Train Polregio from Gdańsk to Hel, The most beautiful place in Poland

Thank you for the amazing video! It seems like some things from this video need explaining 🙂

This train is a heritage after the old "Tur" ("Aurochs", it is the emblem of Chojnice city) train from Chojnice to Gdynia. Actually, most of Chojnice citizens and railway fans still call it "Tur". The train started running in 2000 and was a great success as a direct connection from Chojnice to Gdynia via Czersk, Tczew (line No. 203, once a part of the "Ostbahn"). The specific route was changing throughout the years, but in recent years it worked like this: the train from Chojnice to Gdynia later went to Hel, then it returned as a Hel-Gdynia train and then it returned back to Chojnice. In September 2023, our voivodeship marshal extended the route to Szczecinek (via line No. 210) so it became a direct connection Szczecinek-Chojnice-Tczew-Gdynia, same thing on the return route.

The same setup later runs to Hel, so it's technically a direct train, but looking from the numbers'/relation perspective, it is not. In Poland, when there is a ticket checking in a train like that (a direct train with changing numbers) and you show a direct ticket, the conductor usually tells you that it's a direct connection – no worries.

The attachment of an additional 120A carriage in this part of the year is a new thing – it keeps running almost every day with this setup, and those carriages were always attached to DMUs only in the warm months. In PR Gdynia, we have only 8 of those, most of the year they just stay in Chojnice, but in April/May almost all are used, both attached to DMUs (you can also attach them between two DMUs because they have wiring to connect two DMUs together electrically) and next to double-deckers in classic carriage trains (well, that's actually the last place in Poland to operate a diesel regional train with a classic locomotive on a scheduled basis). Most of these are now used as bicycle cars (but of course, you can also choose that type of carriage without having a bicycle; this is how we travel locally because those carriages are simply the best…) 🙂

In the summer (and this year also on May/June weekends), there is a direct train (with one number) Chojnice-Hel with an SM/SU42 locomotive and double-decker carriages. That train also is an iconic thing here. I recommend you to check that train, also check the summer TLK "Wydmy" connection Hel – Bohumin in the old Czech 1st class with nice seats because those carriages are the most comfortable now in Poland – there isn't any "comfortable" Polish 1st class carriage in operation anymore, and those Czech carriages will stop running in 2025.

The problem here is the mass scrapping of those old carriages (we had hundreds of those 120A's), and operating all regional trains using new, uncomfortable DMUs. This is why I don't travel by train anymore outside my region – if I see a new train, I rather choose my own car 🙂

Also, some timestamps which I found interesting (I might refer to the captions):

5:00 – of course, there are new things in this toilet, plastic parts, sink operated by a button and liquid soap 🙂 sometimes you can also find a small solid hotel-style soap, I prefer using solid. Some of the old double-deckers have the sink water operated by a foot lever, just like the toilet bowl – you don't tend to see that anymore 🙂

10:32 – Władysławowo, my city 🙂

10:44 – the barriered pavement there was once the first platform of the station. In 2014, there was a refurbishment of the stations on line No. 213; here, they changed the old Platform 2 to Platform 1 and removed the existing Platform 1. Some moron thought that people will appreciate the new standards of passenger infrastructure equipped with tons of barriers… well, that wasn't a great idea, as most of the modern things on Polish railways also aren't.

12:20 – those carriages were used by Polish State Railways to perform a function called "wczasy wagonowe" – "carriage holidays" – you just stayed in those for a couple of days and enjoyed your stay:) Nowadays, it seems like a weird preference to stay, but in the times gone by, holidays like that, resorts with many shared spaces to talk, cook, shower etc were well developed, people usually enjoyed those holidays 🙂 when the capitalist times came, some private entity took over this place, the amount of carriages you see here is only a small fraction of how it used to look back then. The truth is that there is still a large group of people who like "carriage holidays" and go here even every year. But it turns out for the owner it's just not worth it. Such times.

I know more examples of resorts that, for example, belonged to a workplace, but after the arrival of capitalism, they were closed, demolished, and destroyed. Just like the passenger carriages that brought people to these resorts, and just like the locomotives that pulled these carriages. It's the reality that we live in. That's why it's good that the rest of these carriages run right here, in the most beautiful place in Poland 🙂

Thank you, everyone, if you read all that, I appreciate that and wish you a good day 🙂

Спасибо за ролик! Это путешествие хоть и было коротким, но очень интересным!!!!
1.48 Ох ты, ничего себе, да это же Брейловец Чешских железных дорог (Ceska dragy) – шикарный тепловоз, за свои выдающиеся лобовые окна фанатами и машинистами жд прозван "Водолазом".
6.34 SKM поезда в Польше работают по системе многих единиц (СМЕ) два состава из 3 вагонов объединенные в 1 сплотку. Впрочем в Европе СМЕ довольно часто и много используется.

Видео-супер!! Привет с Германии.

Спасибо за хороший ролик. Привет из Кисловодска.

Danzig HBF

Hel to może i ciekawe miejsce, ale czy najpiękniejsze w Polsce… to już moim zdaniem nie do końca. Do tego autor mógł w 8:23 powiedzieć Dzień Dobry, albo Laba Diena 🙂

👍👍👍👍

I recommend taking a ride in a double-decker train.

Im Sommer 1979 haben wir die Fahrt in umgekehrter Richtung gemacht. Damals sind wir von der Seebrücke in Sopot mit einem Tragflächenschiff nach Hel gefahren. Die Rückreise war dann mit der Bahn von Hel bis zunächst zur Endstation der elektrischen Schnellbahn in Wejherowo, dann mit dieser zurück nach Sopot. Sopot hat mich mit seiner Bäderarchitektur, zahlreichen Hotels und den vielen Touristen auf dem Boulevard, Strand und der Seebrücke sehr beeindruckt.