Ukrainian Railways, Poland's PKP agree to develop rail traffic
MOSCOW. July 29 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Railways and Poland's PKP SA (Polish State Railways) and PKP Group have signed a joint declaration on enhancing cooperation and strategic partnerships in developing joint cross-border rail transportation in 2024-2026, Ukrainian media reported, citing the companies' websites.
The document was signed following the PKP top management's visit to Ukraine and their meetings in Kiev and Lvov dedicated to increasing the number of seats and routes to Warsaw and improving rolling stock and border checkpoints.
The Polish side was represented at the meeting by CEO of Polskie Koleje Panstwowe S.A. and PKP Group Alan Beroud, CEO of PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A Piotr Wyborski, and the delegation also included representatives of PKP Intercity, PKP CARGO and PKP LHS, it said.
"New passenger routes have been launched, the situation around cargo transportation has been settled, and the operation of border checkpoints has been improved. We expect already specific decisions by the end of the year," Ukrainian Railways CEO Yevgeny Lyashchenko was quoted as saying in the statement about the previously achieved results.
The parties also agreed to improve the quality of rolling stock and expand the supply of seats on the Lvov-Warsaw route via Rava Russkaya, and provide convenient connections, in particular, with trains to Berlin, Vienna and Prague.
The Ukrainian Railways also offered Polish counterparts to revisit the issue of launching an additional train on the Kiev-Warsaw route.
The two countries' railways agreed to coordinate the elaboration of infrastructure projects in their countries' and border checkpoints as part of developing the TEN-T corridors, which were expanded to Ukraine and Moldova in July 2024.
The parties also agreed to explore the possibility of preparing railway infrastructure development projects for joint applications as part of the tenders for projects of the European CEF program.
Polish and Ukrainian railroads will shortly continue revamping the border sections of two rail lines: Lublin - Dorohusk - Yagodin - Kovel and Rzeszow - Medyka - Mostiskas - Lvov, the PKP website said in a statement.
The working groups on infrastructure, passenger and freight transportation aimed to identify bottlenecks, make joint decisions to remove them, and further enhance strategic partnerships were set up at the meeting.