The passenger division of the Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company will begin operation on 1 January 2017. Ukrainian Railways’ Board Chairman Wojciech Balczun announced this at a news briefing in Kyiv, the CFTS correspondent reports.

"We will launch the passenger branch on 1 January. This issue has already been resolved," Balczun said.

As reported earlier, trains and other assets associated with passenger transportation will be gradually transferred to the passenger division of Ukrainian Railways. The assets and liabilities of the South-Western Railway’s passenger transport service will be transferred to the passenger division before 1 April, after which the division will begin operation.

The assets and liabilities of other regional railways, the Ukrainian High-Speed Rail Company, and others will be transferred to the passenger division over a few months. This stage is expected to be completed before 1 July 2017.

The management structure will be divided into repair, operational, and commercial before the end of 2017. In the fifth and final stage, the division will transform into an independent company (a private joint-stock company called “Passenger Company") by 2020.