By David Gold
November 21 – Ukraine will focus on introducing high speed travel links between host cities of the 2012 European Championships in the months remaining before the tournament begins, the country’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Borys Kolesnikov (pictured) has said.
Kolesnikov said that the main focus next year will be transport, staff, and a new road system due to be finished by the start of May.
“Those cities which will host Euro 2012 will receive high speed connections,” he said.
“We are working actively on this with South Korean company Hyundai, from which we have bought 10 trains for the European Championships.
“There is nothing of the kind in Ukraine at present, the level of comfort will not only be the best but the journey time will be shorter.
“And from next spring residents of Lviv will, for example, be able to go to Kyiv in just four-and-a-half hours.
“I think the transport of the four host cities using Hyundai trains is a large-scale project.
“Given that our country never handled the issue of speeding up travel – this is a giant leap for the transport system.
“You need to replace not only all the technology, but also the psychology and philosophy of the railway staff and, of course, passengers.”
Kolesnikov’s words will be encouraging for UEFA, as Ukraine and Poland – the co-hosts of next year’s European Championships – have been dogged by problems since being awarded the right to host the tournament.
Transport and other infrastructural issues have been particularly problematic in Ukraine, and the construction of some stadia has been slow.
Key facilities for the European Championships will be commissioned by Ukraine before the end of the calendar year, and Kolesnikov admitted that they had wasted the preparation time available.
“A lot of time was wasted in recent years,” he said, before adding that “our team has made giant efforts towards building roads.
“Lviv has seen several striking examples of improvement in the quality of highways and roads around the city; intensive construction is taking place in other cities.
“After the reconstruction it is quite possible to travel from the western frontiers to Kyiv on roads of decent quality.”
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