Broad gauge line Košice – Vienna

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The broad gauge line Košice-Vienna ( English Košice-Vienna broad gauge line ; Slovak Široká koľaj do Viedne ) is an international project with which the railway line leading to Košice in eastern Slovakia in the Russian gauge of 1520 mm is to be extended via Bratislava to Vienna .

The broad gauge railway line to Vienna (red)

was standing

Technically

While the railway network of the CIS countries predominantly has a gauge of 1520 mm, the railway networks to the west (Central and Western Europe) and east ( China ) were built in the standard gauge of 1435 mm. Railway traffic crossing these network boundaries must either change the gauge of the railway vehicles used , move containers or swap bodies onto wagons of the other gauge or reload the goods. This causes additional expenditure in terms of time and money.

Economically

Preliminary estimates suggest that the project will cost € 6.3 billion . The construction of the terminals costs a further 240 million euros, the purchase of the corresponding rail vehicles another 130 million euros. The financing of the project has not yet been clarified. The Russian State Railways (RŽD) intends to invest two to three billion dollars in the project, financed by distributions of Eurobonds .

The planned capacity of the route is 20 million tons per year. According to EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas , rail traffic between the EU and its eastern neighbors will increase by 30% between 2007 and 2020.

Politically

The broad-gauge Košice – Vienna line began as a joint project between Russia , Ukraine , Slovakia and Austria . It is part of the “ Eurasian Land Bridge ” initiative (an uninterrupted rail link between Europe and East Asia ) and should also be viewed in the context of the Chinese infrastructure project One Belt, One Road , also known as the “New Silk Road”.

The RŽD have been planning to expand their broad-gauge network to Western Europe for several years. The idea of ​​building a broad-gauge railway from Košice to the west was first publicly expressed by the President of the RŽD, Vladimir Ivanovich Jakunin , in May 2006 at the “Strategic Partnership 1520” forum. On May 7, 2007, the RŽD and the Slovak Ministry of Transport, Post and Telecommunications signed a letter of intent that provides for the extension of the broad-gauge line to Bratislava . At that time, the intention of the RŽD was to have freight trains run to Bratislava from 2016 .

The railway companies of Ukraine ( Ukrsalisnyzja ), Slovakia ( Železnice Slovenskej republiky - ŽSR) and the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) joined the project. In 2008 Breitspur PlanungsgesmbH was founded, which is a joint venture of these railways, which are equal partners in the GmbH.

On April 6, 2010, the participating railways signed an agreement in Bratislava that was intended to initiate a study on the financial feasibility of the project.

In June 2010 the new Slovak government announced that it was withdrawing from the project and that it would no longer support the plans. In March 2011, ÖBB stated that it did not anticipate possible completion before 2024. The project is also not mentioned in the expansion plan for the Austrian railway infrastructure "Zielnetz 2025+", which extends up to 2032.

At a meeting in May 2011, Austrian Transport Minister Doris Bures , ÖBB boss Christian Kern , ÖBB supervisory board chairman Horst Pöchhacker and the head of the Russian state railway, Vladimir Ivanovich Jakunin, signed an interim contract for the major transport policy project. It was agreed that a new, more comprehensive feasibility study would be launched from the end of 2011.

In June 2012, an EU delegation headed by Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas showed its support for the project at a conference in Sochi .

In July 2013, the heads of the railways involved - Slovakia was also there again - signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the aim of working out a project study by the end of 2013 to extend the broad-gauge line to Austria. The final decision on the project should therefore be made by mid-2014.

Despite the crisis in Ukraine in 2014 and the European trade boycott against Russia from August 2014, the construction plans on the part of the railway companies remained. In October 2014 an Austrian business delegation traveled to Moscow. According to estimates at the time, broad-gauge freight trains would not Template: future / in 5 yearsroll to Vienna before 2029 .

As an impetus for the swift continuation of the project, a feasibility study was presented on the Austrian side in the summer of 2017 , which identified huge economic opportunities. Also in 2017, the Kittsee - Parndorf area was favored as a possible location for the rail transhipment point in favor of Burgenland . In order to give the project new impetus, in February 2018 Austria (representative: Transport Minister Norbert Hofer ), the Russian Federation (Transport Minister Maxim Sokolow ), the ÖBB and the Russian State Railways signed additional agreements to the previous agreements Study phase "include, among other things, timely environmental impact assessments in Austria and Slovakia. The year 2033 is now envisaged as the time horizon for commissioning.

A joint declaration of intent between Russia , Slovakia and Austria for the realization of the freight train route Košice – Bratislava – Vienna with a gauge of 1520 mm was signed on March 18, 2019 on the sidelines of the International Railway Congress in Vienna. In addition, six additional letters of intent, each bilateral, were made at business level.

target

Map of Europe's transport corridors; one of the largest hubs is located near Vienna

Technically

A feasibility study by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants states that the project is technically and legally feasible. The broad gauge line Košice – Vienna would be an extension of the Russian gauge and the associated infrastructure by around 450 km to the greater Vienna area and the reactivation of the already existing 87 km long broad gauge line between Matovce and Košice in Slovakia. A transshipment terminal is to be built at the western end of the infrastructure near Vienna and Bratislava. This would then be the westernmost point that the Russian broad gauge reaches.

