The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) has received the first batch of 25,000 tons of rails from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Ukrzaliznytsia announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.
This batch of rails was delivered within the framework of the "Emergency Recovery Program" financed by the Japanese government.
The certificate for the rails was presented to Ukrzaliznytsia’s Board Chairman Yevhen Liaschenko by Japan’s Ambassador to Ukraine Matsuda Kuninori.
Ukrzaliznytsia will use the R-65 (P-65) rails to rehabilitate and overhaul 1520-mm gauge tracks. According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the new rails are made in Japan.
“The sole domestic manufacturer of railroad rails was destroyed in Mariupol at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, so they are now a critical item for the company. We need 70,000-100,000 tons of rails annually just for maintenance. In addition, almost every day during the war, railway workers are forced to restore the infrastructure damaged by the enemy. We plan to use the rails to repair mainline railways on the Kyiv-Lviv, Kyiv-Odesa, Kyiv-Uzhhorod, and Kyiv-Dnipro routes,” said Liaschenko.
The first shipment has already arrived and was unloaded at the Mostyska station.
The entire 25,000 tons of rails are expected to be delivered by the end of 2024.
