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What prevents Lviv from becoming a major transport hub

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21 September, 20:32

Imagine Lviv, where you can get to the center in minutes by urban train, from the Main Station – take a train to Poland without changing, and the airport is part of a unified transport system. For now, this sounds like a distant prospect, but some of these changes are already being designed. Where the European track will run, whether the Main Station will remain the main passenger hub, what will happen to Sknylov, and whether Lviv will get a full-fledged urban railway – specialists discussed this during an open editorial meeting of "Your City" on September 16 at Lem Station.

“Tracks should be seen not as an obstacle, but as an asset”

Martin Duplantier is a French architect and urban planner who works on Ukrainian reconstruction projects and is involved in the concept development for "Northern Lviv." He began with the thesis that infrastructure shapes a city no less than architecture :

“Infrastructure plays a fundamental role in creating a city – it can be read on maps like a historical document. Over the past four years, Lviv has undergone colossal changes, transforming into Ukraine's gateway to Europe and a home for many Ukrainians. As an urban planner, mobility is my main tool for restructuring urban space. Lviv's unique geographical location is a lever for internal development.”

In the context of Lviv, Martin Duplantier sees four key components of mobility:

A polycentric archipelago – expanding the city center and moving business, trade, and services to other districts through quality transport.
Inclusivity and speed – ensuring equal access for all residents to urban and metropolitan services.
Integration of local and international traffic – coordinating regional movement with global passenger and freight flows through the Lviv hub.
Modernization of the entire system based on the existing framework.

As an example, the expert cited the Paris Grand Paris Express, which he worked on. There, the new 68 stations (out of over 200 in total) became not only transport facilities but also centers of urban development. For Lviv, he said, the existing railway tracks could play a similar role.“For previously cheap and inconvenient suburbs, it became a real 'new deal': people got fast connections to the center via an automated driverless metro. This enormously increased the capitalization of these territories. Lviv's railway network has similar potential, and the tracks should be seen not as an obstacle, but as an asset.”

In Bordeaux, a city comparable in size to Lviv, a program has been launched for 50,000 new housing units along dedicated tram lines and a 100-kilometer suburban RER network. By using the same existing tracks and reducing train intervals from 1 hour to 10 minutes, the city achieved a huge economic effect with the same infrastructure maintenance costs. Meanwhile, Zurich demonstrates an example of redeveloping neglected industrial zones near railway lines into dense, multifunctional developments.

The French urban planner spoke separately about the possibility of moving some border procedures directly to Lviv:

“Another interesting example: at Gare du Nord in Paris, you can eat a French croissant and order British fish and chips at the same time, because British customs and passport control are located right at the station in Paris before boarding. France agreed to this with its 'closest friend and at the same time closest enemy' – Britain. With intergovernmental agreements with Poland, such customs clearance can be organized at Lviv's Main Station, so that trains to Krakow or Warsaw run without border delays.” (as noted by the meeting moderator Taras Yatsenko, the idea of customs control in Lviv sounds very attractive – especially when you remember the 3–5-hour queues in Przemyśl).

To implement this, a clear timetable and a global vision are needed. All stakeholders must sit down at one table: international partners, state authorities, the region, city communities, as well as freight and passenger carriers. Infrastructure is not a cheap pleasure, so we must speak the language of investors, combining Lviv's local vision with Ukraine's and the EU's global interests in trade and people movement.

Anton Kolomeitsev's Vision: from European Corridors to an Urban Network

The chief city architect, Anton Kolomeitsev, thanked Duplantier for emphasizing the key aspects opening up for the city in terms of European integration and Lviv's incorporation into continental networks. This directly concerns developers and entrepreneurs, as it relates to the capitalization of businesses in Lviv and the region and the well-being of all citizens.

Together with specialists from the European Commission's advisory structure JASPERS, the city is working on integrating the railway node into the European TEN-T corridors network. In this context, Lviv's chief architect Anton Kolomeitsev draws attention to the following: “One geographical fact clearly explains Lviv's role in European integration processes: if we look at the route from Istanbul to Central Europe, it is extremely difficult to traverse it without going through Lviv, bypassing the Carpathians. Experts from Vienna and Budapest, who are rebuilding nodes at the continental level, look at our capabilities with burning eyes. Only our situation allows us to combine road, rail, and air transport into a single system.”

