On 23 July 2008, in Warsaw, Philippe Citroën, managing director of SYSTRA, signed a contract with the Polish rail network operator, PKP PLK, for the upgrade design of the Rawicz-Poznan line.

The contract is for a 110km section of the E59 European corridor and is an extension of the initial contract signed in 2006 for engineering studies of the Wroclaw-Rawicz section. As a result, SYSTRA will have drawn up the designs for the whole Poznan-Wroclaw line.

For a period of 17 months, SYSTRA’s role will be to provide full design studies for the project, to enable the line to handle speeds of up to 200kph. Following completion of the construction work, the commissioning and launch of the upgraded line is expected between 2012 and 2014.

Poland has plans to modernise the entire line from Swinoujscie on the Baltic, to Wroclaw, with the aim of improving links between Scandinavia and Central Europe. 85% of the funding for the contract is being provided by the European Union cohesion fund and the other 15% by the state.

With the signing of this new contract, SYSTRA has reinforced its position in Poland and aims to be a leading player in the Polish railway engineering market. In carrying out the contract, SYSTRA will be able to call on the support of its Polish subsidiary, which was set up at the beginning of 2003 in Warsaw and is active in both urban and railway engineering sectors.