By KYIV. Oct 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian agrarians have applied to the authorities of the Republic of Poland with a request to lay a broad-gauge railway track (with a gauge of 1,520 mm) across its territory, which will connect the port of Polish-based Gdansk with the Ukrainian and Lithuanian railway networks to export agricultural products and ensure strategically important imports through western borders of Ukraine.
The corresponding appeal to President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda and its Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was sent by the leading Ukrainian agrarian associations, including the Ukrainian Agrarian Council, the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, the All-Ukrainian Association of Communities, the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation.
According to the appeal, one of the largest and closest European ports to Ukraine is the port of Klaipeda (Lithuania), which has significant free transshipment capacities. However, due to differences in the gauge between Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic countries, there is a need to reload the contents of wagons at border crossings between the countries or rearrange wagon bogies, which does not allow to fully realize the export-import potential of the port of Klaipeda.
In turn, the use of vehicles or containers as an alternative to railway transportation is poorly suited for transporting bulk cargo (coal, ore, grain, metal) over long distances and increases their cost to an uncompetitive level. In addition, in the case of using container terminals, the capacity of the railway line will be limited by their capacity, which will also prevent full use of the potential.
"In our opinion, the laying of a railway line with a gauge of 1,520 mm across the territory of Poland, which will connect the Ukrainian and Lithuanian railway networks, as well as connect the port of Gdansk to them for the transportation of goods and passengers, will solve the above-mentioned problems," the appeal reads.
