Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Mustafa Nayem has outlined Ukraine’s efforts to improve its rail links with Poland during the Railway Congress that is currently taking place in Warsaw (Poland).
The Ukrainian deputy infrastructure minister said that the construction of a European-gauge (1435 mm) railway through Mostyska, to which a European-gauge track extends from Przemyśl, offers an opportunity to improve entry into Ukraine from Poland, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Rynek Kolejowy publication.
According to Nayem, the design work in this area has already begun.
As reported earlier, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced back in May that the phased construction of a 1435-mm-gauge railway that would connect to the European railway network would begin in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov estimated at the time that converting a single railway line to the 1435-millimeter track gauge would cost USD 2-3 billion.
The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced in October that they were beginning work on the preparation of a pre-feasibility study for the extension of the 1435-millimeter-gauge railway network to Ukraine and Moldova.
Volodymyr Shemaev, director of the office for international projects at Ukrzaliznytsia, said in comments to the CFTS portal that the first in-person meeting involving the preparation of the pre-feasibility study had been held and that the pre-feasibility study focuses on the possibility of laying tracks of the 1435-millimeter gauge.
According to Shemaev, experts will assess the possibility of laying 1435-millimeter-gauge tracks "through the territories of Ukraine and Moldova along the presumed corridor of Kraków – Mostyska-2 -Lviv – Vadul Siret – Chisinau."
