History of Rail Transport in Poland - World War I

World War I

Soon after annexing Polish areas, the German railway army readjusted the railway from Russian (broad gauge) to standard width (1435 mm). On the Russian side, most of the rolling stock of the Warsaw–Vienna Rail, Warsaw–Bydgoszcz and Kaliska Rail (as well as the headquarters of these lines) was relocated by the retreating Russian army. In its retreat the Tsar's army also destroyed the central locomotive hall of Russian-Polish standard gauge railways in Łowicz and Saint Petersburg Station in Warsaw. In response to a counter-attack by the Russian army, German General Ludendorff ordered the destruction of strategic parts of the Warsaw–Vienna line and the Kalisz Railway between Warsaw, Łódź, Kutno and Kalisz.

In 1915, the German and Austrian armies completed adapting a significant portion of all broad gauge track to standard gauge. As the railway bridge over the Vistula River had been damaged, the Germans used ferries to move locomotives across the river in Warsaw. The same year saw construction of military railways on the Wielbork–Ostrołęka and Rozwadów–Sandomierz routes, as well as additional lines on the Kalisz Railway. Modern German railway rolling stock replaced the broad gauge stock which had been removed to Russia.