"The issue of granting access to private locomotives is an issue for public debate. According to the program for reform of Ukrzaliznytsia (the State Railway Administration), this can be discussed in approximately five years," Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kava said during a conference on access to the country’s railway infrastructure at the Polish embassy, the CFTS portal’s correspondent reports.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s acting general director Maksym Blank said at the conference that a transport monopoly was better at solving the mathematical problem of transport optimization only on paper and in theory, but he stressed that “orientation toward clients” would be lost without competition.
"However, I am confident that Ukrzaliznytsia will operate as a monopoly under a joint-stock company, for which specific tasks will be set, in the next few years. We will approach a dialogue on individual narrow issues such as access to infrastructure only after that," said Blank.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s Director of Technical Policy Rostyslav Demin said Ukrzaliznytsia would not be able to invest in rolling stock in the next 1-2 years because of the current situation and its financial capabilities.
Poland’s Ambassador to Ukraine Henryk Litwin said that granting private carriers access to rail infrastructure was an important factor in the reform of Ukrainian railways. "Thanks to this, the government will not need to invest in rolling stock. Companies engaging in rail transportation can assume these costs," he said.
