Poland upgrades border facilities to handle Eurasian freight boom 16/01/19

EUROPE: Polish infrastructure manager PKP PLK has called tenders for the design of a planned upgrade of freight facilities at Terespol, on the Polish side of the border with Belarus at Brest on the Moscow – Minsk – Warszawa – Berlin corridor.

The growth of freight traffic from Asia to Europe is putting pressure on the existing facilities at Terespol, which is the busiest of the three active rail freight transhipment points on the Belarus/Poland border. It can currently handle 450 000 TEU/year, and the Polish government aims to quadruple this by 2022.

The yard is at the break of gauge between the 1 520 mm and 1 435 mm networks, as well as the point where freight enters the EU. The upgrade would provide 10 broad gauge tracks suitable for 25 tonne axleloads, with associated customs and border control facilities.

Work on the 5m złoty preparation phase is scheduled to be undertaken in 2019-22, financed from PKP PLK’s own resources.  The passenger facilities at Terespol station would also be modernised

The project forms part of an ongoing 250m złoty programme to upgrade facilities on Poland’s eastern border by 2023 to improve the handling of freight arriving from Asia.

Broad and standard gauge tracks at Medyka east of Przemyśl on the border with Ukraine are to be modernised to handle longer and heavier trains and eliminate speed restrictions. Seven routes providing access to transhipment terminals will also be upgraded.

• A feature article on railway investment in Belarus including cross-border upgrades appeared in the December 2018 issue of Railway Gazette International magazine, which subscribers can access in the digital archive.