President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has instructed the board chairman of the Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia), Yevhen Kravtsov, to prepare within one month a draft law on introduction of private railway traction in the country, the CFTS portal reports, citing the UNIAN news agency.
“In a month, prepare amendments to the law and ensure that the norms for attracting capital to this process are acceptable to Ukraine. It does not necessarily have to be private diesel locomotives, it could be private capital,” Poroshenko said during a meeting with business representatives.
As reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia is not ruling out the possibility of introduction of private traction within seven years, as stipulated in the association agreement between Ukraine and the European Union that entered into force in September 2017.
The parliament rejected a draft law on rail transport in October.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, the largest mining and steel plant in Ukraine, recently called for pilot introduction of private traction on certain railway sections.
