The Ukrzaliznytsia public railway company’s head Wojciech Balczun has announced that his company intends to capture a significant part of the goods that are transported from the Far East to Europe.
Balczun was speaking after a meeting with the leaderships of the Polish companies Centrala Zaopatrzenia Hutnictwa S.A. (CZH), Euroterminal Sławków Ltd, and PKP LHS.
Sławków is the westernmost city reached by 1520-millimeter rail tracks in Europe. According to Balczun, there is an opportunity to transship 285,000 containers and 3.5 million tons of cargo there. Euroterminal Sławków and the Slawkow-Medica oil terminal are creating an international logistics center there. CZH is the main shareholder in these two companies. A memorandum on cooperation was signed with the president of CZH.
"Work has begun on creation of a business concept that will enable Ukraine to become an important link in the East-West chain and significantly increase transportation on this route. We are building an alternative route for Far Eastern cargoes through Ukraine to the European Union," Balczun wrote on his Facebook page.
This issue was also discussed during a meeting between the head of Ukrzaliznytsia and the management of PKP LHS. The company operates a 400-kilometer broad-gauge railway that connects Ukraine and Poland.
"We talked about the possibility of launching new trains that would run along the Silk Road. We discussed the possibility of electrification of the Kovel-Izov segment. This will reduce the cost of transportation and make the process more efficient," Balczun wrote.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the participants in the meeting were informed that a feasibility study for electrification of the Kovel-Izov railway segment is already being prepared. If the Polish side also electrifies its section of the route, then it will be possible to transport cargoes to Hrubieszów without changing locomotives. The company also noted that 90% of the goods between Ukraine and Poland are transported through this segment.
