The CEO of the Austrian Railways (ÖBB), Andreas Matte, estimated the construction of the broad gauge rail line to Vienna at EUR 6.7 billion. “We are now at the stage of studying the attractiveness of this project and we are preparing documents on the environmental aspect of compliance with environmental regulations”, Andreas Matte informed when presenting the most recent cost estimates for the project. The broad gauge rail line, including construction of a terminal on Austrian soil, would give the domestic economy a great boost.
“This is a long process, which requires a lot of expertise, and ultimately we need to get a building permit quite successfully and as soon as possible,”he said.
In order to extend the railway with a track gauge of 1,520 mm from Košice to Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria), the railway companies of Austria, Russia, Ukraine and Slovakia established a joint venture registered in Vienna.
Russia and Austria will be linked by a broad-gauge rail line after a planned extension is laid to Vienna from a broad-gauge line connecting Slovakia to Ukraine. It would be an extension of the current broad-gauge line linking Uzhhorod in Ukraine to Haniska, a village in the Košice-okolie region, Slovakia.
The expansion of the broad-gauge rail line from Košice to the Twin City Region Vienna-Bratislava will result in a unified rail system that will link Eastern European and Asian markets directly with the European market and remove associated time delays, as well as giving a green light to the environmentally friendly rail transport.
The strategic course change enabling the extension of the broad-gauge rail systems means that goods and raw materials can be transported using rail without delays, barriers or diversions, in addition to creating growth and jobs.
According to the latest estimates, the construction period could start in 2023 and ten years later, in 2033, the line could be operational. The total value added after 30 years of operation (until 2054) was calculated at almost EUR 30 billion, of which EUR15 billion for Austria and EUR15 billion for Slovakia.
Deloitte has investigated for the Austrian Ministry of Transport, whether the railway project is economically feasible. Study author Alexander Kainer has come to the following conclusions: the freight traffic axis Košice-Vienna has the potential to bring Austria, in the coming decades, additional value added of EUR15.5 billion and to create up to 127,000 jobs.
Previously this year, presidents of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, and the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, met in Bratislava to discuss areas of cooperation in the field of railway transport.
The two sides discussed the construction of 1520 mm railway line linking Bratislava with Vienna. This is considered an important project, as part of the development of Eurasian transport corridors by extending the broad-gauge railway from Košice (Slovakia) to the city of Bratislava, with access to the city of Vienna and the creation in the region of Vienna-Bratislava international logistics center, with many employment opportunities as urgently needed in Europe.
Potential investors are needed
The project involves a 400 km line (of which 30 kilometers in Austria) linking Košice in Slovakia, to Vienna and passing through Bratislava. The future line would connect the rail network of Central Europe to Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway. Košice-Vienna rail line could halve the delivery times of freight volumes from Europe to East Asia as compared to the sea route (from 30 to 14 days). Moreover, there will be no need to reload cargo at stations that are meeting points for 1.435 mm standard European-gauge tracks and the 1.520 mm gauge track network covering the CIS countries.
Traffic volumes, according to preliminary estimates, could reach, in 2025, more than 20 million tonnes. According to the projected rail line, mainly containerised cargo will be transported towards Europe. “The most economical solution is a single-track construction,” says Franz Bauer, CEO of ÖBB-Infrastruktur.
Of course, it is more than uncertain how much the Slovak government is supporting the project, which is not uncontroversial in this country. Eastern Slovakia would lose important freight traffic to the Twin City region of Vienna / Bratislava due to a connection in Austria, which is why the interest was last considered as subdued, especially since the Slovaks would have to provide around EUR 5 billion of the total EUR 6.7 billion estimated project.
Also, Russian Railways (RZD), signaled, since the financial crisis, that it is hardly willing to pay for the project. A few years ago, that was different, when the Russians pushed ahead with the project – probably with the ulterior motive of weakening the wide-gauge axle from Ukraine to Hungary (where Austria has broad gauge connections via the Hungary subsidiary of Rail Cargo Austria). Austrian transport politicians have been dreaming of such freight traffic for years. For the Austrian Federal Transport Minister, Jörg Leichtfried, this is “a very, very important project”. In the transport of goods by rail, Minister Leichtfried sees “a very powerful alternative to container ships”, rail transport being also safer and saving a lot of time. But the project can be economically feasible, if all four partners, Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia, find suitable or potential investors. More than that, one must not forget major stumbling blocks that are the financing and the broken relationship between Russia and Ukraine.
With all the estimated costs, the realisation of the project is far from being certain although the future railway line is expected to bring huge investments in railways and a logistics terminal with a cargo turnover of 22 million tonnes.
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