I bought the ticket for this trip online which made it very easy because the website can be translated into English. The ticket was only $10 U.S. dollars for a five-hour trip! I could not believe how inexpensive and reliable this form of transportation can be.
I still really enjoy the train system, however, I have found it more difficult to purchase a ticket at the station. After my visit to Lublin this weekend, I missed my train to get back to Chełm due to the taxi taking me to the wrong station. As I tried to buy a new ticket, I quickly found out that the cashiers do not always speak English. After purchasing a new ticket with the help of Google Translate, I missed the second train because the announcements were in Polish. Finally, I was able to get back to Chełm on the fourth train of the day after the cashier underlined my track number and time of departure. Luckily, it only took an extra hour because the trains are so frequent. Despite the small struggles of getting used to a place where you do not speak the language, I will always recommend using the trains as a means of fast and sustainable travel and now I am comfortable with navigating buying tickets in Polish!
Many of the Polish railways were originally developed by occupying military forces. Luckily, Poland was able to take these back when they regained Polish independence in 1918 as well as in 1945. They developed a Ministry of Transportation to develop these railways further and rebuild those that were destroyed in the wars. German locomotives were used in the early years as compensation for the horrible destruction of Poland by the German military and government.
