France has committed to delivering 19,000 tonnes of railway track to support the recovery of Ukraine and help streamline its rail services with those of Western Europe, said Pierre Heilbronn, France's envoy to the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The first shipment of the track, which is enough to upgrade 150 kms of railway tracks, will arrive in January 2025, Heilbronn said in a meeting in Kyiv with Oleksiy Kuleba, Ukraine's newly appointed minister for reconstruction.
Ukraine aims to overhaul its rail system to connect more easily with Western European rail systems as well as prepare for an expected surge in traffic when the war ends and the reconstruction of Ukraine begins in earnest.
He also said that France aims to support Ukraine's critical infrastructure and economic recovery with a total of €200 million to address water supply, transport systems and other sectors through DREAM, according to a Ukrainian government statement.
The DREAM portal is a system created by the government, with cooperation from various NGOs and other private sector organizations, to manage the reconstruction of Ukraine while preventing corruption and waste.
