The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane S.p.A., an Italian state-owned holding company that manages infrastructure and services on the Italian rail network.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the main aim of the memorandum is to consider the possibilities and methods of cooperation between the two companies in the railway industry, the CFTS portal reports.
In particular, they plan to cooperate on analysis and consideration of technical and innovative solutions for possible implementation in areas such as rail transport and infrastructure, with special attention paid to high-speed rail projects. In addition, the planned cooperation involves training and improvement of the skills of both parties’ railway personnel, a coaching program, and bilateral consultations.
A joint working group of experts is envisaged to facilitate the implementation of the memorandum.
As reported, the Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure announced in November 2020 that Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklyi and Ukrzaliznytsia’s Board Chairman Volodymyr Zhmak had discussed the prospects for cooperation between Ukraine and Italy on development of high-speed rail links in Ukraine with Italy’s then-Ambassador to Ukraine Davide La Cecilia.
The ministry said at the time that Kryklyi welcomed the interest of Italian businesses in cooperation on this project, namely, preparation of a feasibility study for the construction of a high-speed railway on the Odesa-Kyiv-Lviv-EU border route with a total length of 896 kilometers.
