You're reading: Railway tracks ready for introduction of high-speed services, says Ukrzaliznytsia

The State Railway Administration of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia) is finishing the preparation of railway tracks for the introduction of high-speed passenger train services between the cities that will host the Euro 2012 European football championship – Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.

The press service of Ukrzaliznytsia reported, referring to head of the track economy department, Yevhen Yurkovsky, less than 5% of the work remains to be carried out. The work will be finished by May 25, 2012.

As a part of the preparation of the Lviv-Kyiv-Kharkiv-Donetsk transport corridor, the key work was performed on tracks between Lviv, Kyiv and Donetsk, the length of which totals 1,307 kilometers, while expanded work (taking into account stations, side tracks, etc) was carried out on 2,227 kilometers.

"Last year key difficult work was performed. 390 kilometers of poor track was upgraded," Yurkovsky said.

In addition, tracks were overhauled and repaired, and reconstructed points and rails were replaced.

Work conducted by Ukrzaliznytsia allowed trains to run at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour on 779 kilometers of track, up to 140 kilometers per hour on 385 kilometers of track and up to 120 kilometers per hour on 428 kilometers of track.