Modernizacja taboru kolejowego w II Rzeczypospolitej

Modernization of rolling stock in the Second Polish Republic

Abstract: The article concerns one of the most important elements of the railway transport system, which is the rolling stock, i.e. traction vehicles and wagons. The aim of the article is to determine what the modernization activities undertaken in the period of the Second Polish Republic in the field of rolling stock manifested themselves, what was their scope and how they affected the satisfaction of communication needs. For this purpose, the existing, quite dispersed literature on the subject was reviewed and its most important findings were summarized. Particular attention was paid to the electrification and motorization of railways. At the same time, areas that still require the determination of the most basic facts were indicated, as well as those that require verification and clarification of the findings made. This text also indicates the possibility of including the modernization activities discussed or only signaled in it in research in the field of numerous areas of economic or social history, for which the functioning of rail transport was important. It also ends with the postulate to analyze and evaluate modernization activities in longer time perspectives, due to their extended implementation and the emergence of their effects.