Dual gauge in Ukraine.

[neonison]

Press reports today cite the massive difficulties in transshipping grain at the Ukraine/Poland or Ukraine/Romania border.
Now I guess that regauging one’s rail network in the middle of a war is not a priority but is it physically possible to dual gauge 1435/1520mm track?

 

[JonasB]

It is, but not with three rails. You need four.

 

[edwin_m]

A quick web search just found this really useful looking gauge map I wasn't aware of before: https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=gauge. Select the coloured map background to make international borders more obvious.

 

[dutchflyer]

THis is what I vaguely remember from history lessons in high=secundary school (in the 1960ies, so not that long after that WW): when the Germans invaded this then Soviet communist territory in WW2 they were quite able to adapt the rails pretty quickly to their own ´normal´ gauge width as this was just a matter of relaying 1 side of those rails- and I assume it was not to todays utmost stringent standards re safety etc.
No idea how widespread this was or just a kind of delivered story. I assume/think by myself that as soon as a major crossing/siding was met, the problems would be much bigger there for this method.

 

[edwin_m]

Looking some more at the map I linked above, it looks like there are several 1520mm routes westwards out of Ukraine into otherwise 1435mm gauge countries, the furthest being to Krakow and Kosice, but these are mostly separate parallel tracks or entirely single-gauge rather than dual gauge. The last update on the map was today so someone seems to be maintaining it, I've seen several news items about new/restored rail links between Ukraine and its neighbours but I haven't tried to cross-check these.

I see a short dual-gauge section from Rava-Ruska* to a transfer yard just on the Polish side of the border. There's also a dual-gauge going northwards from Khyriv* but it becomes 1435 only just before it gets to the border.

A bit near Zahony in Hungary leading to quite a long section going south-ish along the Ukrainian side of that border, which then crosses into Romania near Halmeu before petering out.

A section following the Romanian side of the border southwards from Campulung la Tisa to Valea Viseului, both ends continuing into Ukraine but only at 1520mm gauge.

A longish cross-border section between Cherepkivmi* and Dornesti.

Shorter one to get to Galati, which skips into Modova several times on its way to the rest of Ukraine.

A bit of dual gauge over the Romania-Moldova border near Iasi, not much use to Ukraine because any the most direct transit routes go through Transnistria.

Unfortunately neither of dual-gauge track nor the parallel ones helps much with getting goods out by sea. The nearest non-Ukrainian port on the Black Sea is Constanta, which would involve about 150km extension of 1520mm gauge from Galati on the Danube, but I believe that port is accessible to seagoing vessels anyway. Similarly there's several hundred km of 1435mm through Poland to get to the 1520mm in Lithuania if you can't go through Belarus.

*Transliterated from Cyrillic, please excuse errors! Also lack of accents.

 

[Railsigns]

Four years ago, I was on a train from Ungheni, Moldova to Iași, Romania (a small diesel unit with several broken windows). Just after crossing the border we stopped at Ungheni Prut station, where passengers were required to temporarily leave the train for customs purposes. During this stop I noticed that the train was standing on dual standard/Russian gauge track. I didn't risk taking a photograph in the circumstances, but the track is clearly visible on this Google Street View link.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

You can find 3-rail dual standard/Russian gauge track in the port area of Turku in Finland (and probably other Finnish ports).
Ukraine tends to have separate standard/broad gauge lines for about 10km either side of a border (eg at the Przemysl border with Poland), with transhipment terminals along the way.
Most of these lines in western Ukraine were standard gauge originally, as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The Lviv-Chernovtsi line was built by our own Thomas Brassey.

Two broad gauge lines, built for mineral traffic in Comecon days, extend from the Ukraine border almost to Katowice in Poland and to Košice in Slovakia.
Until quite recently there was a serious plan to extend the Košice route to Vienna!
The Upper Tisza route recently reopened across the Romanian border had at one time dual gauge on the section south of the river through Romania (Sighetu Marmației) but it is currently unclear if that is still the case.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

European Commission Proposes Building 1435-Mm-Gauge Railway From Kraków To Lviv

The commission believes that building European-gauge railways in Ukraine and Moldova to link their railways with Poland and Romania will bring them closer to the EU single market.

en.cfts.org.ua

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have published a study that proposes improving the rail links between Poland and Ukraine and between Romania and Moldova by building a railway with a track gauge of 1435 mm from Kraków to Lviv, the CFTS portal reports.

"Building the first EU rail gauge in Ukraine and Moldova, linking their railways with Poland and Romania, will bring them closer to the EU single market," European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said.

"Extending the standard gauge of the European railway network to Ukraine and Moldova will facilitate the movement of goods and services, helping the two countries to integrate more quickly into the EU market and accelerating Ukraine’s post-war recovery. Developing modern transport links is a way for us to foster the region’s economic growth and provide steadfast support to Ukraine and Moldova on their paths to EU integration," EIB Vice-President Teresa Czerwińska, who is responsible for the bank’s operations in Ukraine and Moldova, said.

Taking into account likely costs, expected demand, and line capacity considerations, the study suggests as a first step to establish a European track gauge connection from Kraków/Katowice (Poland) to Lviv (Ukraine), as well as from Iasi (Romania) to Chisinau (Moldova).

Ukrzaliznytsia And Spanish Representatives Discussing Introduction Of Variable Gauge System

The discussions focus on the possibility of jointly implementing a pilot project.

en.cfts.org.ua

The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) is interested in cooperating with the Spanish government and businesses to develop the Ukrainian railway industry, particularly infrastructure rebuilding and European integration.

Ukrzaliznytsia’s Board Chairman Yevhen Liaschenko announced this after a meeting with Spanish government representatives led by Spain’s Secretary of State for Trade Xiana Méndez, the CFTS portal reports.

"One of the main tasks we face today is the large-scale integration of Ukrzaliznytsia into the European transport network, modernization, renewal, and operation in line with European standards. That is why we are very interested in sharing experiences with Spanish railroaders and acquiring the best technologies and solutions for developing the Ukrainian railroad in the direction of European integration," he said.

The Spanish and Ukrainian railways are similar in terms of having tracks with gauges that differ from the standard European track gauge, which creates barriers to integration into the single European rail network. Over the past 30 years, Spain has created a parallel network of European gauge tracks and the Talgo system for safely changing track gauges for passenger rolling stock.

 

[Taunton]

This is what I vaguely remember from history lessons in high=secondary school (in the 1960s, so not that long after that WW): when the Germans invaded this then Soviet communist territory in WW2 they were quite able to adapt the rails pretty quickly to their own ´normal´ gauge width as this was just a matter of relaying 1 side of those rails- and I assume it was not to todays utmost stringent standards re safety etc.

Unlikely to have been written by a railway engineer. What do you do when you come to your first pair of points?

 

[edwin_m]

Unlikely to have been written by a railway engineer. What do you do when you come to your first pair of points?

I imagine unless you really needed those points you would plain-line them. And if you did need them, you could probably re-use both switches and the crossing in slightly different positions and trim/re-align the closure rail. It would be a bit wonky but good enough for short-term use at low speed.