Ukraine will assist Moldova in the reconstruction of a railway section. The Memorandum of Cooperation was signed today by Yevhen Liashchenko, Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, Roman Chernytskyi, Member of the Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, and Oleg Tofilat, CEO of the Moldovan Railways.

The partnership will see the restoration of the Vălcineţ – Ocnița – Bălţi – Ungheni – Chișinău – Căinari railway corridor. Its length is 400 kilometres. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2024.

“The restoration of this section is an important step towards strengthening railway logistics on the Danube route. The Vălcineţ – Ocnița – Bălţi – Ungheni – Chișinău – Căinari railway corridor will provide exporters with a convenient transport route connected, in particular connected to the port of Reni. This is one of the important elements in the development of export logistics in Bessarabia,” said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian and Moldovan railways already have a track record of successful partnership in large-scale infrastructure projects. In early April, the Serpneve-1 – Basarabeasca border crossing was opened. This enabled freight traffic to start on the Berezyne – Basarabeasca (Moldova) line, which was restored with the involvement of Ukrainian railway workers. The work was completed in record time.

The project to reconstruct the Vălcineţ – Ocnița – Bălţi – Ungheni – Chișinău – Căinari line was developed by Moldovan railway engineers as part of the European Commission-backed Solidarity Lanes initiative, which aims to develop alternative logistics routes, particularly for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.

According to Oleg Tofilat, CEO of the Moldovan Railways, Ukraine has the necessary equipment and highly skilled workers who are able to implement infrastructure projects of any complexity quickly and efficiently. After the section is rebuilt, its capacity and train speed will increase and the quality of freight transportation will improve.

The project will be implemented at the expense of partners and international financial institutions. EUR 32 million will be transferred to Moldova and then disbursed to Ukrzaliznytsia to restore the railway corridor.

Ukraine and Moldova are members of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), which is being built under the auspices of the European Union. The aim is to link Europe from west to east and north to south with a network of roads, railways, airports and waterways.