PKP Intercity will hold 14 trains for an hour during the 25 October clock change

When and how the clocks change

PKP Intercity says the timetable change falls in the night of 24 to 25 October 2026, when Poland moves from summer to winter time. At 3:00 the clocks go back to 2:00, which gives the night an extra hour. The carrier notes that the procedure recurs every year and is already built into how rail traffic is organised. Infrastructure managers and operators prepare their timetables so that journeys through the changeover night run without disruption. In its communiqué the carrier put the number of affected trains at 14 and described the stops this way:

14 PKP Intercity trains will stop for an hour at the nearest station to keep to the planned timetable.

Which trains will wait

The published list covers IC Uznam, IC Ursa, IC Baltic Express, IC Podhalanin and IC Karkonosze, together with the TLK Karpaty and TLK Ustronie. The timetable entries show the stations where some of these services will pause. An IC Uznam running from Chełm to Świnoujście will stop at Środa Wlkp. from 2:15 summer time until 2:16 winter time. The IC Baltic Express from Gdynia Główna to Prague will halt at Mogilno, arriving at 2:05 and leaving at 2:06 on the new clock. The IC Karkonosze from Warsaw Wschodnia to Szklarska Poręba Górna will stop at Kalisz from 2:25 summer time to 2:27 winter time. Those times refer to two different clock systems, so the stop is not two minutes long.

Effects on passengers

For passengers on these services, the journey lasts 60 minutes longer. The longest hold falls at Poznań Główny, where the stop lasts 117 minutes. The IC Ursa normally stands at Poznań Główny for almost an hour, and under the changed schedule it will wait roughly twice as long, close to two hours. The affected services include night trains to Prague and Berlin, and many of them carry couchettes and sleeping cars. The carrier insists the stops will not create extra delays, and it put the point this way:

The change will not cause delays, and passengers will reach their destination on schedule.

The carrier behind the change

PKP Intercity describes itself as the largest interregional rail carrier in Poland, linking big cities, popular holiday areas and destinations abroad. It carried 89.2 million passengers in 2025 and expects the figure to reach about 96 million in 2026. The 14 holding trains are therefore a scheduled adjustment within a network that carries tens of millions of people a year.

What happens next

The trains will hold at their designated stations through the change and then continue on the timetable that applies after the switch to winter time. The first stops fall in the early hours of Sunday, 25 October, with the earliest listed arrival at 2:05 summer time. Clocks go back at 3:00 that morning, so passengers on night services to Prague and Berlin will feel the change most directly. The timetable adjustment is set for that single night, and the carrier has said the trains will keep to their planned arrival times.