On December 12, 2016 the first train rolled into the newly designed Łódź Fabryczna Central train station after a 5 year hiatus. This was a monumental and indeed historic moment for the city and the region as the new station not only offers new connections and modern conveniences, but it is the very heart of the city’s plan to rejuvenate the entire city center alongside the EC1 buildings.

The new Łódź Fabryczna is one of the most modern railway stations in Poland. The main roof is a giant arched canopy made up of 10,000 glass and metal panels that are strategically placed to reflect and refract the most amount of sunlight directly down into the station. The pristine and polished granite floors of the wast wing meet a giant polished black ‘obelisk’ which houses several ticket offices where you can buy tickets for PKP Intercity, Regional Transport and Łódź Agglomeration Railway trains (ŁKA). On the other side of the “obelisk” there are several islands so to speak - one press stand and two cafes.

The second level, or -1 as we would call it, is 16.5 meters under ground and has four platforms and eight tracks. The current train schedule will handle roughly 125 trains per day and the capacity is around 150. At the moment Fabryczna is a terminus station meaning all trains end here, however there is already a plan in motion to build a 6km tunnel underneath the west part of the city center to connect Fabryczna with Łódź Kaliska, the second biggest station, resulting in improved domestic and international connections. This plan is phase two of the city’s ambitious railway restructuring plan and is targeted for completion in 2022.

The east wing of the station is different in character from the west wing and is flanked by facades of large white townhouses which are a nod to the old Fabryczna station and instead of a single glass canopy they are covered by glass buttresses. In the townhouses there are ticket offices a commuter rail (ŁKA) Passenger Centre and in the north-east part there are lockers as well as ATMs, an infopoint (InfoDworzec) for all transportation and tourist queries, and the regional Bus Station. The east entrance takes you out to Targowa street and just a few minutes walk to the EC1 buildings.