A Chinese company is to build a 50 km railroad in Luhansk that would connect the region’s coal-fired electricity plant to the Ukrzaliznytsia system,

A Chinese company is to build a 50 km railroad in Luhansk that would connect the region’s coal-fired electricity plant to the Ukrzaliznytsia system, Sergiy Gaidai, head of the regional administration told reporters Tuesday. “They are ready to invest, build,” he said, according to Tribun, a Severodonetsk news site. Last February, Gaidai met in Kyiv with French Ambassador Etienne de Poncins. They agreed that France would finance the railroad construction, about €100 million euros. French financing was tied to the purchase of French equipment, notably signals. Located near the town of Schastia, on the north bank of the Severodonetsk River, the Luhansk power station supplies 1 million customers with electricity but it functions largely at the mercy of coal shipments from Russia.