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Fate of Broad-Gauge Railroad Track to Be Decided by September
Wednesday 31 March 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, March 31 (TASR) - The contract between the German consulting company Roland Berger and the individual states across which the broad-gauge railroad track might pass is due to be signed on April 6 in Bratislava, Slovak Transport Minister Lubomir Vazny said after the Government session on Wednesday.
By signing the contract, the German company will commit itself to draw up the so-called study on feasibility of lengthening the broad-gauge railroad track from Kosice through Bratislava to Vienna. Roland Berger will have six months to do the study.
The contract needs to be signed by all the countries – Austria, Ukraine, Russia and Slovakia – the track is supposed to pass through. In this joint venture, Slovakia is represented by Slovak Railways company (ZSR) [a state-owned company, owning and maintaining the railroad tracks, stations and related infrastructure - ed. note], with Slovakia's prospective participation on the project requiring the final approval of the Government.
"There are minor incongruencies, but it seems that everything will be signed on Tuesday next week (April 6). As soon as this study, drawn up by a reputable company that is acknowledged by all banks, says this project is feasible, we'll take it from there," said Vazny.
Rather than constructing a new track, The Transport Minister will prefer to have the local railroad tracks in southern Slovakia (bordering Hungary) modernised and interconnected. "Almost 80 percent of the broad-gauge rails could be located on the existing railroad infrastructure, with us having to build only the remaining 20 percent. That way, we'll avoid problems with property settlements, with the modernisation of the track being all there is to worry about," said Vazny.
He added that such an approach would be convenient, as the existing local rail tracks in southern Slovakia are used only to 8-20 percent of capacity, but ZSR still needs to maintain them.
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