According to a feasibility study, it is technically and legally possible to extend the wide gauge rail track from Košice on the Slovakian-Hungarian border to Bratislava and Vienna.
The work was contracted out by Breitspur Planungsgesellschaft mbH, a joint venture from the state railways in Austria (Oebb), Russia (RZD), Ukraine (ZU) and Slovakia (ŽSR).
Construction of the new route, which would reduce the transit time of valuable goods from Asia to Western Europe to 15 days, would create an average of 21,000 new jobs and cost around EUR 6.3 billion.
Another EUR 240 million would be required for railways stations and EUR 130 million for rolling stock. The study showed that lengthening the wide gauge track could help shift 16 million t of new cargo per year to the railway by 2050, and as much as 24 million t in an ideal scenario.
Taken from the International Transport Journal