Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) is simplifying the requirements for the company’s tender purchases by reducing the list of goods that required inspection by almost half – from 92 to 47 nomenclature items.
“The company’s board has decided to no longer apply the requirements for railway use of products in procurement and has significantly limited the list of goods subject to inspection control,” the company’s press service said in a statement on Telegram on Monday.
The list of products requiring inspection control – procedures for checking the quality and compliance of products with established standards at the stage of production – will be reduced to 47 items. Currently, the list of products approved by Ukrzaliznytsia’s order No. 44 of February 1, 2016, includes 92 items. In particular, the list includes locomotives, electric trains, passenger cars, freight cars, traction motors, auto-braking equipment, tanks, refrigerated cars, wheelsets, railroad rails, and turnouts.
The new list of products subject to production and inspection control will be published on the website of Ukrzaliznytsia. The company also said that in the coming weeks, changes will be made to the standard tender documentation and announcements with amended requirements for specific procurement items will be made.
The company noted that about a quarter of the product range purchased by Ukrzaliznytsia is labeled “railway products”, which requires it to undergo a special procedure for putting into production.
The rule made it difficult for most manufacturers and suppliers to participate in tenders and created significant corruption risks, the company emphasized, noting that reducing the requirements for participants and strengthening incoming control by Ukrzaliznytsia will simplify participation in tender procedures, increase competition in bidding and ensure the required quality, the company said.
“As promised in December at the Supplier’s Day: Railway Partnership conference, we have excluded from the list all products that are not specific to railways and do not directly affect traffic safety. This makes it much easier for many suppliers to participate in our tender procedures. In fact, for the vast majority of items, we have moved the quality control stage from the qualification of participants to the delivery stage, as we are primarily interested in the quality of the products supplied to us, not the certificates that artificially restricted competition,” the press service quoted Oleksandr Nakhod, director of Ukrzaliznytsia, as saying.
The next step will be a significant reduction in the list of products requiring a conditional number (a unique identifier assigned to railway products subject to mandatory inspection control – IF-U), Ukrzaliznytsia said.
In January-June 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) increased its revenue by 19.51% compared to the same period in 2023 to UAH 53.9 billion, while decreasing its profit by 33.2% to UAH 3.17 billion, according to its interim condensed consolidated unaudited financial statements as of June 30, 2024.
According to the report for 6 months. 2024 on the official website of UZ, revenues from freight transportation in January-June increased by 17.8% to UAH 43.01 billion. At the same time, revenues from passenger and baggage transportation grew even more significantly by 22.15% to UAH 5.35 billion.
At the same time, UZ personnel costs in January-June 2024 increased by 24.75% to UAH 24.72 billion compared to the same period in 2023. Electricity costs increased by 56.2% to UAH 7.78 billion. In contrast, fuel costs decreased by 14.92% to UAH 4.62 billion.
Net foreign exchange loss increased 26.2 times to UAH 2.87 billion in the period under review.
Profit before tax decreased by 35.7% to UAH 3.25 billion.
As of June 30, 2024, UZ was involved in litigation with the Ukrainian fiscal authorities regarding the accrual of additional tax liabilities for income tax, VAT and other taxes in the amount of UAH 1.1 billion, including additional fines and penalties. As of June 30, 2024, the group’s potential loss from third-party claims in other litigation and arbitration proceedings amounted to UAH 1.3 billion, compared to UAH 1.63 billion in 2023, the report says.
The UZ group includes the parent company JSC Ukrainian Railways, PJSC Dnipropetrovs’k Diesel Locomotive Repair Plant, PJSC Zaporizhzhya Electric Locomotive Repair Plant, PJSC Lviv Locomotive Repair Plant, PJSC Kyiv Electric Car Repair Plant, PrJSC “Korosten Reinforced Concrete Sleepers Plant”, PrJSC “Hnivan Special Reinforced Concrete Plant”, PrJSC “Kyiv Electrotechnical Plant ‘Transsignal’, LLC ‘UZ Cargo Wagon’, LLC ‘Zbut Energy Ltd’ (together with subsidiaries), 65.62% of PrJSC ‘Tast-Garantia’, 50.004% of PrJSC IC ‘Inter-Poly’ Ukraine, 100% of UZ Cargo Poland sp. z.o.o Poland.
