Ukrainian Railways moves into active phase of building Chop-Uzhgorod Euro-gauge railway track

MOSCOW. Oct 18 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Railways has already rebuild a half of wide railway tracks, which is a part of preparing the base for the implementation of the project of narrow European-gauge railway track in the Chop-Uzhgorod direction, Ukrainian media outlets said with a reference to the company's social networks.

"Ukrainian Railways started the implementation of the strategic program of developing the European-standard track in Ukraine in 2023-2024. An active phase of the construction of the European-gauge track between Chop and Uzhgorod is underway. As part of the project, Ukrainian Railways is rebuilding the wide track, straightening it out at the Strumkovka-Chop stretch, where the European gauge track will be laid in parallel in the future. Three and a half kilometers of the track out of 8.3 km necessary have already been rebuilt," Ukrainian Railways said.

This work is expected to be completed before the end of 2024, the company said.

A bridge will also be repaired and updates of relevant communications will continue as part of the project, it said.

"We have prepared the entire base for the implementation of a number of European integration infrastructure projects. In particular, we found financing, drafted design and estimate documents and already started implementing some projects. The largest [infrastructure project for the company now] is building the European-gauge track between Uzhgorod and Chop. Ukrainian Railways must complete the project within the established deadline," the company's press service quoted its CEO Yevgeny Lyashchenko as saying.

Passengers and carriers will be able to experience the positive impact of the launch of the Chop-Uzhgorod European-gauge track on cargo and passenger routes as early as next year, Lyashchenko said.

"Passengers and cargo carriers will experience its [the Chop-Uzhgorod Euro-gauge track project's] effect for themselves as early as next year. It will be new comfortable passenger routes and bigger logistics opportunities for cargo transportation," he said.

Two parallel tracks will exist between Uzhgorod and Chop, a wide one with the gauge of 1,520mm and a European-gauge one of 1,435mm, Ukrainian Railway said. The total cost of the project is 1.3 billion hryvni. Half of it will be financed by the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The project won a CEF competition in 2022.

Ukrainian Railways said in August that it plans to complete the construction of a European-gauge (1,435 mm) rail line from Chop to Uzhgorod until July 2025.

According to the company, the project envisages the construction of a 22-kilometer European-standard railway, an overhaul of artificial structures, related facilities and utility system, the installation of a two-way lock-and-block system and microprocessor-based dispatch centralization devices.