It is up to the Polish parliament to enable investments for a 1,520 mm gauge line with Ukraine. If the legislature passes a required resolution, it could pave the (rail)way for such a line. The line would help boost Ukrainian grain exports and potentially be profitable for Poland.
The Polish legislature has the opportunity to enable investments in a new 1,520mm (broad) gauge line. According to Ukrainian agriculture minister Mykola Solskyi, a broad gauge line will facilitate the transportation of Ukrainian grain and will allow Poland to profit from its transit.
Poland could allow investments via a simplified procedure, which it has used in the past for other infrastructure projects. Earlier, the governments of Poland and Ukraine came to a preliminary agreement on the issue.
Different gauges
The envisioned broad gauge line is supposed to connect Ukraine with the Polish port of Gdańsk and the Klaipėda port in Lithuania. Poland uses standard European gauge, whereas neighbouring Ukraine and Lithuania are on the broad gauge.
While Poland and Ukraine are also building a standard gauge connection, the bulk of European grain wagons are Ukrainian and work on broad gauge infrastructure. Replacing all those wagons would be a costly affair. For that reason, a new rail line could be a more financially viable option.
Moreover, cargo between Poland and Ukraine needs to be transferred from one gauge to another at the border. This takes time and reduces competitiveness. Consequently, Ukrainian farmers appealed to Poland for the broad gauge line in October 2022.
Profitable investment
If the countries build the broad gauge line, Ukrainian companies can guarantee an “appropriate scale” of grain transportation for the next decade. “Poland will be able to build plants for processing Ukrainian grain on its coast and export finished products, which will help it earn more,” the Ukrainian minister said.
According to the Ukrainian minister, there are Ukrainian investors ready to finance the project. However, the minister did not specify who these investors are.
RailFreight Summit 2024
Are you interested in learning more about rail freight and infrastructure updates between Ukraine and Poland? Then the RailFreight Summit 2024, taking place between 15 and 17 April in Warsaw, Poland, is the perfect occasion to connect with industry professionals and dive deeper into the topic.
This year’s edition of the RailFreight Summit turns the spotlight on trending issues like the TEN-T expansion, connections with Ukraine, significant projects like Rail Baltica and their potential for the creation of more efficient logistics corridors, Poland’s role as a logistics node and a performance assessment of intra-European and Eurasian services.
You can check the event’s programme here and secure your participation ticket here. Additionally, do not miss the chance to explore the networking and site tour possibilities that could provide excellent opportunities for boosting your business in Poland and the CEE region.
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