Do You Have to Print Your Train Ticket?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

If you do have the chance, it will be better if you print it.

First of all, (as far as I know) there are 5 types of train in Poland that run by PKP Intercity:

• Pendolino/Express Intercity Premium (EIP), this would be the fastest train, with maximum 250km/h speed. It connects most big cities in Poland like Kraków, Katowice, Gdansk, etc. If you have 1st class ticket you'll get free drink and snacks and only drink for 2nd class ticket.
• Express InterCity (EIC) with 160km/h speed, connects most of big towns in Poland and international routes to Prague, Vienna, and Berlin.
• InterCity (IC) fast train connects most of cities in Poland.
• Twoje Linie Kolejowe (TLK) or Your Railway Lines. When you are looking for a cheap train to hop on cities in Poland, this will be your choice. It has more stopovers than IC, but sometimes you'll find it's the only train you can choose to reach a destination, like a-direct-morning train from Warsaw to Zakopane. It has sleeping cars for night travel.
• EuroCity (EC) and EuroNigth (EN), offering international route from Poland, travelling under EIC and IC brand.

All tickets that offer in Poland are include seat reservation. So you will have your seat number and wagon number printed in your ticket, not like in Germany, for example, they have reserved and unreserved seat ticket.

EIP and EIC brand offers Wi-Fi on board powered by T-Mobile.
When I try the Berlin-Warsaw Express, the wi-fi works well only at Poland side (either the train departed from Berlin or Warsaw). When I travelled from Prague to Warsaw, the wi-fi works fine at Czech side, and it got slower after getting in Poland.
It's very different with the wi-fi facilities I got when I travel from Budapest to Prague, it worked all the way long.

If you buy ticket like at least a week before, you'll get cheaper price than buying it online in D-2 or D-1, or the D day at the station.

For TLK, IC and EIC, you can buy ticket from the officer on the train. Buy it before the train leaves the station. When he approach you first when train leaves, you'll be fined.

Online selling ticket only for domestic routes. For international trip, you'll need to buy it at the ticket office. You can buy roundtrip from and to Poland, and oneway ticket from Poland. You cannot buy ticket from Prague to Poland in Poland, you'll need to buy that in Czech or through Czech Railway online website.

I've been travelling throughout Poland with intercity train, whether with Pendolino, EIC or IC. Most of the time, I didn't print my ticket because once I forgot and it was okay. So it became a habit. When I travelled to Berlin, I always bought the ticket from the ticket office, then I always had my printed ticket.

So today I got problem with this habit 😅
I bought Prague-Warsaw ticket online. All my online tickets (bus, train, or plane) always had caution that I should print it anyway, but I never. I always had my mobile ticket or pdf form ticket in my phone with the thought it will always be scan-able even if it's in my phone.

So with this pdf form ticket in my phone I successed pass the ticket check twice in Czech side. When I entered Poland's side the ticket officer ask for my paper ticket. After explaining that I don't need to show my paper ticket when I'm in Czech, seems it didn't help me. So he urged me that I have to pay another ticket. I was in Katowice already, but he explain that I need to buy ticket from the first city after out from Czech, Chałupki.

I thought, okay let's just bought another ticket that probably will cost me hundreds zloty since I also thought that he would fined me because it seems I'm passenger who don't have ticket. Fortunately he only costed me 65 zloty *fiuh.

Don't ever think that those conversation about me explaining my condition and he explaining the rules was smooth. He speaks only Polish while I don't speak Polish. So we need a passenger to be our translator, thanks God she was so nice and didn't mind to help.

Lesson learned, from now on, I will always print my (international train) ticket (if I happened will travel in Poland's region).