Poland plans to lay a Eurorail from Silesia to the port of Odesa

The construction of the railway connecting Silesia with Odesa involves investments and the acquisition of land along the tracks.

This was stated by the new president of the Polish Industrial Development Agency (ARP), Bartłomiej Babuszka, according to Polish media outlets, including Money and Bankier.

According to him, Poland plans to build a railway connecting Silesia with Odesa, and a port on the Black Sea. On the territory of Ukraine, Poland is ready to build a Euro-gauge railway from Lviv to Odesa.

“If Ukraine is considering joining the EU, it is impossible to do this on a broad gauge. This involves investments of such a scale, the acquisition of land along the tracks stretching for more than 800 km from Lviv to Odesa,” the president of the ARP noted.

In particular, Bartłomiej Babuszka emphasized that the adoption of the final decision should be preceded by a comprehensive review to determine how tens of billions of euros will be spent.

The President of ARP admitted that the Euro-gauge project to Odessa has already been discussed with the Ukrainian side. A key element of the agency’s plans in this direction is the expansion of the railway terminal in Sławków, which should be completed within two years.

Also, logistics investments connecting Poland with Ukraine will open Warsaw to the markets of the Middle East.

“Just as the meaning of Poland’s existence is to protect Ukraine from Russia, the meaning of Poland’s existence is to develop infrastructure in the east. Having a seaport on the Black Sea for the first time in history is within our reach. Within a month or two, we should determine the list of these investment projects,” said Bartholomew Babuszka.

Recall that last year, Ukraine proposed to build a broad-gauge railway to the Baltic ports.

Reference. In Ukraine and in the EU countries, railway track standards are different. The European track is 1435 mm wide, the Ukrainian one is 1520 mm.