EU supports improvements to Balkan railroads

EU supports improvements to Balkan railroads

Completing the European transportation corridors 8 and 10 will provide sustainable transportation and easier access to the EU market.

The EU is allocating funds to Balkan countries to reconstruct their railroad infrastructure to improve transportation to and from the Union and enable the region to more efficiently implement Union standards, officials said.

The EU will invest nearly 30 million euros in the Bitola-Kremenica portion of the railroad in Macedonia through the pre-accession funds that will re-establish the connection with Greece via Bitola.

The EU also said it will establish a project to complete the railroad from Kriva Palanka to the Macedonia-Bulgaria border and will finance construction of the 31-kilometre portion from Kumanovo to Beljakovce on the European East-West transportation corridor 8.

Bulgaria is already using EU funds to complete the 2-kilometre portion of the railway to the Macedonian border.

The railway is one of the shortest ways to connect southern Europe to Central Asia and the Middle East. It runs from Bari to Durres, Tirana, Skopje, Sofia and Varna.

"It is very important for the Balkans to complete and modernise transportation corridors 8 and 10, which cross in Macedonia, according to EU standards," said Kristi Bombol, a professor at the Technical Faculty in Bitola.

"EU's transport policy focusses on modernising and developing railroads because this mode of transportation reduces costs and protects the environment," Bombol told SETimes.

Bombol said the Kremenica-Bitola railroad has been idle for 30 years, and since it will extend a connection to an EU member state, its rebuilding will have a great benefit by...