New Beskydy Tunnel Doubles Rail Capacity to Europe

By Jack Laurenson, managing editor of the Ukraine Business Journal Kyiv – The Beskydy Rail Tunnel, connecting Ukrainian train lines with the European Union and eliminating troublesome bottlenecks, officially opens today, ministers have confirmed. For decades, the old one-track tunnel was a vital transport corridor for goods and passengers headed west to Europe but old rails and the seven meter width of the passage meant limited speed and limited capacity. The new two-track tunnel will significantly improve rail connections from Ukraine to Slovenia, Hungary and Romania. “This new tunnel effectively doubles capacity on the line,” said Oleksander Pushkash, head of railways for the Transcarpathian region, in a recent interview with UBJ. “The two-track line through the tunnel will accommodate up to 100 trains – about 1,000 carriages – every day,” he added. Engineers from the Interbudmontazh construction company worked around the clock from October 2013 to finish the 1,800 meter tunnel. The tunnel's construction required 160 tons of explosives and 7,000 tons of reinforced steel. Costing $120 million, the tunnel build was funded jointly by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the Ukrainian state railroad company, Ukrzaliznytsia. Read more at the Ukraine Business Journal.