Minister of Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu said that the railway line Prishtina - Durrës is becoming a reality. Aliu during a meeting with the Albanian authorities, said that the feasibility study is close to realization.

Albania and Kosovo will be connected through the railway line Durrës-Prishtina, based on the agreement signed between the two countries in the last meeting held, where the seventh, annual meeting took place between the governments of the two countries.

In this meeting, the parties had announced that the budgets of the two countries for next year provide funds for the implementation of the feasibility of the construction of this railway, which is considered as the beginning of works for its construction.

Today, exactly for this project, the Minister of Infrastructure, Liburn Aliu has held a meeting with the Albanian authorities, where it was stated that the feasibility study is close to realization.

“The feasibility study and the preliminary design project for the railway line Prishtina - Durrës are becoming a reality. We are at the General Directorate of Railways in Durrës to discuss the further steps of the railway line that will unite our economies and will strengthen the opportunities for economic development, both for Kosovo and Albania ", announced Aliu

In addition to the agreement on the Durrës-Prishtina railway, 12 other agreements were signed at the Elbasan meeting, which have to do with facilitating the free movement of people on both sides of the border, obtaining residence and work permits, opening the point. border in Shishtavec, (Kukës), the mutual shortening of procedures for the recognition of diplomas and scientific degrees.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, had said in Elbasan that the Durrës-Prishtina railway line “is of economic as well as geopolitical importance, as it helps the region, our neighbors, with whom we have a common past, but will also we share the future ”.

The Durrës-Prishtina railway creates opportunities for the inclusion of Montenegro as the project envisages that it will pass from Durrës to Tivar and from there to Prishtina, making the capital of Kosovo a center of regional railway lines.

In addition to the railway line connecting Kosovo and Albania, in 2013 the ‘Ibrahim Rugova’ highway was completed.

Otherwise, the authorities in Pristina have consistently confirmed the readiness to implement railway and road line projects with countries in the region, such as the railway line Durres - Pristina - Nis, a project that connects Albania, Kosovo and Serbia.

Regional railway projects were also discussed in the Berlin Process, of which Kosovo is a part.

This process was initiated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2014, which includes twelve countries, six Western Balkan countries which are in various stages of the European Union integration process and six EU member states.

Railway infrastructure in Kosovo is currently facing a poor state. Railways, station buildings, signaling facilities, then railway operations, locomotives, passenger wagons are obsolete.

To improve this infrastructure, the rehabilitation of several railway segments began last year, such as the Pristina-Hani i Elezit segment on the Macedonian border, which includes a 65-kilometer railway.

Meanwhile, it is being announced that the second line, which includes the railway network Prishtina - Leshak, on the border with Serbia, will start soon. Currently, in Kosovo there are regular lines for domestic transport by train, in the relation Prishtina - Peja, Hani i Elezit - Fushë Kosovë and vice versa.

Whereas, for international transport, Kosovo Railways has a regular train, called "fast train", which runs once a day on the route Pristina - Skopje - Pristina.

(Source: Monitor)