The Ukrzaliznytsia public railway company has acquired only eight locomotives in over 25 years of Ukraine’s independence, of which four are passenger and four shunting locomotives.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s Board Chairman Wojciech Balczun announced this in the context of the demonstration of an American locomotive, the CFTS reports.
The TE33A locomotive manufactured by the General Electric corporation (United States), which has arrived in Ukraine for testing on the country’s railways, performed four demonstration trips in September.
"It is part of a larger program - creation of a new and modernization of Ukrzaliznytsia’s existing fleet of locomotives. In general, traction rolling stock is one of Ukrzaliznytsia’s biggest problems today. In the 25 years since Ukraine attained independence, we have acquired only eight locomotives, of which four are passenger and four are shunting," Balczun said.
As reported, the official presentation of the locomotive took place at the central railway station in Kyiv on September 28. The event was expected to be attended by Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian, Ukrzaliznytsia board member Ireneusz Wasilewski, and Kazakhstan railway’s Vice President Maksat Kabashev.
As the CFTS previously reported, a General Electric locomotive for Ukrzaliznytsia was seen in Ukraine in August. It was reported that the locomotive would operate on the Dolynska–Mykolaiv route. General Electric’s locomotive will be used to transport grain to ports. The test operation of the locomotive will take place over a period of 120 days.
