[Andersen]

Beginning from November 2016 WizzAir commissions flights from Kyiv to Wroclaw at around the same ticket price as the IC+ plus overnight - 1600 hrivs.
Will that invention kill the direct Lemberg - Breslau rail service?

Well, at least the PKP is speeding up to meet the challenge. The prolonged five-year mammut repair works of the Polish rails has now proceeded so far that PKP IC speeds on some parts of the Kraków - Rzeszów - Medyka (E-30) line will be raised from 120 km/h to 160 km/h.

The 244 km line Krakow - Przemysl has been a 5+ hour travel for several years, but since 2015/16 it is now 3:5X hour journey in nicely modernized wagons.  
With the change of schedule in December the Przemysl - Krakow travel time will be further reduced to 3:10 - 3:30.

And when the repairs are completed at all parts of the E-30 - maybe at the end of 2017 - we will see the travel times in the Przemysl - Krakow segment shortened even more - to 2:40 - 2:50, I hope.

The reduced travel time might render Krakow - Lviv overnight travel obsolete.
But combined with a possible one-hour rail link Lviv - Przemysl day time train services could give actually give Wizzair some competition.
http://www.rynek-kolejowy.pl/wiadomosci/od-grudnia-160kmh-z-krakowa-do-rzeszowa-78585.html
 

[sean]

Beginning from November 2016 WizzAir commissions flights from Kyiv to Wroclaw at around the same ticket price as the IC+ plus overnight - 1600 hrivs.

Moreover Kyiv-Wroclaw fare starts from UAH 1109. While UZ continuing the procedure of killing any desire of using its service on international routes. Especially regarding tarrifs.

[Andersen]

Hr. 1669 - 1949 - 2500 are more realistic airfares to be paid than 1100. And a ~15 Euro luggage fee comes on top. So in real terms the train is still cheaper (300 + 1300 = 1600 including luggage). But yes, overnight prices at 29,50 Euro would be much better than the current ~ 43.

[sanyok_ua]

The reason my colleagues use this train and I believe this reason can be a common - to avoid (during business visits) huge lines on border when going by car or bus, if you need to go Lviv <-> South Poland. Price doesn't matter here at all.
But, the issue is that anyway it is red eye train with 2 wake outs during the night "when you just sleep", so one going for personal visit neighbor country without car might prefer bus since anyway you will not sleep normally, and if you select to travel overnight, there is no difference for where for you to wait for the morning, on a border on bus line or in Krakow, maybe in bus it's even better; and anyway the bus will arrive to Krakow at morning. But bus is cheaper. And you can select day-time bus. I believe, with further road to Wroclaw it makes no big difference, but it might..

I don't think this Lviv-Wroclaw train is a big competitor to flight to Kiev. They serve different regions in Ukraine. But if Wizzair or someone else will open direct Lviv-Wroclaw flight (I was not sure there are enough passengers on this route, but Lviv-Radom example shows different picture), it might really kill train.

[Andersen]

In the 2016/17 PKP schedule the travel time on the Przemysl - Krakow leg is down to 3:16 - 3:38 from the current 3:39 - 3:57.
This happens as years of upgrading the railway is nearing its finish. The service intensity is set to increase from 7-8 pairs to 10 per day on the 244 km ride :)

As a consequence, the Lviv - Wroclaw overnight is speeded up by more than half an hour.
According to PKP the train is now
dep. Lviv 22:59, arr. Krakow 5:55.

Beginning December 11 it will
dep. Lviv 23:15, arr. Krakow 5:38.

[volotar]

As a consequence, the Lviv - Wroclaw overnight is speeded up by more than half an hour.
Beginning December 11 it will
dep. Lviv 23:15, arr. Krakow 5:38.

Yeah, and now the departure time to Krakow is even less convenient for Ukrainian tourists. Anyway, I would prefer they finally upgrade Krakow-Wroclaw part of the route.

[Andersen]

How the Austrian Railways have saved parts of DB's former net of overnight trains, cancelled in December 2016 (source: Railway Gazette International, January 2017).





The X-formed overnight operations described involving recombination of wagons are:
- Hamburg/Düsseldorf - Innsbruck/Vienna and
- Munich/Vienna - Milano/Rome.