Uzhgorod will be the first city to be connected to the EU by Eurorail

Uzhhorod becomes the first regional center to be connected to Europe by the Eurorail. This will help integrate Ukrainian railways into the European Union.

This was reported by "Ukrzaliznytsia".

The main stage of construction will begin in May. Today, on April 11, the first links of the rail sleeper grid of the new Chop — Uzhhorod Eurotrack were laid. This will make it possible to launch direct passenger routes on the Eurorail from Uzhgorod to European countries, as well as transfer trains from all regions of Ukraine for further trips to European countries.

"This project will not only increase the comfort of passenger traffic and redistribute the passenger flow, but will also give us new logistical opportunities for freight transportation, relieve traffic checkpoints," stressed Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.

The cost of the project is 1.3 billion hryvnias, and the implementation period is 14 months. It is implemented with 50% grant co-financing from the EU fund Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The project documentation and feasibility study were developed at the expense of the state budget in 2021-2022.

"Ukrzaliznytsia" will build 22 km of railway tracks of the European standard, carry out the reconstruction of artificial structures, objects and networks of engineering support and equip the tracks with two-way semi-automatic blocking and microprocessor dispatching centralization devices. In addition, at the next stage, the Eurotrack on the Chop — Uzhhorod section will be electrified.

They are also considering the possibility of extending the Eurotrack from Uzhhorod to Lviv. This will be an important step for joining Lviv to two European Transport Corridors TEN-T — Rhine-Danube and Mediterranean.

• Ukrainian trains run on a wide track (1,520 mm) laid on the territory of the countries of the former USSR (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Belarus). Meanwhile, most of the countries of the European Union (with the exception of Spain and Portugal) use a narrow gauge (1,435 mm).
• This year , the construction of the European track will begin in Lviv on the section Mostysk — Sknyliv from the border with Poland to Lviv.