Projects to bring railway from border to Lviv and Kovel in line with European standards require $75 mln - Ukrainian ex-deputy minister

KYIV. May 25 (Interfax) - Projects to bring rail tracks leading from the border to Lviv and Kovel in line with European standards are set out in the National Transport Strategy and require over $75 million in investments, former Ukrainian Deputy Infrastructure Minister for European Integration Viktor Dovhan said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Tuesday that Ukraine would start gradually switching to European-standard rail tracks in order to connect Ukraine's railway to Europe's. At the initial stage, such rail tracks will be built between major hubs and large cities, then spreading throughout the country.

"Investments in such a large-scale project are unlikely, as 1km of European-standard rail tracks costs 1 million euros plus a train. Short links in Lviv, Mukachevo and Chernivtsi should be built, as well as a connection lane. It is important to take the plan of action of the National Transport Strategy. It sets out projects with multimodal terminals. But it is unrealistic at this stage to build European-standard rail tracks to Kyiv or to Odesa," Dovhan said.

The Investment Atlas, published by the Ukrainian government in late 2020, presented two potential sections with European-standard 1,435mm rail tracks: Sknyliv-Mostyska and Kovel-Yahodyn-state border.

The cost of the project to upgrade the Sknyliv-Mostyska section was estimated at $20.8 million, and the Kovel-Yahodyn-state border section at $54.2 million.

The Lviv regional military administration said in February 2022 that efforts to restore European-standard rail tracks at the 8km-section between the state border and Rava Ruska would start this year as part of the Grand Construction presidential program, adding that this work would be completed within the next two years.