The Košice–Vienna broad-gauge line (, ) was a proposed international project to extend the (

broad-gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

)

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

from the city of

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

in eastern

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

. It would create an rail

transport corridor A transport corridor is a generally linear area that is defined by one or more modes of transportation crossing the limits of more than one city or county like highways, railroads or public transit which share a common destination. Development of ...

linking

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The project is part of the

Eurasian Land Bridge The Eurasian Land Bridge (), sometimes called the New Silk Road (, ), is the rail transport route for moving freight and passengers overland between Pacific seaports in the Russian Far East and China and seaports in Europe. The route, a trans ...

initiative to create a continuous rail connection between

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

. Austria announced in 2022 that it did not intend to go forward with the project.

Broad gauge

The most commonly used railway gauge in

is , while

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

uses .

Russian gauge Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

railways link more than 15 countries, including the

Commonwealth of Independent States The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional organization, regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an ar ...

, the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

and

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. This gauge is the primary gauge of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

's railways, making it possible to transport freight directly from Eastern Europe to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

In total, there are over of

railway lines, comprising 18% of all rail lines in the world. There are several individual

lines in countries where this gauge is not the standard, including: * In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

: the -long

Broad Gauge Metallurgy Line Broad Gauge Metallurgy Line (, LHS) is the longest broad gauge railway line in Poland. Except for this line and a few very short stretches near border crossings, Poland uses standard gauge. The single-track line runs for almost from the Polish ...

– (Polish: Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa, known by its abbreviation LHS); * In

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

: the line connecting

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

and the iron and steel works at

Galați Galați ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the river Danube. and the sixth-larges ...

; * In

: broad-gauge lines from Uzhhorod (Matevce) to Košice and from

Čierna nad Tisou Čierna nad Tisou () is a town and municipality in the Trebišov District in the Košice Region of extreme south-eastern Slovakia, near the Tisa (Tisza) river. History The town and municipality is one of the newest in the Košice Region establi ...

to Chop (Ukraine). The westernmost point on the broad-gauge network is in the town of

Sławków Sławków is a town in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland, located in the Zagłębie Dąbrowskie (part of historic province of Lesser Poland), near Katowice. Outer town of the Metropolis GZM – a metropolis with a population of around 2 ...

in southern Poland, where the

LHS The initials LHS are used for: Schools Australia * Leumeah High School, New South Wales * Lyneham High School, Australian Capital Territory * Lurnea High School, New South Wales United Kingdom * Larbert High School, Stenhousemuir, Scotland * Lith ...

ends. Moving

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

on the broad-gauge network is considered less expensive, as the lines can take more cargo (higher axle weight limits and higher maximum trainloads). Wider

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

can also be used on this gauge.

New railway lines to Vienna

The aim of the project is to expand European rail network by laying

tracks from Košice in eastern Slovakia to Vienna, creating an uninterrupted transport chain from Russia, China, Japan and other Asian countries to

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

. This will directly connect the European railway network (as well as the

Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

transport system) with the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

. The vast majority of freight shipments between the EU, Russia and the Asian Pacific Region currently go by sea via the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

, a distance of between . By extending the broad-gauge line, the promoters of the Košice–Vienna project aim to make the

more competitive vis-à-vis the sea routes. 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.

Russian Railways Russian Railways or RZD () is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Russia. ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Vladimir Yakunin Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin (; born 30 June 1948) is a Russian businessman and close confidant of Vladimir Putin. He was president of Russian Railways from June 2005 to August 2015. He has the federal state civilian service rank of 1st class ...

believes it is the faster freight delivery that will make the project competitive. Pan-European corridors ru

The project will require a extension to the broad-gauge line and associated infrastructure, as well as reconstruction of the existing

railway line within Slovakia, from the border station at Matovce to Haniska pri Kosiciach (

) – a distance of . A new transport terminal will also be built in the vicinity of Vienna and

. The new track is to be laid alongside the existing

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

line. Commissioning of the new line is planned by 2025. The Vienna–Bratislava transport hub will become the most westerly point on the

network.

History of the project

The idea of building a

broad-gauge railway line from Haniska pri Košiciach station to Eastern 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. The company was given the name Breitspur Planungsgesellschaft mbH and is equally owned by the national railway companies of the participating countries (

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...

ŽSR Railways of the Slovak Republic (, acronym: ''ŽSR'') is the state-owned enterprise, state-owned rail transport, railway infrastructure company of Slovakia. The company was established in 1993 as the successor to the Czechoslovak State Railwa ...

, UZ and

). On 6 April 2010, a four-party agreement was signed between the participating countries. Russia was represented at that meeting by its president,

Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev (born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician and lawyer who has served as Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev was also President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and Prime Mini ...

. In December 2010 Roland Berger Strategy Consultants completed a project feasibility study. According to the published findings of this study, there are no technical or legal barriers to implementing the project. In June 2012, a delegation from the EU led by Transport Commissioner

Siim Kallas Siim Kallas (; born 2 October 1948) is an Estonian former politician, having served as Prime Minister of Estonia and European Commissioner. From 1972-90 Kallas was a member of the CPSU (Communist Party of the Soviet Union). In 1987, Kallas was ...

voiced its support for the project at a conference in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

. In August 2013, the participating countries announced a tender for technical design work on the project infrastructure. 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 A pipeline is a system of pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries around the world. The Un ...

for the transportation of oil, gas, water and power, as well as all types of communication from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to the Atlantic. In May 2021, the Austrian government stated that it has no plans to approve the construction of the line. ÖBB withdrew from the joint planning company in 2022, after the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Finance

Bogie change station at Chop station Ukraine

Preliminary estimates place the cost of the project at 6.3 billion

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

s. A further 240 million will be required for the terminals and 130 million for additional rolling stock. Freight traffic between Košice and Bratislava could reach 24 million tonnes per annum by 2025 (19 million tonnes between Bratislava and Vienna). During the construction and operation the project will create 642,000 new jobs (including 11,000 jobs connected with work on the new line infrastructure). The project could also provide a boost of 12 billion euros to the

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

s of the participating countries. Market research shows that most of the freight moving westwards along the new route will be

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

and

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

s. 30% of all cargo will be transported from west to east. The project will link up freight flows from 37 countries across Eurasia. Siim Kallas believes that rail traffic between the EU and its eastern neighbours is likely to increase by 30% between 2007 and 2020. Russian Railways plans to invest $2–3 billion in the project, which it will raise by issuing Eurobonds.

Opinions

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. In the view of Polish representatives, the project has a political subtext in that it could potentially be used to economically isolate Poland and its lone Russian-gauge railway line that also originates in Ukraine. In 2013,

Ukrainian Railways The Public JSC Ukrainian Railways or PAT 'Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ)' () is a state-owned joint-stock company administering railway infrastructure and rail transport in Ukraine; a monopoly that controls the vast majority of the railroad transporta ...

Director General Serhiy Bolobolin has stated that the project is vitally important for Ukraine and the entire European transport system.

References

External links

Project website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosice-Vienna broad-gauge line Proposed railway lines in Austria Proposed railway lines in Slovakia