Košice-Vienna broad gauge line

The Košice-Vienna broad gauge line (red)

The Košice-Vienna broad gauge line (Slovak: Široká koľaj do Viedne, German: Die Breitspurbahnstrecke nach Wien) is an international project to extend the broad-gauge railway line from the city of Košice in eastern Slovakia to Vienna and Bratislava.^[1]^[2] It will result in the creation of an 8,000 km^[3] rail transport corridor linking Western Europe and China.^[4]

The project is part of the Eurasian Land Bridge initiative to create a continuous rail connection between Europe and East Asia.^[5]

Broad Gauge

The most commonly used railway gauge in Western Europe is 1435 mm, while Eastern Europe uses the 1520 mm gauge (“broad gauge” or “Russian gauge”).^[6]^[7] Railways with the 1520 mm gauge link up more than 15 countries, including the CIS, the Baltic states, Mongolia and Finland. The broad gauge is also used in Russia, making it possible to transport freight directly from Eastern Europe to the Far East.

Most commonly used rail gauges in the countries of Eurasia. ----

Railway network based on the 1520 mm gauge

In total, there are over 150,000 km of railway lines using the broad gauge (18% of all railway lines in the world).^[8]

There are several individual 1520 mm lines in countries where this gauge is not the main standard, namely:

In Poland: the 400km long broad-gauge metallurgical line – (Polish: Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa, known by its abbreviation “LHS”);
In Romania: the line connecting Moldova and the iron and steel works at Galați;
In Slovakia: broad-gauge lines from Uzhgorod (Matevce) to Košice and from Čierna nad Tisou to Chop (Ukraine).

The most westerly point on the broad-gauge network is in southern Poland in the town of Sławków where broad-gauge metallurgical line ends.

Moving freight on the broad-gauge network is considered less expensive, as the lines can take more cargo (higher axle weight limits and higher maximum trainloads).^[9]^[10] Wider rolling stock can also be used on this gauge.

New Railway Lines to Vienna

East-West international transport corridor (based on one of the Orient Express routes)

The aim of the project is to expand European rail network by laying 1520 mm broad-gauge lines from Košice in eastern Slovakia to Vienna, creating an uninterrupted transport chain from Russia, China, Japan and other Asian countries to Central Europe. This will directly connect the European railway network (as well as the Danube river transport system) with the Trans-Siberian Railway.^[11]

The vast majority of freight shipments between the EU, Russia and the Asian Pacific Region currently go by sea via the Suez Canal - a distance of between 17,000 and 22,000 km. By extending the broad-gauge line, the promoters of the Košice-Vienna project aim to make the Trans-Siberian Railway more competitive vis-à-vis the sea routes.^[12] By eliminating the need to change bogies, freight delivery times from East Asia to Europe will be cut by 14 days to just half of the time required for transportation by sea. And as there will be no freight transshipment the risk of accidental damage to cargo could be reduced.^[13] Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin believes it is the faster freight delivery that will make the project competitive.^[14]

Map of the transport corridor network in Europe. One of the biggest transport hubs is located near Vienna.

The project will require a 450 km extension to the broad-gauge line and associated infrastructure, as well as reconstruction of the existing 1520 mm railway line within Slovakia, from the border station at Matovce to Haniska pri Kosiciach (Košice) – a distance of 87 km.^[15] A new transport terminal will also be built in the vicinity of Vienna and Bratislava.^[16]

The transport hub in the Vienna-Bratislava area will become the most westerly point on the broad-gauge railway network.^[17]

The new railway line is to be laid alongside the existing 1435 mm gauge track.^[18]

Commissioning of the new 1520 mm broad-gauge line is planned by 2025.^[19]^[20]^[21]

History of the Project

The idea of building a 1520 mm broad-gauge railway line from Haniska pri Kosiciach station to Europe was first suggested by Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin in May 2006 at the Strategic Partnership 1520 international forum. In 2008, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia and Austria set up a joint company to build the broad-gauge line from the Slovak city of Košice to the international logistics terminal in Vienna.^[22]^[23] The company was given the name Breitspur Planungsgesellschaft mbH and is equally owned by the national railway companies of the participating countries (ÖBB, ŽSR, UZ and Russian Railways).^[24]^[25]^[26]

On 6 April 2010, a 4-party agreement was signed between the participating countries. Russia was represented at that meeting by its president, Dmitry Medvedev.^[27]^[28]

In December 2010 Roland Berger Strategy Consultants completed a project feasibility study.^[29] According to the published findings of this study, there are no technical or legal barriers to implementing the project.^[30]

In June 2012, a delegation from the EU led by Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas voiced its support for the project at a conference in Sochi.^[31]

In August 2013, the participating countries announced a tender for technical design work on the project infrastructure.^[32]

In March 2014, Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin announced a project to link Europe and Asia via a multi-purpose transport corridor known as the Trans-European Development Belt. The project envisages laying not only long-distance railway lines, but also pipelines for the transportation of oil, gas, water and power, as well as all types of communication from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic.^[33]

Finance

Bogie changing station ---- The need to change bogies complicates freight transportation between countries with different rail gauges.

Preliminary estimates place the cost of the project at 6.3 bn euros.^[34] A further 240 mln euros will be required for the terminals and 130 mln euros for additional rolling stock.^[35]

Freight traffic between Košice and Bratislava could reach 24 million tonnes per annum by 2025 (19 mt between Bratislava and Vienna).^[36] During the construction and operation the project will create 642,000 new jobs^[37] (including 11,000 jobs connected with work on the new line infrastructure^[38]). The project could also provide a boost of 12 bn euros to the GDPs of the participating countries.^[39]

Market research shows that most of the freight moving westwards along the new route will be containers, iron ore and metals.^[40] 30% of all cargo will be transported from west to east.^[41] The project will link up freight flows from 37 countries across Eurasia.^[42]

Siim Kallas believes that rail traffic between the EU and its eastern neighbours is likely to increase by 30% between 2007 and 2020.^[43]

Russian Railways plans to invest $2–3 bn in the project, which it will raise by issuing Eurobonds.^[44]

Opinions

Siim Kallas thinks that the main problem with this project is the customs fees in Russia, which result in international freight forwarders paying more than Russian companies.^[45]

In the view of Polish representatives, the project has a political subtext: it could be aimed at economic isolation of Poland.^[46]

The Director General of Ukrainian Railways Sergei Bolobolin has stated that the project is vitally important for Ukraine and the entire European transport system.^[47]

References

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