In the summer of 1939, weeks ahead of the Nazi German and Soviet invasion of Poland the map of both Europe and Poland looked very different from today. The railway network of interwar Poland had little in common with the postwar reality of dramatically changing borders and political domination of the Soviet-style communism, as well as the pre-independence German, Austrian and Russian networks which the Second Polish Republic had partially inherited in 1918 after the end of World War I. The most important junctions in the Polish territory in summer of 1939 were:
– Lwów (Lviv), Tarnopol (Ternopil), Stanisławów (Ivano-Frankivsk), Stryj (Stryy), Kowel (Kovel), Chodorow (Khodoriv), Kołomyja (Kolomyya) and Sarny (Sarny) – all now in Ukraine,
– Łuniniec (Luninyets), Baranowicze (Baranavichy), Brześć nad Bugiem (Brest), Lida (Lida), Wołkowysk (Vawkavysk) and Mołodeczno (Maladzyechna) – all now in Belarus,
– Wilno (Vilnius), Landwarow (Lentvaris) – now in Lithuania,
– Cieszyn Zachodni (Český Těšín), Bogumin (Bohumín) – now in the Czech Republic.
Several junctions of today's Poland belonged in 1939 to Germany. Among them were such hubs as: Breslau (Wrocław), Stettin (Szczecin), Oppeln (Opole), Allenstein (Olsztyn), Liegnitz (Legnica), Köslin (Koszalin), Schneidemühl (Piła), Neustettin (Szczecinek), Lyck (Ełk). Gdańsk, another important junction, belonged to the Free City of Danzig.
Polish railway network in 1939
The 1939 rail map of Poland was set by the nation's pre-1914 borders that were determined by the three empires that partitioned the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth late in the 18th century.
In the western part of Poland, in Poznań Voivodeship, Pomorze Voivodeship, and the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship (former territories of the German Empire), the rail network was very dense. There were stations in all the towns and almost every city served as a junction.
Southern Poland (the former Austrian province of Galicia with Kraków Voivodeship, Lwów Voivodeship, Stanisławów Voivodeship, and Tarnopol Voivodeship) was less developed. The areas with a fairly dense rail network were only around Kraków and Lwów. In the very south, along the border with Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary, rail lines were virtually non-existent, although it is fair to say that lines would have been difficult to build in that mostly mountainous region anyway.
The worst situation was in Central and Eastern Poland – the territory of the former Russian Empire. These were the Voivodeships of Łódź, Kielce, Warszawa, Lublin, Białystok, Volhynian, Polesie, Nowogródek and Wilno. The rail network in some parts, especially in easternmost provinces (close to the Soviet border), was nonexistent. A better situation was around Warsaw and Łódź.
Even though the Polish railway network in 1939 had deficiencies, the majority of important cities had convenient rail connections with each other. The major exception was the connection of Wilno to the seaport of Gdynia, some 500 km away. Trains running on this route had to cover a distance of about 900 km, because they had to go via Warsaw. Construction of a line that would shorten this distance was planned, but the start of World War II prevented any work. This line would have taken the route: Lapy (on the Warsaw-Białystok line) – Ostrołęka – Przasnysz – Mława (located on the Warsaw – Gdańsk/Gdynia line).
Another rail connection whose construction was stopped by the war was the line Dębica – Pilzno – Jasło. Works on it had already started in early 1939, but were never finished.
Electrification of long-distance lines was planned, but by 1939 only some of the suburban stretches around Warsaw were upgraded with the electric infrastructure.
Polish national railway's structure in 1939
In the summer of 1939, the PKP was divided into eight regions – Warsaw, Toruń, Poznań, Katowice, Cracow, Radom, Lwów and Wilno, with PKP's headquarters located in Warsaw. Also, for practical purposes, PKP was divided into five communications districts and every train in the timetable was numbered according to the district within which it operated. The districts were as follows:
– First – North-West, starting with the 278 km route Warsaw – Mława – Grudziądz – Laskowice Pomorskie (timetable route number 101),
– Second – West, starting with the 379 km route Warsaw – Kutno – Poznań – Zbąszyń (timetable route number 201),
– Third – South-West, starting with the 318 km route Warsaw – Koluszki – Ząbkowice – Katowice (timetable route number 301),
– Fourth – South-East, starting with the 491 km route Warsaw – Radom – Skarżysko – Rozwadów – Przemyśl – Lwów (timetable route number 401),