Poland reaffirms 2032 CPK opening target while preparing new CEO selection and November piling works

Executive reshuffle and leadership selection

The management of Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) is undergoing a structural reorganization as the state-owned venture transitions from planning to physical execution. On 30 July 2026, the supervisory board dismissed chief executive officer Filip Czernicki and board member Dariusz Kuś, appointing board member Marcin Michalski as acting CEO. These personnel moves followed the mid-June dismissal of government plenipotentiary Maciej Lasek and the appointment of Deputy Infrastructure Minister Piotr Malepszak. The company is 100% owned by the Polish State Treasury. On 18 August 2026, the supervisory board opened a competition for the CEO post, later extending the submission deadline to 7 October 2026 to evaluate additional candidates alongside six initial applicants with aviation industry backgrounds. A separate application window for the board member overseeing real estate and stakeholder relations closed on 4 September 2026.

Construction schedule and site preparations

Government officials continue to target the third quarter of 2032 for the opening of the central airport, while adjusting near-term execution timelines. The symbolic start of construction at the Baranow site was rescheduled from September 2026 to November 2026. The upcoming works involve driving 8,000 foundation piles at an estimated cost exceeding 150 million PLN. CPK vice president Piotr Rachwalski cited delays in securing administrative permits among the factors influencing the revised schedule. Physical construction is currently furthest along on the rail component, where drilling continues on the second tunnel beneath Łódź.

Today I can say that we are maintaining this deadline, although public documents have for several years pointed to investment risks and the fact that in many infrastructure investments these deadlines are not met. Therefore, my role today is to bring this investment to rationality in terms of scope and the elimination of all risks. And I will not hide that over these three months quite a few risks were identified and analyzed, and today they are the subject of daily work with the team.

Railway network and regional connectivity

The transport scheme includes a High Speed Rail network intended to connect central Poland with regional hubs. The primary 130-kilometer railway segment between Warsaw, the planned Baranow airport, and Łódź is scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2032, allowing passenger train speeds up to 320 km/h. Subsequent extensions linking Łódź to Poznan and Wroclaw are projected for completion by 2035.

Budget revisions and funding negotiations

Rail infrastructure planned across the Port Polska program requires capital expenditures exceeding 100 billion PLN. CPK did not secure 33 billion PLN in European Union funding originally envisioned in multi-annual projections, necessitating financial adjustments across the program. Piotr Malepszak and Infrastructure Minister Dariusz Klimczak are negotiating allocations for CPK within the 2028–2034 EU budgetary perspective, where funding must be divided among road, rail, aviation, and maritime port projects. Officials are examining alternative financing structures, including commercial bank loans alongside European funds, to finance the priority Warsaw–Łódź railway link. Marcin Danił, a board member of Polish Airports (PPL), stated that planning models continue to adhere to the 2032 deadline, while emphasizing the need to limit any potential delays to a few years.

The official deadline, let me remind you, is the third quarter of 2032. Our models must respect this deadline because so far we have no information that it could be postponed.