Broad-gauge railway through Slovakia to Vienna?

Will a broad-gauge railway run through Slovakia to Vienna? According to media reports, Russian Railways plans to build a broad-gauge railway through Slovakia to the Austrian capital, Vienna. Russian Railways officials told the media that building a broad-gauge railway through Slovakia to Vienna was “legally and technically feasible.”

Russian Railways commissioned a feasibility study to assess the construction of a broad-gauge railway. The new railway is intended to run via Kosice to Vienna. According to the headquarters of Russian Railways in Moscow, the ambitious project is entirely feasible both technically and legally. The estimated cost of building the new railway through Slovakia to Vienna is around 6.3 billion euros. Construction of the railway would create around 21,000 new jobs needed to build the new route. An additional investment of approximately 240 million euros would be required for the (re)construction of the stations. Around 130 million euros would need to be invested in new trains and carriages.

Over the coming weeks, the railway companies from Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine and Russia, in cooperation with their respective governments, will carry out a detailed analysis of the feasibility study, according to a statement from Russian Railways’ headquarters in Moscow to the press. As of today, there is no definite information about when construction of the new route through Slovakia to Vienna is planned to begin. In any case, building a new broad-gauge railway would significantly upgrade Slovakia’s transport infrastructure.