UKRAINE: The United States Agency for International Development has signed a memorandum of understanding to support national railway Ukrzaliznytsia in the development of a 75 km of standard gauge line from the Mostyska II yard near the Polish border to Sknyliv in the city of Lviv.
USAID said the MoU signed on November 24 would unlock $225m of funding and technical support.
USAID said transhipment between Ukraine’s 1 520 mm gauge tracks and western Europe’s 1 435 mm gauge can take more than 5 h per train. Upgrading cross-border links and providing standard gauge tracks could increase Ukraine’s grain export capacity by 2·5 million tonnes/year, boosting exports by up to $425m and offering an alternate to the Black Sea shipping routes disrupted by Russia’s war against Ukraine. Improved links to the TEN-T network would also support Ukraine’s economic resiliency and help to reduce its reliance on donor support.
‘One of the important tasks for increasing export capacity is the modernisation and replacement of tracks, and if necessary the construction of new ones’, said Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction Oleksandr Kubrakov. ‘The signing of the memorandum with USAID will have a tangible impact on the recovery of the Ukrainian economy and will contribute to European integration processes in general. It is also important that this track will be used not only for freight, but also for passenger transport in the direction of EU countries.’
