The PKP ED160 001 b seen at Katowice

Katowice lies in the centre of Polish railway history - when the country was still cut in three by the Prussian, Habsburg and Russian empires, the first railway line in present-day Poland was built in1842, connecting Breslau (Wroclaw) and Brzeg, later to be extended to Gliwice and on to Austria. The second railway line of Russia was the standard-gauge Warszawa - Vienna Railway built between 1845-1848, originally reaching Bohumín through Prussia and only later got a connection completely through Austrian territories. The Krakau - Upper Silesian Railway was built to connect Krakow to Prussia and the Emperor Ferdinand North Railway to connect Vienna to Bohumín, reaching Krakow without using Prussian rails only in 1856.