UPGRADING of two strategic rail corridors in Eastern Europe moved a step closer in May with the signing of two multilateral agreements.
On May 13 representatives from Polish State Railways, Austrian Federal Railways and Czech Republic Railways met in Wien to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for the modernisation of the 677 km Wien - Breclav - Ostrava - Warszawa corridor. The line forms part of the European E65 international rail corridor, which links Rijeka in Slovenia with the Baltic port of Gdynia.
Total investment is put at Ecu1·58bn by 2005, cutting 2 h from the current 11 h 23 min journey time. ÖBB will spend Ecu120m on its 87 km, CD Ecu640m on the 213 km in the Czech Republic, and PKP Ecu820m on the 377 km in Poland.
Further southeast, the Directors-General of the Italian, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Hungarian, Slovakian and Ukrainian railways have signed an accord in Budapest, under the auspices of the International Union of Railways. This covers upgrading of the rail routes in the so-called Crete corridor 5, which links Venezia, Ljubljana, Budapest, and Lviv, with branches from Budapest to Zagreb/ Rijeka and Sarajevo/Ploce and from Uzgorod to Kosice and Bratislava.
Following the signing of a MoU by the various transport ministers in December 1996, the current accord provides for the adoption of an action plan to define the framework for international co-operation along key European rail corridors. o