The broad-gauge line Košice – Vienna does not avoid the system break between the two networks of different gauges, but shifts the breaking point westwards to Vienna. From there, the Sea of ​​Japan could then be reached via the Trans-Siberian Railway without any system breakdown . However, there would still be a system break in relation to the attractive Chinese transport market. On the Russian side, the advantage of this shift to the west is seen in the fact that the administrative hurdles seen on the Ukrainian border would be reduced. As a new line, the project would also allow higher speeds for freight traffic . At the beginning of 2018, the Austrian side spoke of 10 days as a possible transport time between Central Europe and East Asia. There is an interest in Austria and Slovakia in attracting international traffic with the project.

Economically

By 2025, the turnover between Košice and Bratislava is expected to increase to 24 million tons per year, the turnover between Bratislava and Vienna to 19 million tons. During the implementation of the project, 642,000 new jobs would be created, 11,000 of which would be for the maintenance of the infrastructure of the new routes. The project is also intended to increase the gross national product of all participating countries by 12 billion euros. The Danube waterway would be connected to the Trans-Siberian Railway without a system change.

According to market research studies, most of the transports on the new route westwards would be containers , iron ore and metals . 30% of all transports go east.

criticism

According to EU Commissioner Kallas, the biggest problem with the project is that Russian logistics companies have to pay significantly less than those from the EU .

Polish representatives fear Poland's economic isolation.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j http://www.railwaypro.com/wp/?p=13358
  2. ↑ a b c http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/broad-gauge-to-wien-is-feasible-says-study.html
  3. ^ Attila Kiss: Forum "1520 Strategic Partnership: Central Europe" . In: OSJD Bulletin 2/2018, pp. 35-41 (36).
  4. ↑ a b c d http://sptimes.ru/story/35745?page=2#top
  5. ↑ Broad- gauge track from Slovakia to Vienna is to cut transport times for goods from Asia in half. on RIA Novosti January 12, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2011
  6. ↑ a b c d e http://sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=35745
  7. ↑ Об утверждении Положения о порядке организации и проведения торгов при распоряжении недвижимым имуществом открытого акционерного общества "Российские железные дороги" и от 7 мая 2007 г. № 821р  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: dead link / doc.xn--rd-2va.ru  
  8. ↑ mr: RŽD are planning broad gauge to Vienna. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 6/2010, p. 298f.
  9. ^ High-Level for the broad gauge at the Federation of Industrialists from April 8, 2010, accessed on June 13, 2010.
  10. ↑ http://www.breitspur.com/history.html
  11. ↑ Slovakia gets out of broad-gauge railway to Austria in the standard of June 24, 2010, accessed on March 9, 2011.
  12. ↑ ÖBB: Broad-gauge railway to Russia not before 2024. on ORF from March 4, 2011, accessed on March 9, 2011.
  13. ↑ Target network 2025+ (Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology)
  14. ^ OTS press release from ÖBB-Holding from May 19, 2011.
  15. ↑ Transsib is supposed to dock in Vienna. In: derStandard.at. July 5, 2013, accessed December 12, 2017 .
  16. ↑ http://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2664308/ Transsib to Vienna? ORF.at from August 22, 2014
  17. ↑ Transsib to Vienna: Study locates huge opportunities . In: wien.orf.at , August 18, 2017, accessed on February 21, 2018.
  18. ↑ Luise Ungerboeck, Andreas Schnauder: Broad-gauge railway should lead from Beijing to Parndorf . In: derstandard.at , June 7, 2017, accessed on February 21, 2018.
  19. ↑ Broad- gauge railway should lead to Vienna by 2033 . In: wien.orf.at , February 21, 2018, accessed on February 21, 2018.
  20. ^ Attila Kiss: Forum "1520 Strategic Partnership: Central Europe" . In: OSJD Bulletin 2/2018, pp. 35-41 (36).
  21. ↑ International Railway Congress 2019: The global future of the railway successfully discussed in Vienna. Retrieved June 17, 2020 .
  22. ↑ http://www.nov-ost.info/index/Article/1593567_Kern,_Yakunin_Breitspur_bis_Wien_ist_moglich.html
  23. ↑ http://www.breitspur.com/idea.html
  24. ↑ With the "Transsib" to Vienna. (Die Presse, September 7, 2012)
  25. ↑ https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/wien/stadtpolitik/948572_Wir-wollen-2033-auf-dieser-Bahn-fahren.html
  26. ↑ a b http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/wien-broad-gauge-agreement-signed.html