The dataset is an outcome of the research project "Travel time by rail as a determinant of the system of cross-border linkages of Polish metropolises – dynamic approach 1970–2020" supported by the National Science Centre (Poland) under the "Miniatura 4" funding scheme (project no. 2020/04/X/HS4/00525). The exploratory aim of the project is to assess a dynamics of the system of cross-border linkages of Polish metropolises over the past five decades, by investigating the duration of international rail connections. Covering such a long period was possible thanks to utilising the archival train timetables, copies of which can be found, among others, in the holdings of the Polish National Library in Warsaw. Furthermore, the methodological aim of the project intends to test a universal measure of functional linkages – the relative travel deceleration index. The linkages between two sets of cities were studied: eleven Polish cities, considered in the literature as existing or potential metropolises (Warszawa, Katowice, Kraków, Gdańsk, Łódź, Poznań, Wrocław, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Lublin, Białystok), and twelve foreign cities – capitals of neighbouring countries (Berlin, Praha, Bratislava, Kyiv, Minsk, Vilnius) and the cities with more than 400,000 inhabitants, located within a buffer of 250 km from the Polish border (Leipzig, Dresden, Wien, Budapest, Lviv, Kaliningrad). Eleven time sections are taken into account, from 1970 to 2021. Spatial analyses using GIS software were the starting point. The characteristics of the ideal linkage arrangement were identified. The actual situation occurring in selected years, as described in the timetables, was then compared with it. The proposed deceleration index, measured in %, makes it possible to assess a degree of variation of the shortest travel time observed between a given pair of cities in relation to the time that would occur in a situation with a straight railway line, constant speed, no stops and barriers such as national borders. The factors contributing to this deceleration (the so-called components of deceleration) were also analysed: a layout of rail network, a course of train route, a condition of infrastructure, an organisation of services (waiting time for a change of train) and operations associated with crossing of border affecting its permeability (in the case of Polish eastern border additional time-consuming gauge change of carriages). The dataset consists of: Methodological framework for the research explaining the way in which the components of travel deceleration are defined [.pdf file; name: 1_schemat_metodyki_badan; description in Polish]. Geospatial vector data in shapefile format [.zip file; name: 2_dane_GIS_shapefile] featuring: buffer of 250 km around the state borders of Poland [name: bufor_250km; type: polygon]; spatial distribution of the sets of 11 cities in Poland [name: miasta_polskie; type: point] and 12 cities abroad [name: miasta_zagranica; type: point]; ideal arrangement of the 132 studied cross-border linkages – the shortest paths connecting pairs of the cities and representing a physical distance measured along the orthodrome [name: powiazania_miast_stan_idealny; type: line]; optimal arrangement of the 132 studied cross-border linkages – the shortest paths connecting pairs of the cities and representing a distance measured along the railway network in two variants, before and after the opening of the CMK and LHS lines in Poland [names: najkrotsze_trasy_1970-1975_komponent_1.shp and najkrotsze_trasy_1980-2020_komponent_1.shp; type: polyline]; Records of the train timetable analyses including the relative travel deceleration index and the structure of the components of deceleration [.xlsx file; name: 3_struktura_komponentow_spowolnienia; description in Polish]; Supplementary table 1 – cross-border distances (in km) according to the train timetable [.xlsx file; name: 4_tebala_pomocnicza_odleglosci_transgraniczne; description in Polish]; Supplementary table 2 – domestic distances (in km) according to the train timetable [.xlsx file; name: 5_tebala_pomocnicza_odleglosci_w_polsce; description in Polish]; Supplementary table 3 – estimation of time losses in the total travel time associated with accelerating and braking of train for the theoretical variant without intermediate stops (simplified calculation based on kinematics principles) [.xlsx file; name: 6_tebala_pomocnicza_straty_czasu_rozruch_hamowanie; description in Polish].

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