In 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) repaired 24,233 thousand freight cars at its own production facilities, which is 18.7%, or 3.82 thousand, more than a year earlier.
“During the year, the railroad’s car repairers carried out depot and overhaul repairs of virtually all types of freight cars. Most of all, gondola cars, platforms of universal and hopper cement cars were renovated,” UZ said on its Facebook page.
According to the report, 48% of all repaired railcars belong to the private fleet.
In 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) increased the volume of cargo transportation in containers by rail by 28% compared to the previous year – up to 258185 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), said Valery Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Commercial Department.
According to him, 162,725 TEUs (63%) were transported on export routes, imports amounted to 55,689 TEUs (21.3%), domestic transportation – 38,681 TEUs (15%), and transit – 1,190 TEUs (0.5%).
The leader among cargoes in terms of containerized transportation was grain cargo, which accounted for 46% of the total volume of transportation, ferrous metals – 20%, oil cake – 9%, oil – 8%, sugar – 4%, synthetic resins – 3.7% and starch and molasses products – 3.6%.
Tkachev noted that one of the main trends in intermodal transportation through Ukraine in 2024 was the absence of a seasonal/peak increase in cargo transportation in November-December, although this period is usually characterized by a seasonal increase in transportation.
According to the UZ representative, the possible reasons for this phenomenon were the low cost of using grain cars – UAH 200-300 per day, which prompted farmers to return to using this type of cargo transportation. Also, due to the reopening of seaports, grain exports have been reoriented – 86-92% of grain is exported through seaports, and grain is transported to ports in grain wagons.
The reduction in the cost of using grain wagons also led to a decrease in the volume of grain cargo transportation in containers in the second half of 2024.
Tkachev also added that the share of rolling stock used by Liski, in particular, fitting platforms, decreased by 24%.
In 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) increased the volume of freight transportation by 17.9% year-on-year to 174.9 million tons.
“At the end of 2024, 174.9 million tons were transported by rail in Ukraine, which is 26.5 million tons, or 17.9%, more than last year (2023 – IF-U),” UZ said in an analytical note.
It is reported that the opportunity to increase the volume of rail transportation exists thanks to the Ukrainian sea corridor. The bulk of the cargo traffic is made up of products of farmers and metallurgists transported for export.
Exports were the main driver of rail transportation in 2024, with a share of 48% in total freight traffic, compared to only 38% in 2023. Import cargo transportation volumes in 2024 increased by 40.9% compared to 2023 to 9.63 million tons. Domestic transportation decreased by 5.5% to 80.2 million tons. While in 2023 the share of domestic transportation in total cargo traffic was 57%, in 2024 it decreased to 46%.
In total, in 2024, UZ transported 84.67 million tons in the export direction, which is 51.2% more than in 2023. The largest volume of cargo grains was transported – 34.13 million tons (40% of the volume transported for export), iron and manganese ore – 33.00 million tons (39%), and ferrous metals – 5.17 million tons (6%).
In 2024, 29.2 million tons of grain cargo (86%) was transported to ports, which is twice as much as in 2023. Only 4.9 mln tonnes of grain were transported via land border crossings, which is 41.6% less than in 2023.
In general, the volume of transportation through land border crossings in 2024 decreased by 8.6% compared to 2023, to 30.9 million tons or 37% of the volume of export transportation of all types of cargo. “UZ has 19 railway border crossings, of which 15 are operational.
The volume of transportation to ports in 2024 increased by 2.4 times compared to 2023 to 53.76 million tons. In total cargo exports, their share in 2024 was 63%.
According to the results of 2024, the leading positions in terms of cargo exports are held by the stations: “Chornomorsk (17%), Berehove (14%), Odesa Port (13%), Chornomorsk Port (12%), Izov (11%), Chop (7%), Uzhhorod (6%), and Izmail (4%).
Earlier it was reported that the volume of cargo transportation by UZ in the first 11 months of 2024 increased by 19.4% to 160.9 million tons.
In cooperation with the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC has produced several more medical evacuation cars equipped as a real mobile hospital, the press service of the Armed Forces Medical Command reports.
“Qualified and timely assistance at all stages of medical evacuation saves our defenders who need it every day,” said Major General Anatoliy Kazmirchuk, Commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
He expressed gratitude to all involved for their cooperation in providing quality medical care.
As noted, trains with such cars are used to evacuate seriously wounded servicemen.
