Transport Minister Vladimir Omelyan, who was released from arrest on bail by a colleague in the Ukrainian government and accused of illegal enrichment, did not abandon the idea of cancelling trains in the Russian Federation, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The minister believes that it would be right to redirect trains currently running between Ukraine and Russia to domestic flights and in a western direction. He shared these thoughts at the largest railway exhibition InnoTrans, held in Berlin, the department’s press service reports.
“The Moscow direction is fading. The question is whether it will die out on its own or whether we will speed it up and partially solve the problem of transportation internally and towards the EU, where there is a chronic shortage of trains. Those that are now heading towards the Russian Federation could be successfully used inside Ukraine and in the western direction,” Omelyan said.
Commenting on the prospects for opening a direct railway connection between Kyiv and Berlin, as previously mentioned, Omelyan acknowledged the existence of objective problems associated with the need to switch to Euro-gauge (domestic trains are designed for the “Soviet standard”).
“If we are talking about a full-fledged train, it is necessary to either introduce Talgo systems (changes in the width of the bogie), or look for a solution that we consider strategically correct, although it involves large investments, namely the construction of the Odessa-Kyiv-Lviv Euro-gauge track with connection to the Polish railway system,” said the head of the Ministry of Transport.
Only after this, according to him, will it be possible to talk about directions to Berlin, Paris and other European capitals. Those trains that run today are very popular and are 100% full.
Omelyan is convinced that the “four capitals” train Kyiv-Minsk-Vilnius-Riga, which starts on September 28, will also be very popular. By the end of the year, the official hopes, it should become a train of “five capitals.”
It is worth noting that the delegation of Ukrzaliznytsia is taking part in the Berlin exhibition not as a full participant, but as guests.