EBA Supports Idea Of Building Broad-Gauge Railway In Poland For Exporting Ukrainian Goods

Because of the uncertainties surrounding Ukraine’s maritime exports, the European Business Association (EBA) has called for immediate consideration of a strategy and commencement of creation of alternative routes for exporting goods, such as a railway route to Polish and Lithuanian ports. In particular, it proposes considering the possibility of building a new 1520-mm-gauge railway track through Poland.

As the CFTS portal reported earlier, the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council and other members of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum recently appealed to Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to consider the possibility of building a 1520-millimeter-gauge railway through the territory of Poland.

Expressing support for this appeal, the EBA said it believed that a railway route to Polish and Lithuanian ports can be created by reconstructing the existing railway network and building a combined track, as well as by building a separate railway branch based on the recommendations of experts.

"Construction of a broad-gauge railway line through the territory of Poland will make it possible to reduce the cost of transporting goods and increase the mobility of the populations of all the countries involved, reduce the shortage of rolling stock, simplify logistics for the Republic of Poland when importing/exporting goods from/to the Baltic states and their ports, reduce the harmful impact of motor vehicles on the environment, attract additional transit cargo flows, which will facilitate achievement of the goals of the EU’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, etc. Moreover, [it will facilitate] integration and development of rail links with Ukraine and protect Ukraine from Russian blackmail over transport corridors," the association's logistics committee said.

The EBA added that businesses operating in Ukraine are determined to export agricultural, metallurgical, mining, chemical, and construction products, as well as crude oil, petroleum products, and other goods from Ukraine through such a transport corridor and that they will guarantee the use of the corridor in the future.