Ukraine begins construction of European rail link as part of transport connectivity project

At the very beginning of the war, Ukraine found itself in difficult conditions. If before the war, 70% of Ukraine's export products flowed through seaports, then during the hostilities, as a result of the blockade of ports, it became necessary to find new land alternatives to get Ukraine's main export products, such as wheat and metal, to world markets.

Ukraine's railway network faced an insurmountable problem, as all eleven railway border crossings connecting it with neighboring Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Moldova were constantly operating in overloaded mode.

In parallel with the transition to the active phase of full-scale hostilities, Ukraine began to discuss plans for the construction of a European rail link and the integration of its railway network with the European Union. It was clear that the absence of a European-standard railway in Ukraine was hampering many processes related to transportation. In addition, the difference in the standards of rail transport between Ukraine and the EU countries was creating additional obstacles in international passenger transportation.

To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, Ukraine began to lay a European rail line at border crossings as a priority in order to reduce the time spent at the borders and increase the country's export capabilities.

Later, after assessing the situation, Ukraine decided on the systematic integration of infrastructure with the EU.

The strategic goal of integration with the EU railway network was to increase Ukraine's transit potential.

Based on the strategic goal, the EU began implementing a project to integrate the Ukrainian railway system into the EU transport system within the framework of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.

The Connectivity Facility for Europe (CEF) is aimed at attracting investment in transport, energy, digital and telecommunications projects to finance the development of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).

The project involves the modernization of the existing Ukrainian railway network and the development of a European standard 1435 mm track system in order to achieve technological compatibility of Ukrainian-EU railways and increase the infrastructure capacity.

To this end, the Ukrainian Railways “Ukrzaliznytsia” proposed to the EU a project for the construction of a 1435 mm railway infrastructure from the Polish border to Lviv, which was later approved by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Committee.

Later, the European Union decided to allocate 76 million euros for the construction of a European-gauge railway from the Polish border to Lviv within the framework of the Connectivity Project.

It is worth noting that the 80 km section from the Polish border to Lviv will be the first full-fledged section of the European-gauge railway laid to the 1435 mm gauge standard.

It is also worth noting that, within the framework of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, Ukraine has laid a combined gauge structure on several sections of the border, where both Soviet and European 1520 / 1435 mm gauges are combined.

Since 2023, a combined broad gauge and European 1520 / 1435 mm gauge track has been laid from Uzhhorod to Chop (Ukraine-Hungarian border). For this period, a combined track has been laid on 8.5 km of the 22 km section.

However, the track construction from the Polish border to Lviv covers only a 1435 mm network and is radically different from the combined track system.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, this will be a clear signal that Ukraine is already part of the European transport network, the integration of its railway network will not happen in the future, but is already underway.

After the laying of the European track from the Polish border to Lviv, Ukraine's strategic goal is to extend the European track throughout its territory. Thus, Ukraine expects to increase passenger traffic along with cargo exports to the European Union.

Currently, the issue of expanding the European track system throughout Ukraine is being actively discussed. The Ukrainian side unequivocally states that it is necessary to switch to the European track throughout the territory, but the main obstacle is finances.

In addition, the main directions of Lviv - Kiev, Lviv - Odessa and Lviv - Krivoy Rog are being considered. It is worth noting that in the event of the opening of blocked ports, these directions will be in demand.

According to preliminary calculations, the cost of transferring 572 km from Lviv to Kiev to the European line is half a billion euros, an average of 800 thousand euros per kilometer.

After bringing the European line to Kiev, the estimated cost of expanding it to Odessa is 2 billion euros. There are different opinions regarding the cost of the project and the implementation timeframe.

It will take 20 years and 250 billion euros to fully transfer the 20,000 km of Ukrainian railways to the European line standard.

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