What about the money promised by the Ministry of National Defense for PKP Cargo? It's worth hundreds of millions of zlotys.

As we learned from the Ministry of National Defense , work is underway to secure funding to secure the purchase of new rolling stock, enabling the beneficiary to utilize the means of transport commercially. The priority is to acquire platforms for the transport of heavy equipment .

In February, when the matter became public, there was also talk of purchasing diesel locomotives, which are more resistant to war threats . Even then, it was clear that the rolling stock acquired with defense budget funds would be dual-purpose , not reserved solely for military needs.

As a reminder, in 2021, PKP Cargo signed a seven-year contract with the Polish Army for domestic and international military transport. Its value was estimated at PLN 1.4 billion at the time. The Army selected the company without a competitive bidding process, as the company is designated by law as an enterprise carrying out defense tasks in the event of an external threat to national security.

According to data presented in February at the Railway Safety Forum in Warsaw by PKP PLK, after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the number of military transporters in Poland increased by over 60%, from around 600 to around 1,000 per year .

The war in Ukraine demonstrated the vital importance of railways for the country's defense . First, they evacuated residents from areas attacked by the Russians, then transported weapons and armaments, much of it from Western Europe. Trains evacuated the wounded for treatment in regions where military operations were less intense or beyond Ukraine's borders, including Poland.