Ukrainian farmers ask Poland to build wide-gauge railway track to Gdansk port

The request for a new rail link, with a gauge of 1,520 mm, was reported in a message on the Ukrainian Agri Council website posted on Oct. 28.

The following Ukrainian agrarian associations signed the appeal to Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki:

• The All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council;

• the Agrarian Union of Ukraine;

• the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club;

• the All-Ukrainian Association of Self-Governing Communities;

• the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine;

• and the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation.

According to the letter, one of the largest and closest European ports to Ukraine is the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania, which has significant free transshipment capacity.

However, due to the differences in the gauge between Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic States, there is a need to reload the contents of trucks at border crossings between the countries or rearrange railroad trucks, which prevents making use of the full export-import potential of the port of Klaipeda.

In turn, the use of road transport or containers as an alternative to rail transportation is poorly suited for the transportation of bulk cargoes (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 capacities, which will also prevent full use of the potential.

Farmers said a new rail route would provide significant positive financial and economic effects for Poland and Ukraine – not only by increasing export-import capacities, but also by uniting the economic space of Poland, the Baltic States, and Ukraine.

Such a project can be implemented by reconstructing the existing railway network and building a joint track, or constructing a separate railway branch, the Ukrainian farmers said.

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In June 2022, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that the construction of such a broad-gauge railway had already been given preliminary approval by the Polish and Ukrainian governments.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine