Ukrzaliznytsia in 2019 will start talks with Estonia’s Eesti Raudtee railway company on extension of the Kyiv-Riga train to Tallinn.
It was planned to start the talks in December, although they were postponed. Now representatives of Eesti Raudtee and Ukrzaliznytsia are to meet on January 17, 2019, Spokesperson of Eesti Raudtee Monika Lilles said.
The weekly Kyiv-Minsk-Vilnius-Riga train was launched on September 28, 2018. At the end of Nov, Ukrzaliznytsia said that then the train was running at about zero cost effectiveness. However, given the “low season” and only the recent launch, Ukrzaliznytsia considered the launch of this train successful.
According to the company, after eight trips the train carried 2,100 passengers, of which 1,000 – to/from Lithuania and 950 – to/from Latvia.
JSC EVR (Estonian railways) is interested in expanding the route of the Kyiv-Minsk-Vilnius-Riga train to Tallinn, and the negotiations on the issue are scheduled for December, Ukrzaliznytsia reported on Monday. “Today the train is running at about zero cost effectiveness. However, given the “low season” and only the recent launch, we can consider the launch of this train successful,” Ukrzaliznytsia said.
According to the company, after eight trips the train carried 2,100 passengers, of which 1,000 – to/from Lithuania and 950 – to/from Latvia.
As reported, the Kyiv-Minsk-Vilnius-Riga train with shuttling once a week was launched on September 28 of this year from Kyiv.
PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia on November 14, 2018 launched the Mukachevo-Budapest train on the European gauge in a test mode, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has written on his Facebook page.
“We are planning to launch a regular communication in the near future… The next direction is to Slovakia, and also using the European gauge. This was recently agreed with the Slovak colleague,” the minister said.
According to him, with its convenient communication with many Ukrainian cities and EU countries, Mukachevo can become a major railway hub, and not just a passenger one.
As reported, in September, Ukrzaliznytsia postponed the launch of the Mukachevo-Budapest train until the end of 2018 and planned for 2019 the new Kyiv-Berlin train.