Currently, a development plan for the 1435 mm European track along five directions has been officially approved, and the project for the construction of the first branch to Sknylov has already fully passed state expertise. Kolomeitsev explains that ahead lies complex work on the technical reorientation of the entire network:

“The 1435 mm system is a super-technological European network that is constantly improving. The 1520 mm system has a limited geographical scope. For Lviv, it is strategically important to disconnect from the northern aggressor, even technically. Do you know why the railway was changed so quickly during World War II? Because there were wooden sleepers: they unscrewed, moved the track, and screwed it back. Now, there are concrete sleepers with reinforced concrete recesses – to move the track, everything has to be redone.”

City development is based on the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and Integrated Development Concept approved in 2020. The main emphasis is on a compact city: new residential or commercial construction is allowed only where there is quality public transport. This stimulates the formation of sub-centers: Antonovycha and Heroiv UPA streets, Zalena, the municipal hub Lem Station at the intersection of Sakharova and Vitovskogo, and the Duck's Lake area at the intersection of Naukova and Stryiska.

As an example of rethinking urban territories, Kolomeitsev cites "Northern Lviv":

“Within this project, we are changing the current urban planning documentation because it planned another 'dormitory district' with weak infrastructure. Instead, with the support of partners from Zurich, as well as the participation of leading transport experts from Copenhagen, Sweden, and the former chief transport planner of Berlin, we are creating a balanced district where the development of public transport is the backbone and framework for all future transformations.”

However, the development of urban rail (Urban Rail) requires strict separation of railway functions. The chief city architect reminds: “In 2006, we had a rail bus, but it was not the quality of public transport we aspire to. The launch of a high-quality Urban Rail will become possible when freight traffic is moved to separate lines. Without a clear distinction between freight and passenger corridors, it is simply impossible to talk about quality urban transport – they are two sides of the same coin.”

For the area near the airport, in collaboration with the British firm BDP, the Airport City concept has been developed, which includes the construction of warehouses and the extension of Ryashivska Street. However, the key issue for the city council remains protecting the airport plateau from residential development.

The airport runway, extended to 3.3 km for Euro 2012, is located on a flat plateau. How much do you think it would cost to build a new airport of such capacity? If you say a billion dollars, you won't be wrong. Among the projects that cost so much was, for example, the Chernobyl sarcophagus. It cost about the same and was funded by 45 countries. Before developing the plateau for housing and destroying the existing airfield, it's better to build a new one first, and then see if the old one is needed. - emphasizes Kolomiytsev.

The city does not implement such large-scale projects independently, but is fully ready for them in terms of urban planning: additional rail corridors and red lines have already been officially incorporated into the documentation. And new infrastructure facilities – such as the bridge on Kovch Street – are designed from the outset with the expansion of railway tracks to separate freight and passenger traffic. Over the past 10 years, 80% of the tram network in Lviv has been updated – it's like building it from scratch. For railway projects, the European Connecting Europe Facility program is in effect, involving billions of euros. Europeans have allocated a lion's share of these funds to Ukraine during the war – this is essentially a direct gesture of 'Welcome to the European Union', - he adds.

Main Station or Sknyliv? Ukrzaliznytsia's Position

Oleg Yakovenko, Director of the Strategy and Transformation Department of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, joined the discussion online:

When we talk about the vision for 2040, let's remember our current context – it's a war. There is constant escalation: they hit our locomotives, our passenger trains, and the geography of shelling is expanding. And in these extremely difficult times, Ukrzaliznytsia is not just continuing to maintain operations – we are ready to work on European integration right now.

According to Ukrzaliznytsia's vision, the Main Station should remain the central passenger hub of the city. The main task is to ensure the unimpeded entry of the 1435 mm European gauge directly to the central platforms, so that passengers can transfer within a unified transport space. However, the development of the European gauge does not mean abandoning the Ukrainian standard of 1520 mm. Ukrzaliznytsia emphasizes that both systems should effectively interact: 1435 mm opens international corridors, and 1520 mm ensures reliable connection with the rest of Ukraine and domestic freight transportation. Sknyliv is considered primarily as a multimodal freight terminal with access to both types of tracks, which creates an opportunity to attract private investment and process railway connections with the airport during the resumption of air travel.

