Is UZ’s initiative regarding bogie swapping for private wagons discriminatory?

According to Oleg Burlachenko, the CEO of TEK “VERTIKAL,” UZ’s initiative to restrict the use of its own bogies for swapping private wagons is discriminatory, according to the railway portal Railway Supply, citing TEK “VERTIKAL”.

He argues that Ukrzaliznytsia’s intention to change the conditions for swapping wagons from 1520 mm gauge to 1435 mm gauge represents an abuse of its monopoly position.

Ukrzaliznytsia is a monopoly when it comes to the infrastructure component. Bogie swap points are considered part of the infrastructure, not the wagons themselves.

Currently, major logistics corridors are disrupted, making logistics complex and costly for commodity producers. Therefore, limiting the use of 1435 mm gauge bogies for private wagons will further increase logistics costs, which can be seen as sabotage.

There’s also a possibility that carriers will raise the rental costs of their bogies, which would result in higher logistics costs for transporting goods.

Even now, the cost of logistics doesn’t allow most agrarians to export their products, as it lacks economic feasibility. The implications of these new “improvements” are questionable.

TEK “VERTIKAL” owns a fleet of modern wagons with a gauge of 1T, which do not fit the dimensions of the European 1435 mm gauge track.

They transport their wagons abroad for reloading. When they need to transport goods with wheelset swapping, they use UZ wagons and, consequently, UZ bogies. UZ wagons have a gauge of 1VM and 0VM, suitable for European track. They don’t have their own bogies and don’t plan to purchase them.

If necessary, they will continue to use UZ wagons and pay a reasonable fee for their use. Burlachenko believes that Ukrzaliznytsia should maintain differentiated fees for using bogies for its own fleet and private wagons and should not restrict private wagon access to infrastructure facilities.

He considers this to be a fair solution in this situation.

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