Russia and Slovakia discuss Kosice-Vienna rail project

The president of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov and the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met in 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 Kosice (Slovakia) to the city of Bratislava, with access to the city of Vienna and the creation in the region Vienna-Bratislava international logistics center.
The project involves a 500 km line linking Kosice in Slovakia, to Vienna and passing through Bratislava. The value of the project was estimated at The future line would connect the rail network of Central Europe to Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway. The project has been estimated at EUR 6.3 billion.
The project will eliminate congestion at the stations splicing railway lines in Europe with broad gauge. Thanks to this halving delivery times of goods from Europe to East Asia as compared to the sea route (from 30 to 14 days).
Traffic volumes, according to preliminary estimates, could reach in 2025 more than 20 million tons. According to the projected road to Europe will be transported mainly containerized cargo.