The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine has published a draft order that provides for a 30% increase in rail freight rates effective August 1, 2026, and the standardization of rates for the transportation of empty railcars.
According to the explanatory note accompanying the document, the need to revise the rates stems from the deteriorating financial condition of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia,” whose revenues are insufficient to cover current expenses. The ministry noted that the last tariff revision took place nearly four years ago, while between July 2022 and April 2026, the industrial producer price index rose by 252.1%.
According to the Ministry of Development, in 2025, freight volumes decreased by 12.5% compared to the previous year, and Ukrzaliznytsia’s net loss amounted to 7.6 billion UAH. In the first four months of 2026, the loss reached 9.3 billion UAH.
The ministry noted that without tariff indexation, the company’s projected net loss for 2026 will exceed 13 billion hryvnias, and the funding shortfall will reach over 26 billion hryvnias.
The draft order also provides for the completion of the unification of tariffs for the transportation of empty railcars. For railcars used for unloading cargo in tariff classes 1 and 2, tariffs will increase by approximately 60%, while for railcars used for cargo in tariff class 3, they will remain unchanged.
The Ministry of Development expects that the proposed changes will allow Ukrzaliznytsia to partially cover its funding shortfall in 2026 and secure additional financial resources amounting to approximately 8.6 billion UAH.
In the first 16 days of September, 1 million 48.9 thousand tons of grain were exported by rail, which is 19.2% less than in August. Compared to the same period last year, the reduction amounted to 8.8%, according to the Rail.insider portal.
According to Valery Tkachev, deputy director of the transport technology and commercial operations department at Ukrzaliznytsia, 981,000 tons of grain were loaded onto the network in September, which is 12.5% less than a year earlier.
The total volume of all cargo transported during this period reached 1.25 million tons, which is 10.2% less than last year and 11.4% less than in August.
Most of the grain – 979,500 tons (93.4%) – was delivered to seaports. Only 69,400 tons (6.6%) were sent to western border crossings.
Since the beginning of September, almost 568,000 tons of grain have already been exported by rail.
In addition, since the beginning of the 2025/2026 marketing year (July 1), Ukraine has exported 5.028 million tons of grain and legumes. For comparison, during the same period last year (as of September 13, 2024), this figure was 8.59 million tons, meaning that the pace of exports has slowed significantly.
