JSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to receive 40 General Electric locomotives, engines for locomotives, etc. under the Lend-Lease program, Head of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Kamyshin has said.
At the same time, with the beginning of the active phase of the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, the company managed to keep almost all of its rolling stock, unlike in 2014, when a significant part of the rolling stock remained on the lost territory, Kamyshin said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.
According to him, in particular, out of 30 GE locomotives, 29 were taken out. The company failed to take one, as it was being serviced in a non-working condition in the Melitopol depot.
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia also said that the company is counting on increased state support, compensation from the Russian Federation and the Lend-Lease program.
“We have shaped a large list [for Lend-Lease]. Of the important, there is a request for 40 GE locomotives worth $250 million, engines for the modernization of our other locomotives, special vehicles for infrastructure restoration, and so on. Further, this list is approved by the working group. Let’s see what we can get it,” Kamyshin said.
He also said that now is not the time to raise passenger tariffs, but the compensation mechanism from the state still needs to be improved. At the same time, regarding tariffs for freight transportation, according to Kamyshin, the dialogue in the government is still ongoing.
The head of Ukrzaliznytsia also said that the operating gap in the company today is UAH 2-3 billion per month, and if the ports do not open, the company will not be able to close it on its own.
“We received a support program for UAH 10 billion from the state budget. It ended in May. Now we are talking about the second round of state financing before the end of the year. It will be bigger,” Kamyshin said.
He said that in the first days of the war, the daily load on the railway was reduced from 700,000 tonnes to 150,000 tonnes. In March, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 257,000 tonnes per day, in April – 295,000 tonnes per day, the company ended May with volumes of 300,000 tonnes per day.
Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant has entered into a cooperation agreement with the official representative of the Egyptian National Railways for the modernization of 55 locomotives of the AD Tranz series, the enterprise’s press service said on Facebook.
“The modernization will be carried out both at the facilities of our plant and at the facilities of Egyptian colleagues and partners who own locomotive repair plants in Egypt,” the report said, citing Director of Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant Serhiy Roi.
According to him, a deep modernization of locomotives will be carried out with the installation of new diesel engines, new power and support equipment and microprocessor control systems, which will significantly improve the performance of locomotives and reduce the cost of their service.
“The partnership is planned for a long-term, since the declared number of locomotives in the future can be increased to 200 units,” Roi said.
The agreement, the value of which has not been disclosed, also provides for further maintenance of locomotives, in particular, the creation of a service department in Egypt, where representatives of Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant will carry out engineering work for servicing locomotives.
The report notes that Egyptian locomotives are “younger” than those operated in the post-Soviet space and those the plant previously dealt with – they were produced in 1996-2010.
Mykolaiv Locomotive Repair Plant, established in 2010, specializes in maintenance, minor repairs and overhaul of locomotives, as well as other locomotive parts and assemblies.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to repair 313 locomotives in 2021, having invested more than UAH 4 billion of capital investments, the company’s press service said on Wednesday, with reference to Ukrzaliznytsia board member Frantisek Bures.
Ukrzaliznytsia says that next year it is also planned to repair, modernize and build more than 23,500 new cars. In particular, to build 3,000 new cars, overhaul and modernize more than 20,500 cars.
Earlier, Director of the Cargo Traffic unit at JSC Ukrzaliznytsia Irakli Ezugbaia said that Ukrzaliznytsia intends to increase investments in rolling stock and infrastructure.
“So, if this year capital investments amount to UAH 4.8 billion, then next year we plan to invest UAH 25.8 billion, some UAH 28.4 billion in 2022, and some UAH 41.1 billion in 2023. Thus, we will be able to provide our customers with equal access to the infrastructure and not refuse any one along with the transportation of goods that can be placed at Ukrzaliznytsia,” he said.
Head of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia Volodymyr Zhmak does not see the need for further purchase of diesel locomotives of the U.S. General Electric.
“As for cooperation with General Electric, today I do not see the need for further purchase of General Electric diesel locomotives. Our goal is to switch to electric locomotives, since it is much more cost efficient,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.
He said that Ukrzaliznytsia has eliminated the shortage of locomotives. “We have the first small achievements. For almost one month since the start of work, we have managed to eliminate the shortage of locomotives,” he said.
According to him, today, for the first time in a long time, Ukrzaliznytsia satisfies all transportation needs.
“There is not a single request for transportation that Ukrzaliznytsia did not satisfy. The market saw that we can transport. We can ship everything and do it quickly,” he added.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia is discussing with its U.S. partners an agreement for the supply of an additional batch of diesel locomotives, Chairman of the board of the company Ivan Yuryk has said.
“I think that we will move along several parallel paths to modernize diesel traction. Both the modernization of the existing ones and the purchase of a small batch of new diesel locomotives are planned. We are now discussing with our U.S. partners an additional batch of up to 40 new diesel locomotives. I hope we will come to signing by the end of the year,” he said.
Yuryk also said that the company has also begun the process of purchasing new electric locomotives up to 200 units of various types of electric traction.
“Now we are holding an open tender. I hope that by the end of the year there will also be an answer who will become our partner in the construction and acquisition of these locomotives. The task of our company and the government is a large percentage of localization so that we launch the economy inside the country,” the chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia said.
PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (Dnipropetrovsk region) in 2018-2019 spent about UAH 320 million on the program to restore 27 locomotives.
According to a company press release, domestic and foreign analogues were used instead of Russian components during the overhaul of locomotives, thereby neutralizing Russian sanctions regarding the ban on the supply of spare parts and engines for diesel locomotives to Ukraine.
According to the press service, the plant has one of the largest railway fleets in the metallurgical complex: 172 locomotives (126 for servicing metallurgical production, 46 for mining). A few years ago, the company adopted an import substitution program. One of the main partners was Mykolaiv Diesel Locomotive Repair Plant, which established production cooperation with a number of Ukrainian and foreign manufacturers of various railways equipment.
Thanks to joint developments, Mykolaiv plant started installing diesel engines of well-known world companies, namely U.S.-based Cummins, UK-Belgian ABC Corporation, and others, on locomotives. In addition, the latest Heinzmann engine control systems (Germany), a rotary vane compressor jointly with the Italian company Mattei, a modern traction unit of alternating current (Electrotyazhmash), a microprocessor-based locomotive control system, etc. were installed on the machines.
Thanks to the measures taken, the plant in 2018–2019 got the opportunity to restore 11 diesel locomotives, in particular with the replacement of engines and deep modernization. In addition, 16 more cars were repaired on the basis of its two diesel locomotive repair depots.
