OREANDA-NEWS. On April 07, 2008 Russian Railways has signed a memorandum to start pre-project research on extending broad gauge track to Central Europe with railway companies in Austria, Slovakia and Ukraine, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

The cost of the project is estimated at USD4,3 billion and will be shared among the signatories to the memorandum in proportion to the length of the new track passing through each country. Deutsche Bahn is also interested in the project.

By extending the broad gauge track used in the Former Soviet Union further west, the signatories intend to attract greater volumes of freight onto the rail route between Asia, Russia and Central Europe and increase the competitiveness of rail transport across Eurasia compared to sea or road.
The project will connect the railway system in Central Europe with the regions served by the Trans-Siberian Railway and may be extended later to provide broad gauge track to the South, the Adriatic Sea, former Yugoslavia and Italy.

In 2008, the pre-project part is scheduled to be completed and negotiations with potential investors held.

The development of the technical specifications and a business plan are planned for 2009, after which the time frame for the project will be decided.