Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) may create a freight carrier company by the end of 2023 to operate in Europe, UZ board chairman Alexander Kamyshyn confirmed to Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“It is true, we have to develop a European carrier both in passenger transportation and in cargo transportation. We have shown that we can be efficient, and those of our citizens who have used the services of European railroads have appreciated the difference in schedule, service, and many other things,” Kamyshyn said.
The necessity of creating one’s own company for cargo transportation outside of Ukraine is dictated by the fact that Ukrainian cargo carriers have difficulties working with European carriers. “Unfortunately, it is difficult for our cargo carriers to use European freight,” said Kamyshyn.
According to the head of UZ, such a company can be created by the end of the year. “There is hope, and we are doing everything to make it come true, but the speed of approvals in Europe, unfortunately, we would like it to be faster,” said Kamyshyn.
He also noticed that in order to establish a cargo carrier company one should not only buy the rolling stock, but also to get a license, to register and to hire a team.
Earlier it was reported that in the framework of the project UZ bought 40 tank cars European way, which will be supplied to the chain of diesel fuel in Ukraine, and plans to buy 100 fitting platforms.
Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) is negotiating with the Romanian side to implement a project that will extend the connection from the recently opened Valia-Visheului station to major cities in Romania, and continues to develop the connection between Ukrainian regional centers and international destinations, UZ board member Alexander Pertsovsky told Interfax-Ukraine Agency.
“We continue to develop international connections. We have already made the first steps to connect western Ukraine with Romania. So far it is one small station Valya-Visheului, but we are working with the Romanian side to extend messages to major cities on the Romanian side,” – said Pertsovsky.
According to him, there is a wide track (1520 mm) in this direction, on which ordinary Ukrainian cars will be able to pass.
As previously reported, last year UZ repaired sections Rakhiv – Dilove – Valya Visheului (19.2 km of track, 12 bridges), and also held repairs of the station in Rakhiv. This allowed to bring back to life a section of the railroad, which has not functioned since 2011, and to run trains number 755/756 and number 753/754 Rakhiv-Valya-Visheului-Rakhiv. Also, the section at the border with Romania, Teresva – border, which had not functioned since 2007, was repaired. There are also two international crossings between Ukraine and Romania, through which only freight traffic is carried out: Vadul-Siret-Dornesti and Dyakovo-Halmeu.
In general, due to active launching of new international communications, the number of passengers traveling in international directions from Ukraine has increased by 9 times, said Pertsovskyi, without specifying absolute numbers.
He pointed out that the most popular destination is Poland. Every day, UZ receives up to 2 thousand or more requests to buy tickets for the train Kyiv-Warsaw. As reported, to provide more seats, on February 19, UZ launched a service that allows people from Kharkiv to go to Kyiv and Kyiv-Warsaw train to Helm, where passengers can arrive in Warsaw at the same time as the passengers of direct train Kyiv-Warsaw with an interchange. Now there are 8 cars with the occupancy of 95%. In the future there may be up to 10 of them. Also on February 19 UZ started one more train Kharkiv-Peremyshl.
According to Pertsovsky, UZ will continue to develop the direction of communication of the regions in the direction of international destinations.
“We will continue to work with the Polish direction. We see that the routes connecting the same Kharkiv work effectively. We will see to what extent Dnipro, Odessa… Because since the beginning of the war we have got communication with Europe not only the capital, but also Dnipro, Zaporozhye, Odessa, Vinnitsa. And we look at the demand in these directions to assess plans for further development”, – said a member of the board of UZ.
In January 2023 “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) increased the volume of transportation of iron ore by 45% compared to December 2022 – up to 1.14 million tons, Deputy Director of Commercial Work Department of UZ Valery Tkachev said at a meeting of the Office of the exporters at UZ.
“After April (last year – IF), when 2.3 million tons of ore were transported, the volumes decreased: in November-December they dropped to 770-780 thousand tons in export traffic. However, January (this year) is very good news: we have already transported 358 thousand tons more, i.e. 1.14 million tons. The ore is 45% January to December,” he said.
Tkachev added that the positive dynamics of the ore will remain in February.
