Private carriers receive admission to the Ukrainian railway

The Verkhovna Rada registered the project of the Law on the system and peculiarities of the functioning of the railway transport market of Ukraine, which is aimed at opening access to the transport market for private carriers. This document will allow implementing the provisions of the directives on the certification of train drivers, on the single European space, on railway safety, etc. In total, the draft law reflects the provisions of more than ten acts of EU legislation in this area.

It should be noted that Ukraine currently has an obligation to the EU to adopt a law on the competitive rail transport market by the end of next year. However, it is worth noting that this law will not enter into force immediately after its adoption, but only a few years after the end of the war.

It should be noted that currently JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" is actively working on the restoration and development of the Eurasian intermodal connection. Recently, during the international exhibition InnoTrans 2024 in Berlin, Ukrainian and Polish railway workers reached an important agreement on cooperation in this area. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine led to significant disruptions in transportation, in particular, the transportation of goods from China through the territory of Ukraine was practically stopped. However, despite the war, Ukraine remains an important transit corridor between Asia and Europe, thanks to its geographical location and developed railway infrastructure.

It should be noted that earlier the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure signed a memorandum with the European Railway Agency (ERA), which provides for cooperation in the field of technical harmonization of the railway systems of the European Union and Ukraine. As noted in the Ministry's announcement, the agreements include expert and technical support for the Ukrainian side of joining the single European railway space. For this, in particular, it is envisaged to create a steering committee that will determine priorities and step-by-step plans to achieve the common goals of the parties. Currently, the Ukrainian side believes that the development of the domestic railway is one of the prerequisites for full transport integration into the European Union. In fact, the European integration of Ukrainian railways is one of the largest blocks of transport European integration of Ukraine. At the same time, it is important to understand that Ukraine is gradually engaged in the modernization of its own transport infrastructure and its adaptation to the standards of the European Union.

This year, Ukrzaliznytsia started the construction of the Chop - Uzhgorod European track. This project is included in the list of projects of the strategic program for the development of railway infrastructure for the integration of Ukraine into the European Union. Laying of the first link of the rail sleeper grid of the new Eurotrack took place on April 11. This project will not only increase the comfort of passenger traffic and redistribute the passenger flow, but will also provide us with new logistical opportunities for cargo transportation, and relieve traffic checkpoints. Thus, Uzhhorod becomes the first regional center to be connected to Europe by a European-style railway. Ukrzaliznytsia noted that the project will be implemented with 50% grant co-financing from the EU fund Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The total amount of the project is UAH 1.3 billion. The term of the project is 14 months. It envisages the construction of 22 km of railway track of the European standard, the reconstruction of artificial structures, objects and networks of engineering support, and the equipping of the track with two-way semi-automatic blocking and microprocessor dispatching centralization devices. In addition, it is planned to electrify the new European gauge of 1435 mm on the Chop - Uzhhorod section. The plans also include a possible extension of the Eurotrack from Uzhhorod to Lviv, which will be an important step for joining Lviv to two European TEN-T transport corridors — the Rhine-Danube and the Mediterranean.