The European Commission is granting 135 million euros to Slovakia to modernise its rail infrastructure, with significant benefits for rail freight. The funds, coming from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), will be used to modernise the east-west stretch connecting to the Czech and Ukrainian borders and for ETCS deployment.
The modernisation of the infrastructure revolves around Košice, the country’s second largest city. Most of the funds were allocated to the line to Žilina, near the border with Czechia, which will receive 96,7 million euros. Another 27,3 million euros are earmarked for the Košice-Čierna nad Tisou section, running all the way to the borders with Ukraine and Hungary.
Stronger connection to Ukraine
This last one is particularly important for connecting Ukraine to the rest of Europe via rail. Čierna nad Tisou is just a few kilometres from Chop, which is where Ukraine opened its newest standard gauge railway, leading to Uzhhorod. Creating solid standard gauge connections to Ukraine has been a prerogative for both Kyiv and the EU since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Other than the newly opened Chop-Uzhhorod line, Ukraine has recently announced an investment of over 73 million euros for the Lviv-Mostyska line, leading into Poland. These projects aim at bringing Ukraine and Ukrainians closer to the EU but also have a defence purpose. A strong railway network will allow for an easier EU deployment of military equipment and personnel.
11 million euros for ETCS
The CEF funds assigned to Slovakia also include the installation of the European Train Control System (ETCS). For this purpose, 11 million euros were allocated for both passenger and freight trains, said the Slovakia national railway group ZSSK. “Step by step – the modernisation of the railway is progressing”, the company stated on LinkedIn.