According to him, in January this year, the volume of transportation of ferrous metals increased by 2.1 times (+202.3 thousand tons) compared to the previous month – up to 380 thousand tons. “And this is also very encouraging”, – said Tkachev.
According to him, the transportation of cement has also increased. “But in October-November and December 2022 we already transported more than in the same months of 2021, which also shows the positive dynamics”, – Ukrzaliznytsia representative stated.
In particular, in October 2022 the volume of cement transportation was 87 thousand tons (against 85 thousand tons in 2021), in November – 83 thousand tons (66 thousand tons respectively), in December – 70 thousand tons (49 thousand tons). In January 2023 the volume of traffic decreased to 54 thousand tons, which is still higher than in January 2022 – 29 thousand tons.
UZ notes that the demand for cement greatly stimulated its consumption of sleeper plants UZ, which increased production in 2022 by 4.7 times – up to 832 thousand sleepers.
Tkachev also said that the volume of sunflower oil transportation from 20 thousand tons in March 2022 rose in January to almost 134 thousand tons, or 6.7 times, half of all exports of sunflower oil in the past month through the ports on the “grain corridor”.
The deputy director of the department said that in January 58% of all export cargo shipped by UZ, or 3 million tons, fell to the grain, while the second place – iron ore with 22%.
As reported, in January this year compared to December last year, the total volume of transportation by UZ increased by 11% – to 11.29 million tons. In 2022 it was more than halved compared to 2021 – to 150.6 million tons from 314.3 million tons.
UZ today uses 13 railway crossings, which border the EU countries and Moldova. In January the most cargo went through Izov-Hrubeshuv – 0.8 million tons, or 16%. However, port stations are further among the largest export cargo transportation points: Odessa-Port and Chornomorsk-TIS – 13% each, Chornomorsk-Port – 10%, followed by neighboring Uzhgorod – 8%, Chop and Batevo – 7% each.
Company-trader “Ukrzaliznytsia” – “Energo Sales Trans” – in January for the first time bought natural gas for the needs of the production enterprises of UZ without intermediaries, which allowed to reduce the price to 18.6 thousand UAH per thousand cubic meters, the Ministry reported on Facebook page on Saturday.
“The cost of gas came out more than 25% lower compared to the prices at which the enterprises of the structure of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” bought natural gas at the end of last year through private suppliers. The new price was 18.6 thousand UAH per thousand cubic meters”, – the words of Deputy Prime Minister – Head of the Ministry of recovery Oleksandr Kubrakov are given in the message.
According to him, the next step will be the direct purchase of natural gas from the producers directly to the needs of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia”.
Kubrakov recalled that in 2021 “Ukrzaliznytsia” was allowed to buy electricity from “Enerhoatom” and other subjects of state generation for the period up to 3 years under a special simplified procedure. In addition, in 2022 the government allowed Ukrzaliznytsia to purchase oil products directly under foreign economic contracts.
The weighted average price of natural gas on the Ukrainian Energy Exchange on 28 January was 19,950,000 hryvnyas per 1,000 cu.m.
“Ukrzaliznytsia” will continue to buy diesel fuel under direct contracts with ExxonMobile and PKN Orlen in 2023, covering its own needs, the task of providing other state agencies is not yet, said the head of the company Oleksandr Kamyshyn at a concluding briefing on Thursday.
“The level of fuel we import is enough for us. There is no task to import for other state structures. As soon as such task will be set, we will do it,” – said the head of UZ.
Thanks to direct contracts for the purchase of diesel fuel, which were signed in 2022 with ExxonMobile and PKN Orlen, savings amounted to more than 1 billion UAH, the company said on its website.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) has appointed commuter trains from Kharkiv to Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
The company said in a Telegram that trains will run from Feb. 2:
No. 6812 Kramatorsk-Kharkiv. Departure from Kramatorsk – at 7:25, arrival in Kharkiv (via Slavyansk, where the train will stop at 7:48) – at 13:00;
#6813 Kharkiv-Slaviansk. Departure from Kharkiv – at 13:40, arrival in Slavyansk – 18:41.
As reported on 14 October, Ukrzaliznytsia resumed railway service to Kramatorsk (Donetsk Region), where trains have not run since early April last year.
