Ukraine will continue the development of transportation infrastructure together with the European Union

The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, in collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, is selecting key projects for the reconstruction and modernization of transportation infrastructure. As reported by the head of the Ministry, Oleksiy Kuleba, a guarantee agreement has already been signed for the project "Renewal of the electric locomotive fleet of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia. 

It is worth noting that the EBRD has been supporting the Ukrainian railway for 25 years, during which time equipment and supplies for track construction and diagnostics, materials for track superstructure, freight gondolas, and a large-scale infrastructure project for the construction of the Beskyd Tunnel have been purchased.

Currently, the issue of working on concession projects in the port of Chornomorsk and the continuation of cooperation on the "Development of the Trans-European Transport Network" project is being discussed separately. Additionally, JSC 'Ukrzaliznytsia' is actively working on restoring and developing Eurasian intermodal connections. Recently, during the international exhibition InnoTrans 2024 in Berlin, Ukrainian and Polish railway workers reached an important agreement on cooperation in this area. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to significant disruptions in transportation, particularly the transportation of goods from China through Ukraine has been virtually halted. However, despite the war, Ukraine remains an important transit corridor between Asia and Europe, thanks to its geographical location and developed railway infrastructure.

It should be mentioned that earlier the Ministry of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development signed a memorandum with the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), which provides for cooperation in the field of technical harmonization of the railway systems of the EU and Ukraine. According to the Ministry's announcement, the agreements include expert and technical support for the Ukrainian side's involvement in the single European railway space. For this purpose, it is planned to create a steering committee that will determine priorities and phased plans to achieve the parties' common goals. Currently, the Ukrainian side considers the development of the domestic railway to be one of the prerequisites for full transport integration into the European Union. In fact, the European integration of the Ukrainian railway is one of the largest blocks of Ukraine's transport euro-integration.

At present, Ukraine is gradually modernizing its transport infrastructure and adapting it to EU standards. Last year, Ukrzaliznytsia began construction of the European gauge railway from Chop to Uzhgorod. This project is included in the list of projects of the strategic program for the development of railway infrastructure for Ukraine's integration into the EU. The laying of the first section of the new European railway track structure took place on April 11. This project will enhance not only the comfort of passenger connections and redistribute passenger flow, but will also provide new logistics opportunities for freight transport and relieve vehicle border crossing points. Thus, Uzhgorod becomes the first regional center to have a connection with Europe via a European-standard railway. Ukrzaliznytsia noted that the project will be implemented with 50% grant co-financing from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The total project budget is 1.3 billion UAH. The project duration is 14 months and includes the construction of 22 km of European standard railway, modernization of artificial structures, facilities, and engineering networks, and equipping the track with bidirectional semi-automatic blocking and microprocessor dispatching centralization systems. Additionally, electrification of the new 1435 mm European railway section from Chop to Uzhgorod is planned. There are also plans to possibly extend the European railway from Uzhgorod to Lviv, which will be an important step for Lviv's connection to two European transport corridors TEN-T — the Rhine-Danube and Mediterranean corridors.

By the way, regarding the ports - in Odesa, the Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction and Minister of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksiy Kuleba and the Minister of Infrastructure of Estonia Vladimír Svet signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the implementation of the Plan for the Recovery of Ukraine's Maritime Industry. The Estonian minister stated that this plan will help Ukraine not only win the war but also begin restoring infrastructure now and prepare for a more extensive reconstruction of infrastructure and the economy after the war ends. He recalled that Estonia decided to allocate 0.25% of the country's GDP to support Ukraine. In turn, Oleksiy Kuleba reported that the plan consists of two major components – civilian and military. The first involves measures that will help protect critical infrastructure and acquire the resources necessary to ensure the functioning of the port.