Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) has started the construction of the European-gauge Chop-Uzhhorod railway line in an effort to facilitate the integration of Ukraine with the European Union.
The city of Chop is located on the corner of the Slovakia-Hungary-Ukraine border.
According to the Ukrzaliznytsia’s press service, the railway will provide direct passenger routes from Uzhhorod to several European countries and allow transfers from trains from all regions of Ukraine for further travel to European countries.
According to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, the Chop-Uzhhorod European-gauge railway will allow the launch of direct rail connections with the regional center of Transcarpathia and Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, Bucharest, Dresden.
The company’s head, Yevhen Liashchenko, said that the company has started implementing the project, and the main construction stage will begin in May.
The construction project includes the construction of 22 km of European-standard railway track; and the reconstruction of artificial structures, facilities, and engineering support networks.
The project costs about $33 million and is co-financed with a 50% grant from the EU Connecting Europe Facility.
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