The Railway Direction Days 2023 (RDD) congress, which was held on 18 and 19 January in Warsaw, was aimed at the countries of the Three Seas Initiative. The event, organised by the company Centralny Port Komunikacyjny, brought together around 600 guests, including nearly 50 speakers from more than a dozen countries. It was during this event that the CPK company signed agreements on cooperation and coordination of investments with railway investors from Ukraine Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
“We are proud that the Railway Direction Days congress, which we organised for the first time in history, attracted so much interest not only from partners from Poland and the region but also from the world. This is that unique, one-of-a-kind time in our joint history when acting together in the region, we can create an unrivalled offer of railway connections,” says Mikołaj Wild, President of CPK.
During the Railway Direction Days congress, representatives of CPK, Rail Baltica global project coordinator RB Rail AS and Správa železnic, i.e. rail investors from Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – in the presence of Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Marcin Horała – signed a Memorandum of Understanding to lay out the cooperation principles and further steps in strengthening cooperation for the development of High Speed Rail in the region.
Another strategic moment that took place during the RDD congress was the signing of a cooperation agreement between the CPK and the Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznycia). The document envisages closer cooperation in the construction of new transport infrastructure, including a High-Speed Railway on the Warsaw – Lublin – Zamość – Lviv – Kiev route in the European standard, i.e. 1435 mm gauge. The CPK company has expressed its readiness to prepare a feasibility study for this infrastructure.
“This is a historic moment. Together with Ukrainian Railways, we are starting joint work on the Warsaw-Lviv-Kiev HSR line. The shortest route from Ukraine to the EU goes through Poland and CPK,” said Mikołaj Wild, CEO of CPK.
RDD congress was also an opportunity to present a report “Benefits of HSR development and integration between EU countries of the 3Seas Initiative”, developed by Steer, an international consultancy that performs analyses for the European Commission. According to the report’s authors, the completed HSR network suitable for passenger and freight transport will be approximately 4,500 km in 2050. The total cost of developing the entire HSR network in the Three Seas region will be around EUR 60 billion. These investments will quickly bring benefits that are estimated to be close to EUR 120 billion. This means that, in the long term, the developed HSR network in the Three Seas region will generate twice the economic value compared to its initial cost (Economic Net Present Value – ENPV).