Renewal of the railway, modernization of rolling stock and railways will be the next important area of the Large Construction National Program. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a speech at the "Large Construction: A New Railway" Forum.
The Head of State noted that two years ago, in the framework of the "Large Construction" program, construction and repair of thousands of kilometers of roads began in all regions of Ukraine. Then the construction and reconstruction of hundreds of schools, kindergartens and hospitals began, then - sports complexes, stadiums and swimming pools, regional airports, castles, cathedrals and museums.
"Today we present a new "next". The next, very important direction - the new Ukrainian railway - begins. For years, the railway has been destroyed by "corrosion": bad management and corruption. Like rust, it was covered with opacity and inefficiency. Because of that it has become accordingly not cheap, inconvenient and even dangerous. The condition to which our railway has been brought over the years can be briefly but aptly described as follows: a prehistoric locomotive that barely pulls a train with creaking carriages on worn-out tracks to dirty stations and uncomfortable stations,” the President said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that in the summer, after intervening in the situation by the National Security and Defense Council, the state managed to regain control of Ukrzaliznytsia.
"We can already see the first important positive results. For the first time in 12 months, Ukrzaliznytsia has become profitable. For the first time in a long time, the cost of freight transportation has increased; understated tariffs in favor of big business remained in the past. Instead, there are an additional 2 billion hryvnias that Ukrzaliznytsia has received this year, and more than 12 billion hryvnias that the company will definitely receive next year,” the President said.
Also, according to him, conditions have been created for Ukrzaliznytsia to buy electricity directly from the state supplier, not through bogus companies, and thus save UAH 4 billion.
In addition, cooperation was resumed with a key national enterprise in the field of car building - Kryukov plant, which today presented new diesel trains. Ukrzaliznytsia will receive three of them by the end of the year.
"Also this year, Ukrzaliznytsia will receive 20 new sleeping cars - the first of the announced hundred. There are plans to build another 500 in the next two years. These are modern Ukrainian sleeping cars, of which I am really not ashamed,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Among other things, the purchase of modern electric trains for the City Express project is underway, the first trains of which are to run on the route in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro next year.
The President also announced the beginning of the largest construction and modernization of rolling stock and railways since independence.
"This is a program to upgrade freight cars until 2028. This is tens of thousands of cars, thousands of new jobs, this is the formation of a new market with a total volume of 107 billion hryvnias," he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that nerves of steel were needed for a long time to use the Ukrainian railway.
"We strive to do everything to make these times a thing of the past, and that is why today Ukraine is paving a new path - the revival of its railway," the President concluded.
