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.
The Ukrcement Association has asked Ukrzaliznytsia to take into account the specifics of the cement industry when distributing wagons at auctions, as well as to reduce the use of specialized cement wagons for the transportation of other goods in high season, Chairman of the association, Pavlo Kachur said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, among the urgent problems with the distribution of wagons, in particular, the lack of cement cars for transporting cement due to their use for the transportation of crushed stone and other bulk materials, and inappropriate offers at auctions in terms of the number of wagons.
“Cement producers lose to grain producers, power companies, crushed stone producers in routing. They are profitable clients for Ukrzaliznytsia. They load 40 wagons in one place, bring them to the port, a power plant or an open area, unload and this is the end of the work. And they tell us: bargain, there are wagons. But cement consumers have their own specifics, which we ask to also take into account. We have only a few consumers for 20-30 wagons. Basically three or five wagons are ordered, but such offers at auctions are not enough,” Kachur said.
In addition, until September 2021, Ukrzaliznytsia put up 170 cement carriages for sale per day exclusively for the shipment of cement, but in September-October this restriction was canceled and 80 cars were put up for the transport of bulk cargo.
“On October 21, 2021, Ukrzaliznytsia also canceled this division of cement cars by type of cargo, which caused a speculative jump in the railway tariff due to increased demand from shippers of bulk materials, while leaving cement producers without wagons for transporting cement. After all, cement, in contrast to other bulk materials can only be transported by cement wagons,” the chairman of Ukrcement said.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in 2022 does not plan to raise prices in passenger traffic.
“So far, there are no such decisions. We have indexed very smoothly this year. Not all at once, but in relation to the consumer price index and stretching for the whole year. On the contrary, we plan to stimulate individual services with promotional rates. For example, with tour operators, we are talking about how to support the transportation of large groups by rail by setting discounts on bulk reservations depending on the size of the group,” Oleksandr Pertsovsky, the director of the Passenger Company branch, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He also noted that in the medium term, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to initiate a revision of tariff regulation in order to enter a more flexible pricing policy in the passenger segment.
“What I mean: a common practice among transport operators is that the earlier you buy tickets, the cheaper they are, and if at the last minute – the more expensive. to the price. This will allow us to increase the average profitability while still giving the best price to the individual passengers who are most price sensitive. As an option, make a greater distinction between classes. We are also working on the possibility of changing pricing in relation to distances,” he explained.
According to him, all this requires both certain regulatory changes and programmatic changes in terms of restructuring the current IT system of Ukrzaliznytsia.
The director of the Passenger Company branch also noted that in comparison with 2020, in 2021 Ukrzaliznytsia showed good dynamics in terms of covering expenses with income in the segment of passenger transportation.
To further improve the situation, the company is working on the introduction of contracts for socially significant transportation, since for many years the company had “a huge percentage of underfunding” from the local authorities.
“Plus, we are actively working on the issue of control over fares. In the suburbs, for example, we are piloting an IT system that allows you to sell tickets online or through kiosks, both single and subscriber for passengers. We are also reviewing the configuration of the turnstile system to reduce the percentage of free riders,” Pertsovsky said.
He also stressed that the idea of bringing passenger traffic to the level of prime cost is impossible within the framework of the current market model and does not make sense.
