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German railway begins operations in Poland

Other News Materials 20 September 2008 20:38 (UTC +04:00)

German trains began operating on Polish soil on Saturday, reviving a railway line that had been ripped up six decades ago when the Oder-Neisse line became the border between the two nations, reported dpa.

A blue-and-white multiple-unit train arrived in Swinoujscie at Poland's end of the island of Usedom, where it was welcomed by mayor Janusz Zmurkiewicz.

The 1.4-kilometre extension line was built by UBB, a subsidiary of German railway giant Deutsche Bahn, which operates passenger services on Usedom, a Baltic island popular with German holidaymakers.

For decades, the border had been sealed. The old rail line was removed, with Poland wary of any German presence in what had been German territory until 1945.

The two nations confirmed the border in 1990 and customs checks ended last year. People in swimsuits now stroll along a beach between the two nations without even noticing there is a border, and German sightseers crowd Swinoujscie in the summer.

UBB said it had invested 3 million euros to rebuild the line, then waited most of this year for the necessary permits from Poland to actually begin the half-hourly rail service.

Zmurkiewicz said he hoped the line would ensure more tourist income into his city of 40,000, where the key industries are tourism and port services. Until 1945, Swinoujscie was the principal German town on Usedom and went under the German name Swinemuende.

Regular rail services were to begin Sunday.

Another German municipality, the city of Frankfurt, decided last year to pay for and build a cross-border tram line in Slubice, the Polish town which faces it on the eastern bank of the Oder river.

That river and the Neisse river mark the main line of the border.

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