Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) plans to increase passenger traffic by 10% to 27.5 million passengers in 2024, according to a presentation made by the company’s CEO Yevhen Lyaschenko during a chat with journalists on Thursday.
At the same time, revenue from passenger transportation is expected to grow to UAH 10.6 billion in 2024, up from UAH 9.3 billion last year and UAH 5.3 billion a year earlier.
The growth in passenger traffic is driven by the launch of trains on international routes, according to a presentation by Ukrzaliznytsia. In particular, revenues from international passenger transportation amounted to UAH 2.6 billion in 2023, compared to UAH 1 billion in 2022. In fact, 2.1 million passengers were transported, compared to 1.1 million in 2022 and 0.04 million in 2021. In 2024, UZ expects to carry 2.3 million passengers, generating UAH 3.5 billion in revenue.
“International transportation, unlike domestic transportation, is profitable. We break even only on the Lviv-Rava-Ruska-Warsaw route (operated by the Polish company SKPL, which receives payment from UZ for services – IF-U),” Lyashchenko said.
In 2024, UZ also expects to increase domestic transportation to 25.2 million passengers, up from 22.8 million last year. Revenue from their transportation is expected to increase from UAH 6.7 billion in 2023 to UAH 7.2 billion.
The company reminded that in 2023, 15 new passenger trains were appointed, increasing the number of domestic routes to 66. In addition, three new international routes were launched: Vienna-Budapest-Chop, Lviv-Rava-Ruska-Warsaw, and Chop-Prague (operated by the Czech railway operator RegioJet – IF-U). The number of international routes in 2023 reached 25.
UZ plans to overhaul 63 passenger cars in 2024, which will increase the capacity of the passenger service. Also, the overhaul of the laundry in Kyiv, which will improve the quality of washing and the volume of laundry processing.
The seat availability monitoring feature, which is currently being tested in the UZ app, will be launched in full. The company also plans to integrate online scoreboards with a GPS system, refine loyalty programs, and update the classification of cars depending on their brand, which will make it easier for passengers to find the right category for them depending on the range of services.
JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” (UZ) together with UNICEF plans to implement the project of “family cars” on domestic passenger transportation, said the pre-management of UZ Yevhen Lyashchenko at a briefing.
“Family cars” will be at least on three domestic routes, it is six cars. Perhaps, there will be more such cars,” Lyashchenko said.
According to him, the project will be implemented by the end of the year.
The head of UZ also specified that the concept of the project was developed by UNICEF, which will finance the re-equipment of cars.
State-owned JSC Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) has transferred UAH 1.259 billion to the state budget of Ukraine as an advance payment of dividends based on the results of its business activities in 2023, the press service of UZ reported on Wednesday.
“This is the first advance payment, because we are still finalizing the consolidated report, which will clearly determine our profit based on the results of work in 2023,” said Yevhen Lyashchenko, Chairman of the Board of UZ.
It is noted that, according to the government’s decree, the rate of deductions for Ukrzaliznytsia is set at 50%, provided that 30% of the profit will be used to finance capital investments approved in the financial plan for 2024, as well as to reconstruct critical railway infrastructure and renew rolling stock.
As reported, on February 27, the government instructed Naftogaz of Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukrhydroenergo, Ukrainian Energy Machines, Nizhnednistrovska HPP, and Ukrainian Defense Industry to transfer to the state budget at least 50% of the annual dividends on the state share for 2023 in advance by March. According to the Ministry of Finance, this will allow the state budget to receive at least UAH 3 billion in February.
Construction of the railway section Mostiska-Skniliv from the state border with Poland to Lviv will start this year, said Deputy Prime Minister for recovery – Minister of community development, territories and infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“Construction of the first large section of the European gauge, Mostyska-Skniliv. We will connect our railroad with the European network. This is the first project, we will build it already this year together with European partners and donors,” he told at the forum “Ukraine. Year 2024” on Sunday.
In addition, this year it is planned to open several checkpoints for road transport on the border with Moldova, Romania, Hungary and Poland. The process of modernization of 23 checkpoints by the efforts of the Restoration Agency is also ongoing, Kubrakov added.
As reported, the construction of a narrow Euroway (1435 mm) on the Mostiska-Skniliv direction was planned to start back in 2020. Also in 2020, the government included this project in the list of priority investment projects until 2023. The project is estimated at $20.8 million.
Ukrzaliznytsia planned to complete work on the track construction project by the end of 2023.
Ukrzaliznytsia JSC is introducing additional flights between Kyiv, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk on February 16-18 in response to increased demand, the company reports.
“Although February is traditionally considered a ‘low’ season of mobility, we have recorded an increase in demand for travel on February 16-18. Therefore, we are already promptly scheduling additional flights between Kyiv, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk, which will consist exclusively of new cars,” Ukrzaliznytsia said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
Reportedly, the number of seats on the Kyiv-Lviv-Ivano-Frankivsk route will be increased by train #195/196, which will depart Kyiv on February 16 and 18 at 07:37, Lviv at 14:46-15:06, and arrive in Ivano-Frankivsk at 18:18. The train will depart back from Ivano-Frankivsk on February 16 and 18 at 19:25, Lviv at 21:54 – 23:05, arriving in Kyiv the next day at 06:19.
“On February 16 and 18, train #192/191 Lviv-Kyiv will depart from Lviv to Kyiv, departing from the city of Lviv at 11:55 a.m. and arriving in the capital at 22:09 p.m.,” Ukrzaliznytsia informs.
In 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to put 120 grain hoppers for conventional and European gauge into operation, Gennady Maydanyk, director of the commercial work department of UZ, said at a meeting of the export office at UZ on Wednesday.
According to him, the recently introduced hopper cars for 1520 and 1435 mm gauge transportation are already being tested.
“By the end of the year, the company plans to add 120 of these grain hoppers to the fleet of the Transportation Logistics Center branch. The main advantage of the cars is that they can travel across Ukraine and abroad without overloading,” explained the UZ representative.
