Port Polska cuts Warsaw–Łódź high-speed bidder list to five of eight

Five of the eight applicants have made the shortlist for a 14.3 km section of the Warsaw–Łódź high-speed rail line running between the Airport and Bolimów junctions.

Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK), the Port Polska company delivering the project, announced the shortlist on 28 September. Four consortia and one standalone company, 11 firms in total, now move on to the substantive phase of the competitive dialogue. In July, eight bidders made up of 19 companies had asked to take part.

Who made the shortlist

The bidders invited to the dialogue are:

• a consortium of Strabag and Tym-Bud;
• a consortium of Torpol, Mirbud and Kobylarnia;
• Budimex;
• a consortium of Porr and Trakcja;
• a consortium of Intercor, NDI and NDI Sopot.

Three applicants from the list published in July did not make the cut: the consortium of ZUE, Duna Polska and Polaqua, the consortium of Gülermak, Track Tec Construction, Unibep and Pomorskie Przedsiębiorstwo Mechaniczno-Torowe, and Mostostal Warszawa, which applied on its own. When the requests were opened, CPK said it would admit no more than five contractors and would weigh their experience in delivering railway infrastructure. The September announcement does not give reasons for individual decisions.

What the contract covers and when it is due

CPK will now hold talks with each shortlisted bidder before inviting final bids. It plans to choose a contractor and sign the deal by the fourth quarter of 2027 at the latest. The procedure is the second construction tender for the line, and the requests to participate were opened on 3 July.

The winner will first prepare the detailed design, covering construction, technological and workshop documentation, and then build 14.3 km of line designed for up to 350 km/h. The scope includes 55 engineering structures, such as road and rail bridges, viaducts, drainage culverts and crossings for wildlife. About 30 km of roads will also be built or rebuilt.

Kotowice section attracted six consortia

Competitive dialogue is also running for the neighbouring 13 km section between Kotowice and the Airport Junction, where the tender was launched in December 2025. Six consortia with 17 companies applied for that contract, and CPK said at the time that all six could be admitted to the dialogue.

For the Kotowice section, the main selection criterion was experience in completed construction works, and the Polish-language skills of key staff were also assessed. Bids there will be judged on price and on an extended warranty period. Contract signing for that section is also planned for the fourth quarter of 2027.

Seven of the eight applicants for the Airport–Bolimów section included firms that had also sought the Kotowice contract, five of them in an identical line-up. The Strabag and Tym-Bud consortium entered only the second tender. The list of bidders admitted to the Kotowice dialogue has not been published in the Port Polska announcements used here. Sources: Port Polska, 14 April 2026, 3 July 2026 and 28 September 2026.

Four sections still to be tendered

Tenders for the remaining four sections of the Warsaw–Łódź line are being prepared for later this year: an 18 km tunnel from Warszawa Zachodnia to Kotowice, 12 km within the Bolimów Junction, 37 km from the Bolimów Junction to Brzeziny and 11 km from Brzeziny to Łódź. In July, Piotr Rachwalski, CPK’s Management Board member for rail, explained how those contracts would be procured:

“The competitive dialogue process has provided us with valuable market feedback that will enable us to launch the remaining procurements as open tenders.”

The September announcement refers only to further tenders planned for later this year and does not repeat the open-tender plan.

Separate competitive dialogue procedures, launched at the turn of June and July, cover signalling and train control, telecommunications and the overhead electrification system with power supply for Railway Line 85 (Warsaw–Łódź–Sieradz) and Railway Line 86 (Sieradz–Kępno–Bierutów). The current timetable has the Warsaw–Łódź part of the “Y” line, which is also to link passengers with the new airport, opening in 2032. The line is to reach Poznań and Wrocław three years later.

Two of the six construction sections are in competitive dialogue. The four still awaiting tenders, which CPK plans to launch later this year, add up to 78 km (editorial calculation: 18 + 12 + 37 + 11 km). Sources: Port Polska, 28 September 2026, 3 July 2026 and 14 April 2026.