Getting in and out of Ukraine is a challenge these days. Because of the war, trains remain one of the only reliable ways to enter the country or get around. And the railways are often getting damaged.
“We repair, we rebuild and we keep the trains running,” says Oleg Yakovenko, the director of strategy for Ukrainian Railways, the state railway company. “That resilience has become our trademark, even when the cold and the damage make it almost impossible.”
With seaports and airports in Ukraine closed, railways are essential for trade and travel in Europe. Advisory experts and lending teams from the European Investment Bank are helping to launch big projects to keep trains running and connect Ukraine’s railways to the European Union network.
“The war moved our relationship with the Bank to a higher level,” Yakovenko says. “It revealed our true friends.”
The most recent development is the opening in September 2025 of the Chop–Uzhhorod rail line, built to European standard gauge. Unlike Ukraine’s traditional 1 520-millimetre tracks, the European gauge of 1 435 millimetres allows trains to cross borders without stopping to change wheels or carriages.
With support from EIB Advisory experts, the 22-kilometre rail line connecting Chop and Uzhhorod was completed in less than a year.
Trains can now run directly from Ukraine to countries such as Hungary and Slovakia, cutting travel times and easing trade. This rail line is the first step in a plan to build European-gauge tracks to Ukrainian cities such as Lviv and Chernivtsi.
The €24 million rail transformation project is financed equally by a European Union grant and an EIB loan.
Different track widths
“There are two very different philosophies on the approach to rails," says Rafael Alcayde, an EIB Advisory officer working under a programme called JASPERS, or Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions. “European trains are built to be faster and shorter, which provides a much higher system capacity, while 1520 millimetres wider gauge ones are heavier and slower, but they can carry more capacity in one train.”
“Passengers immediately noticed the benefits,” Yakovenko says. “Faster border crossings and staying on the same train turned a difficult journey into a smooth one, and demand rose almost overnight.”
This new line also will ease population pressures in Uzhhorod, which has welcomed many Ukrainians who left their homes in the east because of the war.
The Chop–Uzhhorod line is part of a broader plan to integrate Ukrainian and Moldovan railways with the EU network.
Early advisory work helped prepare several projects in key road and rail border areas with Europe. This work helped obtain EU funding via the Connecting Europe Facility and supported a €50 million EIB loan approved in 2024 for Ukrainian Railways.
Requested by the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport within the European Commission, EIB Advisory wrote a plan to integrate the Ukrainian and Moldovan railway systems into the European Union. The strategy proposed to start by adding European standard rail gauge tracks between Lviv and Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, and between Chiṣinău, the capital of Moldova, and Romania.
A new transport hub in Lviv
More projects are underway. In Lviv, near the Polish border, upgraded border facilities speed up crossings for passengers and freight. As in Uzhhorod, Lviv has received many new residents since the war started. More than 70% of Ukrainians travelling to Europe now leave from Lviv.
EIB Advisory is supporting rail investments that include:
- An 81‑kilometre Mostyska–Sknyliv line will be the first one with standard-width rails to reach a major Ukrainian city. This will be followed by the connection between Sknyliv and the Lviv main railway station in standard gauge.
- Modern terminals with multiple transport modes will handle freight trains and connect them better with roads.
- Upgraded border and customs facilities will make travel faster and more efficient.
The European Investment Bank provided feasibility studies and other advisory support to shape these projects from the start. EIB Advisory helped to set up an approach that accelerated planning and ensured cost-efficient development. Advisory officers also helped design new methods and processes that sped up loans from the European Investment Bank and grants from the European Union.
One of the main challenges is converting rail infrastructure to European standard gauge quickly and at reasonable cost, while keeping services running. EIB Advisory experts helped identify solutions that allow European and Ukrainian gauges to operate on the same infrastructure, enabling a gradual transition with minimal rail traffic disruptions.
“When life in Ukraine feels unpredictable, the railway gives us predictability,” says Yakovenko, the director of strategy for Ukrainian Railways. “You can still plan your departure and arrival, and even in the middle of the war, the trains keep moving”.
