The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) and Polish Railways have discussed several areas of cooperation, particularly development of freight transportation on the Kovel - Izov - state border - Poland railway stretch, which Ukrzaliznytsia is currently electrifying, as well as increase of the volume of container transportation on the territories of both countries.
Ukrzaliznytsia announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia’s acting head Ivan Yurik, a significant increase in rail freight transportation between the two countries is already being observed.
"Poland is a long-standing and proven strategic partner of Ukraine. Through joint efforts, we are doing everything possible to develop rail freight transportation and the economies of our countries, and the indicators of the first half of 2021 are proof of this," he said during his visit to Poland.
The total volume of freight transportation between the two countries increased by 22% to 5.56 million tons in the first six months of 2021, compared with the same period of 2020.
Exports account for almost 73% of the total volume. It increased by 13.6% to more than 4 million tons during this period. Most of all, Ukrzaliznytsia exports iron ore and manganese ore by rail from Ukraine to Poland. Ukraine also exports ferrous metals, non-ferrous ore, and building materials.
The volume of imports into Ukraine from Poland increased by 98% to 740,600 tons in January-June of this year while the volume of incoming transit freight increased by 94% to 40,200 tons and the volume of outgoing transit freight increased by 21.7% to 734,000 tons.
"We have already begun major work on the electrification of the Kovel - Izov - state border railway stretch, which will significantly increase the volume of rail freight transportation between our countries," the head of Ukrzaliznytsia said.
The two companies also discussed the development of container transportation between the two countries and examined the broad gauge (1520 mm) railway stretch in the Volyn region that runs from Ukraine to Poland.
The number of containers transported between the two countries increased by 77.2% to 27,757 in the first six months of 2021, compared with the same period last year.
