium in the coming months.

Yet everywhere Ukraine's infrastructure - including airports, roads and hotels - is badly in need of an upgrade.

The country has to add or modernize runways and build new terminals in all of the host cities. Construction work is already under way at Kyiv's two airports and in Donetsk, but the Lviv landing strip and terminal are still on the drawing board.

The country also has vowed to upgrade thousands of kilometres of dilapidated roads. Outside the main cities, they are often little more than cracked and crumbling single lanes.

Ukraine's underdeveloped hotel system is still dominated by shabby and expensive Soviet-era hotels, few of which currently accept credit cards.

Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Vasyunyk, who was in charge of the Euro 2012 preparations, said the country has to build and renovate a total of 300 hotels, about 100 of which are still being designed. But the former head of Ukraine's organizing committee, Yevhen Chervonenko, said that construction of 80 per cent of the hotels that need to be built have been frozen due to the economic crisis.

Ukrainian officials estimate the entire project will cost around $30 billion - a third coming from state coffers and the rest from private investors.

But the world's financial turmoil has devastated Ukraine's economy, raising concerns the country may not be able to raise the necessary funds. Ukraine's currency, the hryvna, has lost about 40 per cent of its value since September, the banking sector lies in tatters, and the economy is plunging into a deep recession.

The situation is further complicated by a bitter power struggle between Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko and her former political ally, President Viktor Yushchenko. The two leaders are likely opponents in presidential elections expected in late 2009 or early 2010, and both are eager to take credit for Euro 2012 and control the vast funds set aside for the project.

Poland, meanwhile, has settled back down to business following a nasty spat in the autumn with FIFA and UEFA after the Polish government ousted the football association board. UEFA threatened to strip the Poles of their hosting rights before the government and the FA struck a last-minute deal.

Along the banks of the Vistula River in central Warsaw, workers in hard hats and orange vests swarm across an open muddy pit as giant machines rhythmically pound concrete beams into the earth to reinforce the ground at the site of the new 55,000-seat national stadium.

In Poznan, a new double-deck of blue seats stands behind one goal while a new triple-deck of seats sits finished behind the other. Wrecking crews have torn down the old concrete stands along the sidelines, and the fully renovated 46,000-seat stadium is to be ready by the summer of 2010.

In the two other host cities - Wroclaw and Gdansk - heavy machinery has already started laying the ground work, and general construction is slated to start this spring. Both are slated to be finished by 2010.

"It looks as though the stadiums will be finished in time, but it's doubtful they'll manage to get all the roads built," says Dariusz Wolowski, a veteran soccer journalist for the country's leading Gazeta Wyborcza daily. "Will they manage to expand the airports in time? Tough to say."

Poland's roadways are generally in better shape than Ukraine's, but still fall far short of the autobahns in Austria and Switzerland that allowed fans to speed from one host city to another last year.

As of this month, there were 765 kilometres of existing autobahns in Poland. According to the Infrastructure Ministry, the country plans to build 900 kilometres of new highways by 2012. The only problem is that - if its current pace of construction continues - only a third of those roads will be built by kickoff.

"We are all fully aware that the risks in this project are huge, and that we have a lot of work ahead," says Marcin Herra, head of the Polish organizing committee. But, he adds confidently, the tournament "is going to be in Poland and Ukraine."


Associated Press writers Maria Danilova and Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Kyiv, Ukraine.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hDC_lhHWy4ixRg3zkuOuNH4Ws3bg

 

[Triceratops]

Finally an article that opens our eyes on the whole tournament ongoing preparations! Thanks, paku!

 

[Jasix]

I would like to write a post about Express Roads in Poland. Entire post will be in a few parts, lets say 5 roads per post. I hope you will enjoy it

Pyrzowice – Cieszyn-Boguszowice-Chotěbuz. It will have 130 km long, 75 is already built. It will connect autobahn A1 in Pyrzowice and Czech's Republic express road R48. U/C is 3 km - Bielsko-Biała bypass.

S1 near Bielsko-Biała

In plan there is 40 km of this road, unfortunately for now 0 km is U/C. It will be south Warsaw bypass.

Świnoujście – Lubawka. It will have 470 km long, 90 km is built, another 90 is U/C.

Nowe Marzy (A1) – Wrocław. It will have 400 km long, 40 km is bulit, 11 km is U/C.

Goleniów – Gdańsk. It will have 330 km long, 39 km is built, 17 km is U/C

 

[Jasix]

Gdańsk-Rabka. It will have 720 km long, 105 km is built, 50 km is U/C

Wrocław-Psie Pole -Budzisko (border with Lithuania). It will have 680 km, 35 km is built, 30 km is U/C

Szczecin-Płońsk. It will have 460 km long, 37 km is built, 32 km is U/C

Kołobrzeg-Pyrzowice. It will have 600 km long, 10 km is built, 22 km is U/C

Piotrków Trybunalski - Dorohusk (border with Ukraine). It will have 315 km long, 17 is built, 0 km is U/C

 

[Triceratops]

Thanks! That's awesome to see such progress in Poland!! :cheers:

 

[Jasix]

West Bypass of Łódź. It will have 40 km, unfortunately 0 km is built, and 0 km is U/C

Warszawa-Hrebenne (border with Ukraine) It will have 310 km, 19 km is built.

Barwinek(border with Slovakia)-Kuźnica Białostocka(border with Belarussa) It will have 570 km, 6km is built, another 6 is U/C

Elbląg-Grzechotki-Mamonowo It has got 50,6 km and it's all finished :cheers:

 

[Jasix]

Olsztyn-Olsztynek, It will have 25 km. 0 km is built, and 0 is currently U/C :bash:

Bielsko-Biała (S1) – Żywiec – Zwardoń/Myto-Skalité (border with Slovakia). It will have 48 km long, 17 km is built, 12 km is U/C

Sulejów- Nisko. It will have 215 km. 0 is built and U/C hno:

Warszawa- Okęcie airport 0 km is built, 0 U/C :nuts:

Katowice-Sosnowiec. It has got 7 km, and it is all finished :cheers:

That is all express roads in Poland at the moment. We have got circa 550 km of express roads in use from circa 5745 km being planned. 243,7 km is U/C. So much work to do!

 

[Cracovia]

hahahaha

 

[Iluminat]

^^ http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=31244140#post31244140