Uzhhorod becomes Ukraine’s first regional capital with direct electrified EU rail

Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Mykola Kalashnyk announced that Uzhhorod will soon have direct passenger rail service into the EU without the traditional border locomotive swap, after crews built 591 overhead catenary poles and strung nearly 30 miles of contact wire along the Uzhhorod-Chop line. The project cost about 1.3 billion UAH ($31.5 million), half funded by an EU grant and the rest by the state budget and Ukrzaliznytsia.

The next phase extends electrification to the Hungarian border at Zahony by the end of 2026. Because Ukraine's system runs on different current than Hungary's, dual-system locomotives will be needed to run trains from Vienna, Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest directly into Uzhhorod.

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