Ukraine is against Chisinau-Odessa train route via Transnistria

While the Moldovan authorities are engaged in talks with the authorities in Tiraspol on a possible re-opening of the Chisinau-Odessa train route via the Transnistrian region, Ukraine says it won't accept the circulation of an outmoded diesel train that doesn't meet the standards of its electrified railways, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the Ukrainian newspaper “Zerkalo nedeli”, European experts have already developed a step-by-step procedure for relaunching movement on this route. But the Ukrainian authorities insist the diesel train that used to circulate on this route until 2006 doesn't meet the current environmental requirements. “Neither the Moldovan nor the Transnistrian railways are electrified, this is why it is unlikely that an electrical train will circulate on the Chisinau-Odessa route in the near future”, says the newspaper. Deputy Prime Minister Victor Osipov, the Moldovan governmental chief negotiator, recently announced that train movement on this route could be resumed by mid-August following negotiations with the Transnistrian side.