The legal and financial foundation for suburban transportation should be the government draft law "On the Organization of Publicly Important Passenger Transportation Services by Rail" based on the Public Service Obligation principle. It has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.

This gives us the opportunity to move from theory to practice in developing new services and launching pilot projects for suburban transportation in the agglomeration. At the same time, the idea of using the 1435 mm track for the city electric train needs to be further evaluated and compared with the possibilities of the existing 1520 mm network. The configuration of the tracks should be determined primarily by transportation needs. Housing, business areas, stations, and transport should be planned together: land should be reserved now for future tracks, platforms, and interchanges, - explains Yakovenko.

Regarding practical implementation, the "Mostyska – Sknyliv" European gauge construction project has already passed state expertise, and its financial support is currently being processed. The next step will be the development of a feasibility study for extending the European gauge from Sknyliv to the Main Station. Since the Lviv hub is already operating at high intensity, each construction stage will be planned using temporary schemes so that train traffic does not stop for a single day. In 2027, with EIB funding and JASPERS support, we will engage an international consultant to complete the development of the entire railway hub strategy. Together with the city and experts, we will form a clear transportation and investment program with priorities and costs. This will allow us to approach the future EU budget period 2028–2034 with a ready, realistic pipeline of projects, - adds the Ukrzaliznytsia representative.

Alternative Vision: Freight Bypass, Light Trains, and Preservation of the 1520 mm Standard

Borys Hanailyuk, Director of Lvivski Linii LLC, a specialist in public-private partnerships (PPP), presented a fundamentally different model for rebuilding the railway hub. He has extensive experience in development and concession projects in the region – from the renovation of early industrial zones in Lviv to managing supervisory boards of concession consortia 'Transmahistral' and 'Rastochchia ST'.

His company submitted the updated comprehensive hub development project to the government and city agglomeration in October 2025. Hanailyuk's concept is based on transforming Lviv into a strategic transit bridge between Europe and Asia:

Lviv geopolitically connects not only east and west – Asia and Europe – but is also the shortest and lowest route between the northern and southern seas. However, this corridor between Poland and Romania will only work when a special non-stop regime is established at the borders. Because if cargo or a bus is stuck at the border for 3-8 hours, it's easier to go around.

The key engineering principle of Lvivski Linii is the complete separation of freight and passenger flows[4]. For freight, a northern route with a new transshipment hub at 'P'iatyy Park' station is proposed, while passenger transport is concentrated on the southwestern route with an additional terminal at the intersection of Luhanska and Chervona Kalyna streets in Sykhiv.

In this regard, the Main Station, according to Hanailyuk, is incapable of serving as an international passenger hub:

It is limited by historical development – it is physically impossible to expand the infrastructure there for customs and passport control. Instead, Sknyliv has the space to build a new terminal that will combine both types of tracks, air passengers, and road transport into a single international communication port.

The divergence from JASPERS proposals concerns not only nodal stations but also international routes and the feasibility of a complete change of track gauge in Ukraine. Instead of tracing to Rava-Ruska, Lvivski Linii proposes using the existing industrial infrastructure near Yavoriv, and in the south – taking advantage of Austro-Hungarian railway crossings.

I am against the idea of re-gauging all of Ukraine to the European gauge. The Ukrainian 1520 mm track has better parameters: wagon width is 3.6 meters versus the European 3.15 meters, and platform height is 1100 mm versus the European 550 mm. Combining inclusivity for two different types of trains on one platform is almost impossible, - believes the speaker. - The JASPERS proposal for the line through Rava-Ruska is unsuccessful – it passes through the 'Rastochchya' reserve, will be slow, and expansion is prohibited there. Construction through Shklo provides speeds of 160+ kilometers per hour. And the exit through Khyrriv to the Lupkivsky Pass has an altitude of 600 m instead of 820 m at the Uzhotsky Pass, providing a ready double-track exit to Slovakia and Hungary without the need to build new mountain routes.

