The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) has approved a procedure for determining foreign freight cars that are technically compatible with Ukrainian railway infrastructure, allowing foreign-owned railcars to operate on Ukrainian territory.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
This decision allows Ukrzaliznytsia to streamline the issue of foreign-owned wagons running through Ukraine.
Ukrzaliznytsia specialists have agreed on the technical aspects with the railway administrations of neighboring countries and resolved several organizational issues. As a result, they have developed and approved a technical interoperability assessment procedure and a standard agreement for organizing the operations of foreign freight wagons on Ukrainian territory. At the same time, the current convention-based restrictions on their operations have been lifted.
Owners of foreign railcars will have 30 days from the date of publication of the agreement to conclude the relevant agreements with Ukrzaliznytsia and provide the technical data necessary to evaluate the interoperability of the railcars with Ukraine's railway infrastructure.
The ministry noted that a convention restricting the use of foreign freight cars was in force in Ukraine as of 1 March 2025. This was due to the termination of the Agreement on the Joint Use of Freight Cars in the Former CIS and related regulations, which made it impossible to use cars registered in other countries on Ukrainian infrastructure.
