Business representatives urge Zelensky to prevent collapse in railway transport

Representatives of 15 specialized unions of enterprises and associations sent a letter to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmigal, other representatives of the Government and the management of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia regarding catastrophic threats to the economic security of Ukraine in the event of a ban on excessive use of railway cars.

We are talking about the draft order of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine (hereinafter MIU) "On approval of the Procedure for carrying out a complex of diagnostic, repair and registration operations aimed at extending the service life of freight cars (except for freight cars of technological railway transport enterprises intended for moving goods for production purposes within ) the territory of such enterprises), established by the manufacturer, the terms of extension of the operation of such cars ”, which was posted on the MIU website (https://mtu.gov.ua/) on 08.10.2021.

“We do not support the Draft Order in the current edition. After all, it is supposed to limit the service life of freight cars to the standard, which will lead to the simultaneous write-off of about 75 thousand cars or 43% of the working fleet by 2028, incl. 40 thousand gondola cars ", - says the Letter of specialized associations representing the interests of enterprises in all leading sectors of the country's economy.

According to experts, to replace 75 thousand cars by 2028, businesses will need to spend UAH 107 billion, which means that other important investment and social projects will not be financed.

An artificial long-term shortage of freight cars caused by the implementation of the draft order will, in particular, lead to:

rise in prices for wagons, and, consequently, to an increase in transport costs of enterprises and a decrease in their competitiveness;
reduction in industrial production and exports;
a catastrophic disruption in the shipment of raw materials and finished products (including construction materials transported within the framework of the Big Construction program);
loss of jobs and contributions to the state budget.
For its part, if the said Procedure is approved, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC, according to experts, will lose up to 20% of freight traffic (or 60 million tons) and UAH 11 billion of revenues per year.

The representatives of the enterprises urge the President and the Government not to introduce any new and stricter restrictions on the service life of the cars and as soon as possible to develop and submit for public discussion regulatory acts introducing in Ukraine a European system for monitoring the technical condition of cars and their admission to operation.