KZN Rail has been present in the rail infrastructure construction market since 2013. However, the company draws on the experiences KZN Bieżanów Group parent company. Kolejowe Zakłady Nawierzchniowe “Bieżanów” operated railway construction divisions in the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing from this experience, at the beginning of the current century, KZN Bieżanów launched the External Works Division as part of its structure.
What motivated us to separate this new entity, KZN Rail, from the structures of KZN Bieżanów, was the dynamic development of the aforementioned Division. The unit, which initially provided simple services related to the installation of tram and railway turnouts and track systems, has grown into an entity successfully competing for investment contracts with a value of over PLN 100 million. Within a decade, it transformed from a small and experimental department within the structures of a manufacturing company to a fully independent, profitable enterprise. Great investments were made during this period into people and equipment, which allowed to provide highly professional and complete services to our customers. The new subsidiary was expected to become another piece of the puzzle with the goal to create and improve an organization capable of comprehensively meeting market demand for railway permanent ways. Thus, in 2013, a decision was made to separate an organized enterprise part. In practice, KZN Rail employed all those previously working at the External Works Division of the parent company. The new entity also manifested its connections with the parent company by creating its visual identification based on the emblem of the KZN Bieżanów logotype, which is a graphic representation of a turnout, a key element of rail infrastructure.
Therefore, the new company did not enter the market with a “clean slate”, but with good credentials earned during such investments as the comprehensive modernization of the track system of Wrocław Główny station, a greenfield track construction project in Bardzka Street in Wrocław, and the modernization of the tramway infrastructure in Długa Street in Kraków.
In the years following its separation, KZN Rail completed many tram investments in Toruń, Bydgoszcz, Olsztyn, Sosnowiec, Zabrze and Łódz, among others. It has also been involved in rail projects such as the massive replacement of turnouts along the no. 1 and no. 25 railway lines; the rebuilding of Bochnia, Seligi, and Kędzierzyn-Koźle stations; as well as investments in modern turnouts carried out on wide track lines in Wola Baranowska (PKP LHS) and Medyka.
In 2016, a new chapter in the company’s history began. KZN Rail became the operator of the Switcher system, effectively taking over responsibility for the transport, unloading and installation of turnout blocks in the KZN Bieżanów Group. Strong involvement with the tram industry began to be leveled off with other activities. Balance was achieved through the involvement in such major rail contracts as the reconstruction of the Gliwice Port station system, the construction of technical facilities for Koleje Małopolskie, modernization of the Katowice Szopienice station or the supply of turnouts in blocks for the Gdynia Port station.
Subsequent years of contract execution and monitoring market needs brought about another breakthrough. KZN Rail, in cooperation with its parent company, KZN Bieżanów, has begun researching solutions for non-standard road systems integrated with complex track layouts. In 2023, combining experience in railway turnout prefabrication and logistics with years of tram turnout manufacturing and installation resulted in the development of CONTRACK, a technology for prefabricating key elements of tram permanent ways. The product is now a stand-alone, accessible technology, already used in cities such as Bytom, Poznań, Mysłowice, Ruda Śląska and Kraków.
