CEO of Ukrzaliznytsia JSC Oleksandr Kamyshin and CEO of Alstom Henri Poupart-Lafarge have signed a memorandum of understanding.
The signing took place at a press conference of Presidents of Ukraine and France Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Earlier, at this press conference, Zelensky said that on February 8, Ukraine and France finalized the agreements and switched to the practical stage the implementation of the project on the supply of 130 ALSTOM locomotives worth EUR 900 million.
As reported, in May, Ukraine and France signed a framework intergovernmental agreement on financing the supply of 130 heavy-duty electric locomotives worth EUR 900 million for Ukrzaliznytsia by Alstom. The document was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada on July 1, 2021.
Alstom welcomed the ratification of the intergovernmental agreement and said that “the next important step is the signing of commercial agreements in the second half of 2021.” This will allow Alstom to start supplying locomotives to the Ukrainian market, which will also include 35% local content associated with the production and maintenance of electric locomotives.
Alstom is one of the world leaders (along with Siemens and Bombardier) in the production of power equipment and railway transport. It operates in more than 70 countries.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia transported 26.118 million tonnes of cargo in January 2022, which is 18% more than in January 2021 (22.093 million tonnes).
Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of the company board, said on Telegram this indicator of cargo transportation is also higher than in January 2020 (23.915 million tonnes) and January 2019 (24.553 million tonnes).
According to him, the average daily cargo load in January 2022 increased by 15% compared to January 2021 (604,000 tonnes) – up to 694,000 tonnes, which is also higher than the figures for the same period in 2020 (662,000 tonnes), 2019 (656,000 tonnes) and 2018 (691,000 tonnes).
Cargo turnover in January of this year increased by 32% compared to January 2021 (11.994 billion tonne-kilometers) – up to 15.813 billion tonne-kilometers, which is also higher than in January 2020 (12.997 billion tonne-kilometers) and January 2019 (14.906 billion tonne-kilometers).
According to the results of 2021, Ukrzaliznytsia transported more than 25 million passengers in long-distance passenger trains, which is 150% more than in 2020, when 16 million passengers were transported.
As the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia reported on Monday, train pair No. 45/46 Uzhgorod – Lysychansk became the most popular in terms of the number of passengers carried in 2021: in 2021, 899,700 passengers used it. The second in demand was train pair No. 41/42 Dnipro – Truskavets (520,700 passengers). The third is train pair No. 69/70 Mariupol – Lviv (485,300 passengers).
In addition, the top five most popular trains included train pair No. 91/92 Odesa – Kostiantynivka (465,700 passengers) and train pair No. 145/146 Kyiv – Izmail (449,400 passengers).
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in 2021 increased the rate of electrification of tracks by 23 times compared to the average annual electrification rate over the past eight years, to 70 km.
As reported on the company’s website, at the moment, work continues on the strategically important section of Kovel – Izov – State Border, railway workers have already electrified 43 km of the route.
“The implementation of the electrification project in this direction will have a huge positive result for the company and the country: from energy saving to reducing the cost of purchasing fuel and lubricants, from increasing the throughput of the site to simplifying the technology for organizing traffic,” Chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia management board Oleksandr Kamyshin said.
The company said that work on the Kovel – Izov – State Border section is taking place within the framework of the Big Construction program of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
It is expected that the electrification of the section will increase the capacity of the direction and, accordingly, reduce the time for transporting goods to the EU countries.
In addition, electrification will allow increasing the weight of freight trains from 4,600 tonnes to 5,500 tonnes, and to reduce the operating costs of the railway by UAH another 136.4 million per year and significantly reduce emissions into the atmosphere (up to 12,000 tonnes per year).
The Kovel – Izov – State Border section is located within Volyn region and is currently operated by diesel traction. The main freight traffic is export iron ore, which flows from enterprises in the Kryvy Rih area to metallurgical enterprises in Poland. The section is the most costly part of the route of this traffic flow.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in the state electronic trading system ProZorro announced a tender for the purchase of services for the modernization of the vertical of passenger transportation with an expected cost of UAH 304.521 million.
According to information in ProZorro, within the framework of the tender, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to acquire consulting services for the modernization of the passenger transportation vertical, which may include:
– analysis of the historical market situation;
– modeling and planning passenger traffic using specialized software;
– route optimization and formation of a new schedule;
– financial and business planning of the vertical of passenger transportation, separately for segments of long-distance and suburban traffic;
– development and implementation of a public transport system (PSO);
– formation of a capital investment program.
In addition, the described services include improvement of the collection of fares in electric trains; introduction of a modern pricing system; increase in income from the sale of additional services; formation of technical requirements for the acquisition of new modern passenger rolling stock; as well as overhaul and modernization of the existing rolling stock, etc.
Ukrzaliznytsia also wants to get advice on changes in the organizational structure; formation of the structure of depots; changes in the structure of locomotive crews, etc.
The deadline for submitting bids is February 1, 2022, and the auction is scheduled for March 9.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia planned to receive a draft report from Deutsche Bahn DB Engineering & Consulting by the end of 2021 with recommendations on the modernization of passenger traffic and a model for organizing financing of socially important rail transport.
After the implementation of the first phase of cooperation, Ukrzaliznytsia considered the possibility of moving to the second phase – attracting Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting managers to the management of the passenger vertical.
Ukrzaliznytsia and Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting on August 24, 2021 signed an agreement on consulting in the field of passenger transportation.
Ukrzaliznytsia plans in 2022 at its own enterprise – Paniutyne Wagon Repair Plant – to build 50 new grain carriages, head of the Ukrzaliznytsia board Oleksandr Kamyshin has said.
“Next year we plan to replenish the fleet of grain carriers, which are in a consistently high demand in the freight market. We are already placing an order at our Paniutyne car repair plant for the manufacture of 50 new-type grain carriages, which are entirely in-house development of the enterprise. We are launching the serial production of these cars,” he said.
He also added that the first best-performing grain carriage was manufactured and put into series production in 2019.
The total fleet of grain carriages of Ukrzaliznytsia is 11,400 units, and the company plans to renew it in the coming years.
To this end, the company has developed a concept for the renewal of the freight car fleet until 2028, according to which, in the next 7 years, in particular, it is planned to build and update almost 15,000 grain carriers, including 3,600 at the enterprises of Ukrzaliznytsia.
A car for bulk transportation of grain and other bulk food cargoes, model 19-6938, was developed by Paniutyne carriage repair plant, a branch of Ukrzaliznytsia. The prototype was made in 2019. Its volume has been increased to 120 cubic meters, while the maximum volume of old grain carriers is 94 cubic meters. The design speed of the car is up to 120 km/h. The car is certified and intended for operation on the railways of Ukraine and the member states of the Rail Transport Council.
