The agreement serves as continuation of joint activities of UTK and PKP on the development of the sidings' market. It covers among others the exchange of information and experience on the functioning of railway sidings in Poland in order to diagnose threats and development possibilities. One of the aims of the programme is to prepare the guidelines on how to support the construction, development and functioning of the sidings.
Since 1990 due to economic changes in Poland a significant decrease in the number of sidings has been noted. Even though the railway network has been modernised in recent years there it seems there is a risk that an insufficient and unequally placed number of railway freight infrastructure points may make it impossible to effectively use the potential of railway freight transport.
Support for the construction and functioning of railway sidings should supplement activities stemming from government programmes executed in order to develop the rail transfer market in Poland. This should also allow for optimal use of the potential of modernised railway lines. Through creation of a network of railway freight infrastructure points (railway sidings) the accessibility to railway freight services will be increased. This accessibility should concern both smaller cities (supporting their development possibilities) as well as industrial parks existing in Special Economic Zones. Many times companies operating in these zones have no possibility to use railway freight transport services in their own delivery chains.
The "Railway Sidings' Development Programme" will complement the following programmes: "The Programme to Supplement Local and Regional Railway Infrastructure - Railway Plus until 2028" and "National Railway Programme until 2023". It also supplements the "Transport Development Strategy until 2020 - with 2030 perspective" as well as "Strategy on the Sustainable Transport Development until 2030".
This programme will be directed at all participants of the railway market. It should enumerate necessary changes in legal, financial, technical and organisational areas.