Starting from October 10, the railway connection between Poland and Ukraine will be resumed on the route between the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and Przemysl, a Polish border city of 60,000 founded in the 8th century. Ukrainian state-owned railway company Ukrzaliznytsia reported that the route became available due to its cooperation with the Polish railway administration and agreements between the authorities of both countries.
The tickets for this train can be purchased on the website booking.uz.gov.ua or at the train stations since October 1. The route starts in Kyiv and has intermediate stops in Korosten, Pidzamche, and Lviv, bringing the passengers to the final point in Przemysl – its only station in Poland, at which point passengers can make rail connections to other Polish or European cities.
As Polish media Forsal.pl reports, the relevant decision of the Polish Council of Ministers came into force yesterday, allowing the railway connection to be resumed with Ukraine.
Additionally, Ukraine has already resumed its train connections with Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Moldova due to the assistance of the railway administrations in these countries. In particular, these are the routes Kyiv-Vienna (running through Budapest); Chop, Ukraine-Zahony, Hungary; Mukachevo, Ukraine-Kosice, Slovakia; Chop-Kosice; and Odesa, Ukraine-Chisinau, Moldova. Unlike the route to Przemysl, it’s impossible to buy the tickets for these trains online – this function is available only at the stations.
Let us add that Ukrzaliznytsia launched the new international route №705/706 Kyiv-Lviv-Przemyśl in December 2016. Before the pandemic, five routes were functioning between Ukraine and Poland: two high-speed trains, Kyiv – Przemysl and Odesa – Przemysl; plus Kyiv – Warsaw andLviv – Wrocław and a non-stop route Kyiv – Wrocław. The railway connections were temporarily cancelled on March, 18 as part of the anti-coronavirus measures.
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Przemysl is a town in southeast Poland near the Ukrainian border. Historically, it belonged to the ethnic Ukrainian area and a centre of the Przemysl Greek Catholic diocese. Therefore, numerous objects of Galician architecture are preserved there, like the Przemysl castle from the XI century, several Greek-Catholic churches and the Ukrainian people’s house.
By Vitalii Holich
