The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure has announced that there are currently no plans to build a new broad-gauge railway from Ukraine to Polish seaports.
The CFTS portal reported this, citing the Nakolei publication.
"According to the plans to expand the TEN-T network with railway lines on the territory of Ukraine, as well as based on plans and cooperation regarding the integration of Ukraine’s railway network with Poland’s railway infrastructure (1435-mm gauge), no works related to the construction of railway tracks with a track width of 1520 mm from Ukraine to seaports in the Baltic Sea are planned," the ministry said.
Szymon Huptyś, a spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure, added that the Rail Baltica high-speed railway will play a significant role in freight transportation in accordance with long-term agreements at the bilateral and EU level.
According to Huptyś, the European Union does not foresee subsidizing the expansion of 1520-mm-gauge railway infrastructure.
As reported earlier, the head of the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia), Oleksandr Kamyshin, has drawn attention to the security aspect of the project: "The European Union will not even consider such a proposal from a security point of view—especially at a time like this—because the broad gauge is the Russian Federation’s standard. From an economic point of view, the construction of such a railway will take 6-7 years. Therefore, such a project currently has no reason to exist."
The Polish Ministry of Infrastructure added that it considers investment in a new broad-gauge railway pointless in the current situation, noting that the Ukrainian prime minister announced in the spring that Ukraine would gradually transition to the European railway gauge (1435 mm).
