METRANS launches new connection to Ukraine
METRANS has launched a new freight connection to Ukraine. The service will run between Poland and the Ukrainian town Mostyska. According to METRANS, the route connects its network to cities such as Kyiv and Odesa.
European rail operator METRANS launched the new route during the Easter weekend. Trains will run between Dabrowa Gornicza in Poland and Ukrainian Mostyska.
According to METRANS, the route is “one of the first trains” that will connect the European network with cities like Kyiv and Odesa. METRANS’ parent company HHLA operates terminals in those cities.
“The project is important for the cargo going to and from Ukraine. Together with Ukrainian Intermodal Company, which is a part of HHLA group, we are happy to offer our clients reliable services”, says METRANS.
European integration
This new route to Mostyska is not the first connection with Ukraine that METRANS operates. Earlier, the company launched a route that crosses the border from Slovakia and transports freight in both directions.
The newly launched route can be seen in light of a broader effort to include Ukraine in the European rail network. To that end, the EU and the European Investment Bank launched a plan to connect Ukraine and Moldova with the European standard gauge and TEN-T network.
Ukraine has not been sitting still either. The country started building a European-gauge track between Lviv and Poland earlier this year. According to the head of Ukrainian Railways, the company may later connect Lviv with both the TEN-T Mediterranean corridor and the Rhine-Danube corridor via an additional European-gauge track.
Moreover, Ukraine and Poland have been looking to extend a broad gauge line further into Poland to streamline incoming rail traffic from Ukraine, and Ukraine has been building an intermodal terminal on the border with Romania to ease agricultural exports.
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