The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has published the text of its resolution No. 1043 "On Implementation of a Pilot Project for Allowing Private Locomotives to Operate on Some Public Railway Routes" dated December 4.
According to the text of the document, the pilot project should be implemented by December 4, 2021.
As the CFTS portal reported previously, paragraph 10 of the Technical Regulations on Provision of Passenger and Freight Transport Services by Rail, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 193 of March 1, 2010, and paragraph 16 of the Technical Regulations on the Safety of Railway Rolling Stock, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 1194 of December 30, 2015, do not apply to participants in the pilot project during the period of implementation of the pilot project.
The Ministry of Infrastructure has been instructed to approve temporary regulations on the procedure for allowing private locomotives to operate on certain public railway routes; determine the list of participants in the pilot project and the areas of implementation of the experiment; submit quarterly reports on the state of implementation of the pilot project to the Cabinet of Ministers.
In addition, the procedure for implementing the pilot project is published on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to the procedure, the pilot project is to be implemented in three stages.
The first stage involves approval by the Ministry of Infrastructure of a temporary provision on the procedure for allowing private locomotives to operate on some public railway routes, compilation of the list of participants in the pilot project, and determination of the sections of railway routes on which private locomotives will be allowed to operate.
The second stage involves launching and implementation of the pilot project and monitoring its implementation.
The third stage involves assessment of the results of the pilot project and publication of the results.
Business entities that are residents of Ukraine have the right to participate in the pilot project.
The Ministry of Infrastructure is setting up a commission to select participants in the pilot project, determine the sections of public railways on which private locomotives will operate, and monitor the implementation of the pilot project.
The Ministry of Infrastructure will coordinate the implementation of the project, the State Transport Safety Service (Ukrtransbezpeka) and the Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) will facilitate its implementation within a framework defined by law.
Participants in the pilot project will be allowed to operate on certain Ukrzaliznytsia railway routes in accordance with the approved provisional regulation on the procedure for allowing private locomotives to operate on public railway routes and based on an agreement with Ukrzaliznytsia.
Participants in the pilot project are responsible for transport safety in accordance with the law.
As reported earlier, Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Kryklyi recently said that several companies would ideally be able to participate in the pilot project.
As the CFTS portal reported, the Ivano-Frankivskcement company intends to participate in the pilot project. However, the Kovalska group has said that it will not participate. The Ferrexpo, Lemtrans, and DTEK companies have expressed interest in participating in the project.
