TIRANA, Feb. 3 – Albanian and Greek transportation officials said Wednesday they were taking the first step on the construction of a new railway line between Albania and Greece, which would mark the first rail connection between the two countries and Albania’s second connection to the international rail network.
Officials announced a tender for a feasibility study for the construction of the Krystallopigy-Pogradec section, where there is currently no railway line. The new line would be about 130 kilometers running in both countries.
It would enter Albania in the Devoll area, near the Kapshtica border point, where Albania and Greece already have good cross-border infrastructure for vehicles and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.
The work at this stage is managed by a Greek-Albanian consortium consisting of the Greek Railway Authority, a Greek company implementing European Union projects, ERGOSE, and the Albanian Ministry of Transport.
The study is expected to assess current resources on both sides of the border for project implementation, socio-economic and financial sustainability of the railway and its impacts on passenger and freight transport.
The European Union is funding 85 percent of the sustainability study under its cross-border cooperation program.
Both countries also expect financial support from the European Union for the implementation of the project which is estimated to cost more than 840 million dollars, of which 720 million would be needed on the Greek side of the border, while 120 million would go on the Albanian side. Transport is a cornerstone of the European integration process and is firmly linked to the creation and completion of the internal market, which promotes jobs and economic growth.
The feasibility study is being run through the EU-funded CB Railway project, which notes that “the need for a rail connection has already been established through European Policies and Regulations regarding the trans-European transport network. The close economic and social links of the two countries and of course, the increased economic integration of Albania with the rest of the EU sets a very promising basis for rapid growth in traffic both for people and commodities.”
Currently, Albania has shut down its existing Librazhd-Pogradec railway line as it improves infrastructure, but the project foresees a reopening.
According to an estimate by the Albanian Railways Authority, the railway line from Durrës to Pogradec would require an investment of about 200 million dollars to bring it up to modern standards, reports VoA’s Albanian Service.
Albania’s existing railroads have deteriorated significantly in the past 30 years, as all investment went into the highway network instead.
Albania has more than 420 kilometers of rail, but 80 percent is in poor condition, according to official estimates, and currently there is only limited domestic passenger and some international cargo service running.
Albania’s only international connection is to Montenegro, and is rarely used, for cargo only.
According to the data of the Albanian Institute of Statistics, in 2020, only 18,000 people took the train in Albania and 630,000 tons of cargo moved through the railway lines. In a normal non-pandemic year, 2018, the numbers were still low at 76,000 passengers using the trains.
Seven years ago, the Albanian government gave out a concession to improve the Fier-Vlore and Fier-Ballsh rail linegan for a first modern railway connection in Albania’s heartland Tirana-Rinas Airport-Durres.
