The Ukrainian Railways public joint-stock company (Ukrzaliznytsia) would like to purchase 10-15 additional high-speed trains with the aim of increasing the penetration of high-speed rail link into the country’s regions. Oleksandr Krasnoshtan, the head of Ukrzaliznytsia’s department of long-distance passenger transportation, announced this in an interview with the delo.ua publication.
"We need to acquire 10-15 additional such trains (Ukrzaliznytsia currently owns 16-10 Hyundai, 2 Skoda, and 2 five-car high-speed trains, as well as 2 high-speed trains manufactured by the Kryukov Railcar Manufacturing Plant). There is demand for these trains, but we are not yet meeting this demand fully. For example, passenger traffic will increase after the electrification of the Dolynska-Mykolaiv railway stretch. Mykolaiv is a very promising destination. The same can be said about Lutsk and Rivne, where it will be necessary to compete with road transport,” Krasnoshtan said.
He added that the cost of a high-speed train begins at USD 20 million.
According to Krasnoshtan, Ukrzaliznytsia’s high-speed trains currently have an occupancy rate of 95%.
As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia’s high-speed trains set a passenger transport record of 548,000 in September.
The most popular destinations are Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv. Demand for transportation to Odesa is also growing every year.
