The Ukrainian Railways joint-stock company (JSC Ukrzaliznytsia) intends to purchase only one new diesel train from the Kryukov Railcar Building Works (Kremenchuk, Poltava region) in 2019, although the contract that was signed in 2018 provides for delivery of six such trains.

Volodymyr Prykhodko, the chairman of the Kryukov Railcar Building Works’ supervisory board, wrote this in a column in the Liga publication, the CFTS portal reports.

"Ukrzaliznytsia concluded the largest contracts in its history with the Kryukov Railcar Building Works in August 2018. They provide for purchase of rolling stock worth a total of UAH 2.58 billion. An agreement for supply of six diesel trains was signed on August 10 and four contracts for delivery of 54 passenger cars on August 30,” Prykhodko wrote. “Ukrzaliznytsia submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers in November 2018 a draft financial plan for 2019 that provided for purchase of only three diesel trains instead of six.”

According to the head of the Kryukov Railcar Building Works, Ukrzaliznytsia’s acting Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov repeated his company’s plan to reduce the number of diesel trains to be purchased to three on January 10, 2019, but he confirmed that the obligations under the contracts for supply of 54 passenger cars would be fulfilled.

Ukrzaliznytsia’s financial plan for 2019, which provides for purchase of only one diesel train, was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in March.

The explanatory note to the document indeed states that the company plans to purchase one diesel train for UAH 147.5 million in 2019 under a transitional agreement signed in 2018. As for passenger cars, it plans to purchase only 10 worth UAH 242.6 million instead of 54 under the 2018 transitional agreements.

According to Prykhodko, Ukrzaliznytsia “did not officially announce the changes to its plans and did not resolve the issue at the legal level. The manufacturer has ordered components for the railcars and diesel trains, including from Europe, paying over UAH 1.1 billion for them." He added that Ukrzaliznytsia has thus far received only 11 of 54 passenger cars from the Kryukov Railcar Building Works and put them into operation, although 30 have already been manufactured.

As the CFTS portal reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia intends to launch a new diesel train on the Kyiv–Boryspil airport route this year.