The amount needed to upgrade the Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company’s fleet of diesel locomotives in the coming years is estimated at more than UAH 13 billion and the amount needed for purchase and modernization of electric locomotives by 2025 is almost UAH 60 billion.
Ukrzaliznytsia’s Director of Strategic Development and Investment Policy Anton Sabolevskyi announced this, the CFTS portal reports.
Out of the UAH 13 billion, UAH 5.2 billion is needed for purchase of 40 American-made TE33AS diesel locomotives, UAH 1.5 billion for overhaul of 60 2TE116 diesel locomotives, UAH 2.4 billion for maintenance of locomotives, and UAH 4 billion for restoration and repair of shunting locomotives.
As reported earlier, the amount needed to finance electric locomotives is almost UAH 60 billion. Ukrzaliznytsia estimates the potential volume of the railway wagon market in the coming years at more than 64,000, since Ukrzaliznytsia alone owns 64,000 freight wagons older than 25 years. They include more than 17,000 gondola cars, more than 11,000 grain carriers, 6,000 tank cars, about 4,000 flatcars, and other railway rolling stock. According to Sabolevskyi, investments in wagons have more than a three-fold multiplier effect on the Ukrainian economy and the level of localization of production is more than 90%. The company plans to acquire 5,000 gondola cars under a program financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
As reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia’s former financial director Andrii Riazantsev recently said that the company needed UAH 1 trillion over a period of 30 years. “The most problematic issues are currently the issues of traction and infrastructure. In order to upgrade these fixed assets, we need to earn UAH 1 trillion over 23-30 years. We need to modernize 20,000 kilometers of infrastructure and acquire 2,000 locomotives during this period. It will be done by Ukrzaliznytsia or everyone together (Ukrzaliznytsia and businesses), but it is necessary,” he said in September 2018.
