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in passenger railway infrastructure projects including the completion of the electrification of the Zhytomyr-Novohrad-Volynskyi section with the resumption of the bypass of the Novohrad-Volynskyi-1 station.
Expenditures on railway modernization will be reduced by UAH 700mn.
The state budget of Ukraine for 2022 provides UAH 3.8 bln ($140mn) for the renewal of rolling stock and reconstruction of railway infrastructure. In addition, compared to the 2021 state budget of Ukraine provided over UAH 4 bln ($148mn) for the purchase of passenger cars and electrification of tracks.
Lithuania and Turkey to launch a freight railway corridor through Ukraine. The Lithuanian and Turkish railways are close to agreeing on cooperation in the transportation of automobile semi-trailers between the two countries. The aim is to use existing services and connect Istanbul with the Ukrainian Black Sea and further with the port of Klaipeda and Scandinavia. Representatives of the Lithuanian Railways visited Turkey and met with the Turkish Railways team. The parties discussed the possibility of launching a new shortsea and rail connection, which will function as a corridor between the Black Sea and the Baltic, reported logist.today.
Container trains from China, a novelty 18 months ago, now arrive in Kyiv at the rate of almost once a week, reports Xinhua. In 2021, 43 container trains, from a total of 10 Chinese cities, travelled to Kyiv. The 300,000 tonnes of cargo was largely high margin goods as electronics, equipment, clothing and shoes. The trains take 15-20 days, about half the time taken by ships. For the first year, the trains returned empty. In September, the first train returned to China with Ukrainian exports.
Ukraine is to become the linchpin of a ‘Southern Cargo Corridor,’ a rail route from China to southern Europe and the Balkans, according to a new partnership signed last week in Budapest. Offering an alternative to the Belarus-Poland route, “we will turn the route through Ukraine and Hungary into a second, main axis leading to new capacity, reduced transportation times and efficient further distribution in Europe," Clemens First, chairman of Austria’s Rail Cargo Group, is quoted by Railfreight. The other companies in the joint venture are Hungary’s CER Cargo Holding and Russian Railways.
A key will be the opening this spring of East West Gate Terminal, a rail/highway terminal planned for Záhony, a Hungarian border town facing Chop, Zakarpattia. “[This] could theoretically be the largest intermodal terminal in Europe if infrastructure upgrades in Hungary are completed as planned,” writes the Center for Transportation Strategies. “North European cargo hubs...between Asia and Europe have almost reached their maximum capacity,” Levente Magyar, Hungary’s Deputy Minister for Foreign and Trade, said at the signing ceremony. “Therefore, the EU needs cooperation with Ukraine to open the Southern Cargo Corridor towards Central Europe and the Balkans.”
On the back of a 19% jump in earnings from freight, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to turn this year’s $437 million loss into a $61 million net profit.. Freight rate increases approved by the Rada earlier this year, should hike earning from freight to $3 billion next year. With the new money, the railroad plans to buy new passenger cars, electrify more tracks and complete Kyiv’s New Darnytskyi road and rail bridge over the Dnipro.
59 UKRAINE Country Report January 2022 www.intellinews.com