The Ukrzaliznytsia public railway company overhauled 63 units of suburban electric trains (13 trains) worth nearly UAH 170 million and two suburban diesel trains worth UAH 4.2 million during the period of January-August.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia, the repairs of suburban rolling stock during this period cost a total of UAH 324.2 million. In addition, Ukrzaliznytsia performed almost 4,000 maintenance repairs on units of electric trains at the cost of about UAH 150 million.
Ukrzaliznytsia spent UAH 470.8 million on scheduled maintenance and upgrade of its fleet of suburban trains in 2015.
However, there were insufficient funds to maintain all the rolling stock in normal working conditions. "The main problem involving operation of suburban trains – depreciation of rolling stock – is directly related to lack of funding for the suburban services sector," Ukrzaliznytsia said.
According to the company, the levels of depreciation are nearly 85% for the fleet of electric trains and 92.4% for the fleet of diesel trains. The average age of electric trains has reached 32.5 years (the manufacturer-specified service life for the majority of the trains in the fleet is 28 years) and the average age of diesel trains and rail buses is 28.9 years (the manufacturer-specified service life is 20 years).
On the Ukrainian railways, 479 units of electric trains (96 trains) and 61 diesel trains require urgent overhaul.
