The Warsaw Railway Junction is a set of seven major railway lines centred around the city of Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. It serves the capital of Poland, as well as cities belonging to its agglomeration of over 2.5 million inhabitants. At its peak the lines of the Warsaw Railway Junction served approximately 250,000 passengers daily.

The hub consists of seven main lines going to Białystok, Terespol

Terespol

Terespol is a town in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus. It lies on the border river Bug, directly opposite the city of Brest, Belarus...

, Lublin

Lublin

Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...

, Radom

Radom

Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...

, Łódź, Poznań

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

 and Gdańsk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

, connected by the Warsaw Cross-City Line

Warsaw Cross-City Line

Warsaw cross-city line is a 7 km railway line crossing downtown Warsaw in the East-West direction. Opened in 1933 and electrified in 1936, it initially had two tracks, with additional two added in 1949...

 and Warsaw Circumferal Line, and the WKD

Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa

Warszawska Kolej Dojazdowa is a suburban light rail line in Poland's capital city of Warsaw. The line, together with its two branches, links Warsaw with the municipalities of Michałowice, Pruszków, Brwinów, Podkowa Leśna, Milanówek and Grodzisk Mazowiecki to the south-west of Warsaw.-History:The...

 light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

 line to Grodzisk Mazowiecki

Grodzisk Mazowiecki

Grodzisk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 26,881 inhabitants in 2006. It is 30 km. southwest of Warsaw.Between 1975 and 1998 it was situated in the Warszawa Voivodeship but since 1999 it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Grodzisk Mazowiecki...

.

Apart from train stations in Warsaw, the hub includes the cities of Grodzisk Mazowiecki

Grodzisk Mazowiecki

Grodzisk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 26,881 inhabitants in 2006. It is 30 km. southwest of Warsaw.Between 1975 and 1998 it was situated in the Warszawa Voivodeship but since 1999 it has been situated in the Masovian Voivodeship. It is the capital of Grodzisk Mazowiecki...

, Milanówek

Milanówek

Milanówek is a town and a seat of a separate commune in Poland. Located in the Grodzisk Mazowiecki County near Warsaw, it is often considered an outlying suburb of the capital of Poland but is in fact an independent entity administratively and culturally. Milanówek is however part of wider Warsaw...

, Piastów

Piastów

Piastów is a town in central Poland, near Warsaw, with 23,331 inhabitants . It is situated in the Masovian Voivodship ; previously, it was in Warszawa Voivodship...

, Pruszków

Pruszków

Pruszków is a town in central Poland, situated in the Masovian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in Warszawa Voivodeship . Pruszków is the capital of Pruszków County, located along the western edge of the Warsaw urban area...

, Sochaczew

Sochaczew

Sochaczew is a town in central Poland, with 38,300 inhabitants . Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , previously in Skierniewice Voivodeship . It is the capital of Sochaczew County....

, Błonie, Ożarów

Ozarów

Ożarów is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in Powiat of Opatów . It has 4,906 inhabitants and its largest employer is a large cement factory nearby. The cement factory was privatized in 1995 and a controlling stake in the company was purchased by Irish company CRH plc from HCP...

, Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki

Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki

Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with ca. 42500 inhabitants . It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship ; previously, it was in Warszawa Voivodeship...

, Legionowo

Legionowo

Legionowo is a town in Masovia . According to the 2004 Census estimate the town has a total population of 50,759.Legionowo is located ca. 23 km to the north-east of the center of Warsaw and only 7 km to the south of Zegrze Reservoir , near the Warsaw-Gdańsk railroad and Warsaw-Suwałki...

, Tłuszcz, Wołomin, Mińsk Mazowiecki

Minsk Mazowiecki

Mińsk Mazowiecki is a town in central Poland with 38 181 inhabitants . It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , previously in Siedlce Voivodeship...

, Sulejówek

Sulejówek

Sulejówek is a town in Poland, about 18 km east of Warsaw city centre and part of its metropolitan area. It is located in Masovian Voivodeship, in Mińsk County...

, Otwock

Otwock

Otwock is a town in central Poland, some southeast of Warsaw, with 42,765 inhabitants . It is situated on the right bank of Vistula River below the mouth of Swider River. Otwock is home to a unique architectural style called Swidermajer....

, Warka

Warka

Warka is a town in central Poland, located on the left bank of the Pilica river , with 11,035 inhabitants . It has been situated in Grójec County, in the Masovian Voivodeship, since 1999; previously it was in the Radom Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.Warka obtained its city charter in 1321...

 and Piaseczno

Piaseczno

Piaseczno is a town in central Poland with 32,610 inhabitants .It is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship, approximately 16 kilometers south of Warsaw. It is a popular residential area and a suburb of Warsaw and is strongly linked to the capital, both economically and culturally...

.

The first railway line in Warsaw was the Warsaw–Vienna railway, opened in 1845, linking the city with the border between the Russian ruled Congress Poland

Congress Poland

The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

 and Austrian ruled Galicia where it connected with the Austrian railways. In 1862 the Saint Petersburg – Warsaw Railway was opened connecting Warsaw through Vilnius

Vilnius

Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...

 (Wilno) with the Russian capital followed by the Warsaw–Terespol railway in 1866, both lines built were built to the Russian broad gauge

Broad gauge

Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...

 and only reached the city's eastern part on the right bank of Vistula River, known Praga

Praga

Praga is a historical borough of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. It is located on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.- History :...

, as the occupational authorities blocked the construction of a railway bridge across the river for strategic reasons, only allowing the rail terminals to be connected by a horse tram. In 1875 the Warsaw Circumferential Line was built along with a railway bridge located near the Russian stronghold in the Warsaw Citadel

Warsaw Citadel

Cytadela is a 19th-century fortress in Warsaw, Poland. It was built by order of Tsar Nicholas I after the suppression of the 1830 November Uprising in order to bolster imperial Russian control of the city. It served as a prison into the late 1930s.- History :The Citadel was built by personal...

. In 1877 the Vistula River Railroad

Vistula River Railroad

Vistula River Railroad was a railroad system, opened on August 17, 1877. It ran from northwest to southeast, through the territory of the former Congress Poland, known after the November Uprising as Privislinsky Krai .Starting in Mława, which back then was located near the border with the German...

 was built as the third broad gauge line on the right bank in Warsaw linking the city with Kovel

Kovel

Kovel is a city located in the Volyn Oblast , in northwestern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kovelskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. The current estimated population is around 65,777.Kovel gives its name to one of the...

 and with the border of Polish territories under Prussian control in East Prussia

East Prussia

East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...

. In 1902 the broad gauge Warsaw–Kalisz Railway was constructed on the left bank of the Vistula river connecting Warsaw through Łódź to Kalisz

Kalisz

Kalisz is a city in central Poland with 106,857 inhabitants , the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce...

 and later extended to the border of the Prussian controlled Province of Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....

. After Poland regained independence following World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 all rail lines in the country were converted to standard gauge and in 1919 the Polish State Railways began an extensive reconstruction of the city's railway junction connecting the former terminals of the Vienna and Terespol lines with the Warsaw Cross-City Line

Warsaw Cross-City Line

Warsaw cross-city line is a 7 km railway line crossing downtown Warsaw in the East-West direction. Opened in 1933 and electrified in 1936, it initially had two tracks, with additional two added in 1949...

, opened in 1933, electrifying the line (1936) and constructing the Warszawa Główna railway station (opened in 1938). In 1934 a new railway line was opened connecting connecting Warsaw with Radom

Radom

Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...

 and further with Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

finalizing the present day track layout.