Ukrainian Railways

This article is about the Ukrainian railway company. For an overview of rail transport in Ukraine, see Rail transport in Ukraine.

Ukrzaliznytsia
Company typejoint-stock company
IndustryRailway transportation,
Railway infrastructure,
intermodal freight transport
Founded1991
Headquarters5 Jerzy Giedroyc Street [uk], Kyiv, Ukraine, 03680 [1]
Number of locations
1,700 stations and halts
Area served
Ukraine
Key people
Yevhen Liashchenko (CEO)[2]
ProductsRail transport services (passenger & cargo)
RevenueIncrease ₴20.06 billion (2017)[3]
Increase ₴203.8 million (2018)[4]
OwnerUkraine (100%)
Number of employees
403,000 (2011)
ParentMinistry of Infrastructure
Divisions6 branches (Kyiv, Donetsk, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro)
WebsiteOfficial website

Ukrainian Railways or Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) (Ukrainian: Укрзалізниця) is a state-owned joint-stock company administering railway infrastructure and rail transport in Ukraine; a monopoly that controls the vast majority of the railroad transportation in the country.[a] Ukrainian Railways is the world's sixth largest rail passenger transporter and world's seventh largest freight transporter. As of 2020, the total length of the main broad-gauge (1,520 mm) railroad network was 19,787 kilometres (12,295 mi),[5] making it the 13th largest in the world. Ukraine also has many stretches of standard-gauge railway (1,435 mm), and is currently working to expand these in order to improve its connections to the European Union.[6]

In 2015, Ukrainian Railways was transformed through a merger of a state agency and a state-owned enterprise into a public joint stock company owned by the state. Ukraine's State Administration of Railroad Transportation is subordinated to the Ministry of Infrastructure,[b] administering the railways through the six territorial railway companies that immediately control and provide of all aspects of the railroad transportation and maintenance under the common Ukrzaliznytsia brand. The general director of the administration is appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.[7] The gauge is 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in). The administration employs more than 403,000 people throughout the country.[citation needed]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian Railways continued operating to evacuate and rescue millions of people from cities out of the country. The rail links between Ukraine and Russia have been blown up by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to prevent their use by Russians, but the railways have continued operating within Ukraine and between Ukraine and Poland, Hungary, Republic of Moldova, and Slovakia. One long-abandoned cross-border rail link with Poland was quickly reconstructed, and others which had been used only for freight have been quickly opened for passenger use.[8] The rail service has evacuated[9] over two million people from Ukraine on special evacuation trains. After some of the Black Sea ports became unavailable for grain export, rail became an export route to the rest of Europe. Several rail sections in the North and South became unusable.[10]

  1. ^ "Official website. Address (bottom of the page)". March 2017. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 698294Lyashchenko was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "У 2017 році Укрзалізниця вперше за останні три роки спрацювала з позитивним фінансовим результатом, – Євген Кравцов :: Актуальна тема :: Прес-центр :: Офіційний веб-сайт Укрзалізниці" [In 2017, for the first time in the last three years, Ukrzaliznytsia worked with a positive financial result, - Yevhen Kravtsov :: Current topic :: Press center :: Official website of Ukrzaliznytsia]. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  4. ^ "Актуальна тема" [Current topic]. uz.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference UZ stats 2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Valery Moiseev (26 May 2022). "Shmyhal reports complete switch of Ukraine to European railway gauge: Why this is impossible". The Page. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  7. ^ "КАБІНЕТ МІНІСТРІВ УКРАЇНИ П О С Т А Н О В А від від 29 лютого 1996 р. N 262" [CABINET OF MINISTERS OF UKRAINE POSTANOVA dated February 29, 1996 N 262]. Legislation of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 21 November 2008.
  8. ^ "Railways help rescue millions, become targets after Russia attacks Ukraine". Trains. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  9. ^ Landler, Mark; Santora, Marc (9 March 2022). "Quoting Churchill and Shakespeare, Ukraine Leader Vows No Surrender". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  10. ^ McLean, Scott; El Sirgany, Sarah; Christian, Streib (14 March 2022). "The command center on rails: How Ukrainians are keeping trains on track in war". CNN. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022.


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