Hanailyuk pays special attention to rethinking station infrastructure and engineering upgrades for passenger transport: We propose transforming the historical building of the Main Station into a museum, and building passenger terminals under the tracks at ground level. Stops should provide boarding in 25 seconds with a floor-to-platform gap of 1 centimeter. One of the main problems of railways is the extremely heavy rolling stock: a 60-ton wagon carries passengers with a total mass of only 80 tons. We have patented a solution for a light, dynamic train and have submitted a proposal to the government for the implementation of six projects in the PPP format.

Q&A

During an open discussion, Belgian urban planning engineer Filip Shukhеvych joined the conversation. A specialist with experience in designing highways in the USA suggested not waiting for multi-billion investments, but using the existing railway line that runs through densely populated areas of the southwestern part of Lviv.

“I see an absolutely fantastic opportunity for urban mobility – the existing railway line from Sykhiv station to the Central Station via “Polyaron”, the tax office, Knyahyni Olha and Kulparkivska streets. Huge residential areas of about 100,000 inhabitants have been built around it, where there is a shortage of schools and proper transport, Shukhеvych proposes. – If the municipality and the railway agree, this line can be electrified, new platforms installed, and trains run every 10-15 minutes. This will solve the mobility problem at a low cost: residents will no longer have to drive their own cars through the center.”

The chief architect of Lviv reacted to Shukhеvych's statement about accelerating traffic by saying:

“Germans have a saying, ‘Verkehr entsteht da, wo etwas falsch gemacht ist’ – transport problems arise where something is messed up in planning. If we just build a high-speed line for 10 kilometers into the suburbs, we are just moving traffic jams further away. The ideal solution is mixed-use development, where work, school, and housing are located nearby.”

Filip Shukhеvych also warned those present about the risks on the railway overpass near the Forum Lviv shopping center on Pid Dubom street, where century-old metal bridges are elevated 10 meters above residential buildings. He noted that hazardous cargo must be immediately removed from the city center.

The concept developers for the reconstruction of the hub, Borys Hanailyuk and Anton Kolomiytsev, confirmed that the proposed project completely removes this threat: “Our joint project involves the complete reconstruction of this section: only passenger trains will run through the center on four new tracks, and all freight traffic with hazardous substances will be diverted outside the city.”

Kolomiytsev was also asked about the fate of the unfinished bridge at the intersection of Naukova and Knyahyni Olha streets. “At one time, they planned an underground high-speed tram there. But overpasses create complex and inconvenient transfers for people with reduced mobility. For example, how far do you have to walk from tram number 3 to the trolleybus near the New Department Store? We need to choose the option that works best for passengers with a single LeoCard ticket, but the tram will definitely go there,” he answered.

Kateryna Dzhichka (Well Bud), a representative of the developer community, inquired whether new centers and stations are planned in Lviv, implemented in a public-private partnership format with developers. Anton Kolomiytsev emphasized that it is impossible to develop infrastructure outside of market mechanisms, so the city is considering the format of such partnerships: “The ‘Persenkivka’ stop should be moved closer to Stryiska Street, where an IT Park was planned. A park-and-ride lot can be built there, where drivers can leave their cars near Stryiska and reach Pidzamche by train in 15 minutes. If we move the Suburban Station closer to the Main Station, dozens of hectares of land will be freed up. The city has developed a concept for creating a business district there with hotels, offices, and a congress center, involving Lviv and Vienna Polytechnics. These are separate lots for development – this is how it was done in Vienna during the reconstruction of the hub and in Zurich, where the railway optimized territories and gave them over for urban development.”

Airport and Sokilnyky and how to create added value

A resident of Sokilnyky accused the city of encroaching on the lands of a neighboring community and of double standards: while prohibiting development in the village, Lviv itself approved a 10-story building on Truskavetska Street in a noise zone (80+ dB). He also emphasized that after expanding the runway to 3 km before Euro-2012, it is planned to extend it by another 700 meters into Sokilnyky, all the way to the cemetery, neglecting the community's interests.

The airport is an object of national and strategic interests. If a residential area with tens of thousands of people arises under its fence, it will block the development of the airfield. Do you know how much it costs to build a new airport with a capacity of 2 million passengers? If you say a billion dollars, you won't be far off. In pre-war Ukraine, there were almost no projects of this value - perhaps the Chernobyl sarcophagus, which was financed by 45 countries. Will they finance a new airfield just as quickly? It seems to me, it's better to build a new one first, and then see if we need the old one, replied the chief architect of Lviv.

