Ukraine plans to launch freight trains from Lviv to Poland via a narrow-gauge (1435 mm) railway, the construction of which is currently being discussed by the Ukrainian and Polish authorities. Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Viktor Dovhan announced this at the seventh International Forum "Days of Polish Business in Ukraine," Dovhan’s spokesperson Maryna Skrypnik announced.
"It is easier to connect Lviv – Krakow – Warsaw than to link some Ukrainian cities with each other. We are aiming to develop a European route with the help of the Lviv – Rava-Russka – Warsaw link. It will be passenger and freight traffic with a narrow gauge between Lviv and Poland," Dovhan said.
As reported, plans to build a railway line with a 1435-mm gauge (the standard used in most of the European Union) were announced in the past, but there was no talk of using it for freight trains.
Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian recently announced that Ukraine and Poland had agreed to consider at a technical level the possibility of launching a railway with a track gauge of 1435 mm to Lviv in November.
A project for development of such a rail link on the Lviv –Rava-Russka – Warsaw route was discussed in Lviv in June. The Lviv railway’s head Ivan Hrunyk concretized the plans for laying narrow-gauge tracks at the time.
"The total distance from Warsaw to Lviv is about 330 kilometers. Today, the European track runs through Poland and 7 kilometers to Rava-Russka. It remains to build only 58 kilometers of tracks to Briukhovychi," Hrunyk said. "We are currently looking for potential investors in extension of the tracks to Briukhovychi. Briukhovychi is on the outskirts of the city, we are ready to build all the logistics to ensure that downtown Lviv is accessible from there by both train and car. It is necessary to invest about EUR 50 million euros in this project."
The option of implementing a Warsaw-Lviv Eurorail project, which provides for construction of tracks with a combined gauge of 1435/1520 mm on the Lviv-Przemysl railway stretch, which has a total length of 67 kilometers, has already been discussed.
