The order of the Ministry of Infrastructure on the procedure for writing off freight rail cars with an exceeded period of standard operation will be signed by the end of November.

Александр Кубраков

This was announced on Friday, November 19, by the head of the department Alexander Kubrakov, speaking at the international economic forum DEF-2021 in Dnipro.

“I can reassure that the order will be signed for a week or two at the most … I think there will be no problems with this issue,” the minister said.

According to him, possible attempts of certain large shipping companies to disrupt the entry into force of the order with the help of lawsuits will not be successful.

“Even if some individual market players want to stop it through some kind of lawsuits, I don’t think this is a problem. There is a mechanism to counteract this. But I am still optimistic and I understand that the majority of market players should be adequate, ”A. Kubrakov emphasized.

Alstom and Ukrzaliznytsia finalize the contract, – Oleksandr Kubrakov

He also noted the need to renew the wagon fleet and the inadmissibility of further use of worn-out wagons in transportation. The head of the Ministry of Infrastructure recalled that the neighboring countries had previously made a decision to decommission worn-out freight wagons – after which these decommissioned wagons were bought cheaply and brought to Ukraine by some large shipping companies.

“All countries around us have done it. Everywhere there is almost new rolling stock and exclusively we, the Ukrainian railways, have received all this scrap metal for ourselves, have allowed it to be done earlier, to bring all this rubbish here. And now it travels on our railways and destroys our infrastructure,” the minister emphasized.

He expressed hope that freight carriers and car builders will sign a joint memorandum with the Ministry of Infrastructure regarding the renewal of the car fleet in the country.

The Ministry of Infrastructure will not start any large project without localization – Kubrakov

“We will not physically force anyone to sign it. But I believe that normal adequate business, manufacturers, market participants – they should participate and sign this memorandum. For several years we will see thousands and thousands of new freight cars and gondola cars on our railways, ” summed up A. Kubrakov.

As reported, the Ministry of Infrastructure, together with UZ, plans to launch a program of gradual limitation of the service life of cars and the construction of new cars instead of decommissioned ones.

To this end, the Ministry of Infrastructure has developed and published a draft order on the procedure for writing off worn-out wagons.

According to the Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development Dmitry Kisilevsky, the program of gradual replacement of worn-out cars with new ones will revive the wagon building, one of the most important branches of the Ukrainian industry.

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