He added that the studies by British companies BDP and Jacobs concerned precisely infrastructure development: the city is buying private plots on Ryashivska Street to build a highway to the airport, not allocating them for housing. As for Truskavetska Street, the residential buildings there are just an addition to the existing quarter and are located much lower than the runway plateau.

"Lviv Airlines" acts as a third party in the court dispute between the city and Sokilnyky. Borys Hanailyuk opposes the runway expansion and emphasizes that the existing 3335 meters are quite sufficient for any aircraft. However, he proposed an alternative use of the adjacent territories:

The disputed lands were allocated to residents for agricultural purposes, and the construction of housing there for profit has signs of a crime against state interests. Our project envisages connecting railway tracks of both gauges (1520 mm and 1435 mm) to the airport with the development of terminals, and the residential sector all the way to the Ring Road is a phased voluntary buyout for an industrial zone and a railway cluster. In addition, the road through Sokilnyky, where three international corridors intersect, needs to be expanded to six lanes and separated from the village. Otherwise, due to commercial development of these lands, we will face a transport collapse.

And developer Oleh Manziy (Smart Estate) noted that Lviv will inevitably become a transport hub, but the overload of containers from one track to another will only bring noise, stench, and meager profit to the city: Added value is created where industrial parks operate. In Verona and Zaragoza, the state bought 1200 hectares for such hubs, and powerful complexes operate in Leipzig. Does Lviv have a vision to accumulate at least 200-300 hectares - including in cooperation with Sokilnyky - to stimulate businesses to invest in industrial real estate instead of housing?

Borys Hanailyuk explains that an industrial belt does not necessarily have to be located strictly within the city if fast logistics are provided: We are guided by the model of the Port of Antwerp, a partner in our dry port project. Antwerp does not own terminals but provides territory for Europe's industrial zone, where cargo is processed and added value is created. The industrial zone can be further in the agglomeration - the main thing is that the city electric train reaches it in 15-30 minutes. That is why we propose to allocate the area from the airport to the Ring Road for production and concession jointly with Sokilnyky.

Chief architect Anton Kolomeytsiv noted Lviv's high R&D potential and emphasized the need for a dual-gauge infrastructure for new enterprises: Lviv is a science-intensive city with significant potential. Our sites are regularly visited by foreign delegations from Norway and Japan (Mitsubishi, Hitachi). They study the experience of relocated enterprises from eastern Ukraine, which have built robotic lines with CNC machines in Lviv. We are currently developing a large industrial zone in the eastern part of the city, which will combine private and municipal lands. Any such site must be designed from the outset according to the dual-gauge principle: raw materials and metal enter via the Ukrainian 1520 mm gauge, and finished products exit to the EU via the 1435 mm European gauge.

First step: public consortium and European billions

So, what should be the first practical steps? Should individual initiatives be implemented and later tried to be linked together? Or is it better for the entire ecosystem to develop a unified strategy and feasibility study that will bring together all the presented ideas?

Martin Duplantier explains: “You have close cooperation with the JASPERS program and already have a feasibility study regarding your work and decisions. They can be refined. But my role is not to lecture, as you perfectly understand the situation on the ground.” And there is no ready-made universal recipe, as the urban planning situation is dynamic and changes daily, requiring simultaneous thinking at local and global levels.

“When it comes to attracting billions of euros, this is a bridge to the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg and the EBRD in Brussels. These billions do not fall from the sky. This requires a consortium that will primarily represent public interests. It must clearly formulate the region's needs based on previous research and involve leading private businesses – companies like Siemens or Alstom for railways and construction companies with experience in public-private partnerships. Only after going through such a well-thought-out process can one officially apply to the European Union, EIB, and EBRD for funding and the launch of work. At the same time, I cannot help but say that during this meeting, I saw what a fantastic and dynamic community of developers, urbanists, and activists you have”, – concludes the French expert.

Moderated by Taras Yatsenko

Editorial meetings of “Your City” are held with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. This meeting took place at Lem Station, a former revitalized depot at 57 Vitovskoho Street.

Full or partial republication of the text without the written consent of the editorial office is prohibited and considered copyright infringement.