Train service on the European standard-gauge railway (1435 mm) between Chop and Uzhhorod is scheduled to begin in July 2025.
Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Finance Oleksandr Kava stated this in an interview with the Ukrinform state news agency, the CFTS portal reports.
"The Chop-Uzhhorod European standard-gauge railway is scheduled to be launched next month. This means that passenger trains will run directly from Uzhhorod to Budapest, Košice, Vienna, and Bratislava. Preparations are also underway for the construction of a European standard-gauge railway to Chernivtsi and Lviv," Kava said.
"I hope Lutsk will be the next city. In principle, this is the option that can provide high-quality connectivity over the next 4-5 years," he added.
Notably, two sets of parallel railway tracks will operate between Uzhhorod and Chop: one with the broad gauge (1520 mm) and one with the European standard gauge (1435 mm).
The total cost of the project is UAH 1.3 billion, 50% of which is financed through the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) grant program.
