The Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) plans to purchase 2,475 gondola cars with its own funds and about 3,000 with loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in 2018. This was stated in a presentation that Ukrzaliznytsia made during Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelian’s end-of-year press conference in Kyiv on Friday, December 15.
However, Oleksandr Malakhov, the deputy director of Ukrzaliznytsia’s department of strategic management and development, provided slightly different figures on November 28.
According to him, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to purchase 5,180 gondola cars from third-party manufacturers in 2018, including 3,400 gondola cars with loans from the EBRD. Malakhov said that this plan could be adjusted depending on the actual volume of investments, which could be less than the amount expected by Ukrzaliznytsia.
According to the latest data from Ukrzaliznytsia, the company will possibly buy fewer freight cars with EBRD funds and buy more with its own funds.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia did not achieve its target for purchase of railcars in 2017. The company expected freight tariffs to be raised in the winter, but this did not happen and tenders for purchase of railcars were consequently canceled. In total, it planned to buy 9,000 gondola cars (including 6,000 with an EBRD loan). After repeated attempts to purchase almost 2,500 gondola cars, Ukrzaliznytsia succeeded in concluding only one agreement for 250 gondola cars with the Popasna railcar repair plant. These gondola cars should be delivered by April 2018. A loan agreement with the EBRD has not yet been concluded.
