Ukraine's Kolomyia proposes launching railway route to Romania

MOSCOW. Oct 24 (Interfax) - The administration of the city of Kolomyia in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankovsk region has come up with an initiative to create a railway route to Romania to develop a transport and logistics hub in the region, Kolomyia head Bogdan Stanislavsky said.

"We are working on turning our city into a genuine transport and logistics center. I signed a memorandum with Mayor of the Romanian city of Sighetu Marmatiei Vasile Moldovan a few days ago. In this document, the two cities of ours agreed to work to create a railway route from Kolomyia to Sighetu Marmatiei. This will help connect Kolomyia to another European Union country by rail. (I'd like to issue a reminder that a Kolomiya-Warsaw railway route was launched recently)," Ukrainian media quoted Stanislavsky as saying in a social media post.

The Kolomyia-Sighetu Marmatiei route will rely on the infrastructure of existing routes between Rakhov and Valea-Viseului, he said.

Hopefully, this initiative will be put into practice in the near future, Stanislavsky said, adding that he plans to ask the city council to urge the Ukrainian government and JSC Ukrainian Railways to support this idea. The Romanian partners will also seek their national carrier's support for this initiative.

"This concentration of international railway routes starting in Kolomyia will make it possible to develop a powerful transport and logistics hub in our city," Stanislavsky said.