Ukrainian Railroads
The supply of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian military depends primarily on the state of the railway infrastructure, so its destruction is a priority. This opinion was expressed on 10 March 202 in a conversation with TASS by the chairman of the movement "We are together with Russia" Vladimir Rogov.
Rogov said that in the city of Zaporizhzhia, strikes have been made on power supply facilities of the railway over the past 2-3 days. "Now, urgently, the leadership of the Ukrainian railway has begun to use diesel locomotives instead of electric locomotives to transport personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ammunition and military equipment. Indirect recognition of the defeat of these facilities is evident from the delays and partial cessation of civilian train traffic," he specified.
At the same time, Rogov noted that Ukraine has a fairly large fleet of diesel locomotives, which will partially replace electric locomotives. "They will definitely try to compensate for these losses, whether they will be able to do it - the near future will show. In my opinion, the next stage is the destruction of the railway tracks, the rails can be replaced quickly enough, but some kind of distribution hub or an important transport artery cannot be quickly restored" - said the interlocutor of the agency.
Alexander Kamyshin, CEO of Ukrainian Railway, said 14 April 2022 that Russian shelling affects "from at least one to three stations" per day, but the railway workers keep repairing tracks, bridges and stations "because that's the lifeline of the country and that's the lifeline of passenger traffic and of humanitarian aid." Kamyshin said "After the real army, railwaymen are the second army of Ukraine.... We start repairing the tracks once the shelling is over and in a few hours we are ready to move on." Kamyshin did however say the railway workers have also suffered. "We lost 94 people and 99 are injured."
It was one of the mysteries of Russia’s poorly managed military campaign that it has not devoted more effort to interdicting the Ukrainian rail system. While there have been some attacks in the west of the country, the network continues to operate and deliver badly needed supplies. That does not mean that the network has been safe; there have been numerous attacks, especially in the east — on 08 April 2022 a Russian missile carrying cluster munitions struck a crowd at Kramatorsk station, killing at least 50 people and wounding almost 100. Russia first claimed the attack, then blamed it on Ukrainian forces. Another attack on a station on 06 April 2022 resulted in an unknown number of casualties, and it may be that other Russian assaults have gone unreported.
Gauge is the measure of the distance between the inner sides of the load-bearing rails. The four typical types of gauges are: broad, standard, narrow, and dual. Other gauges are listed in a note. Some 60% of the world's railways use the standard gauge of 1.4 m (4.7 ft). Gauges vary by country and sometimes within countries. The choice of gauge during initial construction was mainly in response to local conditions and the intent of the builder. Narrow-gauge railways were cheaper to build and could negotiate sharper curves, broad-gauge railways gave greater stability and permitted higher speeds. Standard-gauge railways were a compromise between narrow and broad gauges.
Ukraine's total of 21,733 km (2014) track consisted of standard gauge: 49 km 1.435-m gauge (49 km electrified) (2014), and broad gauge: 21,684 km 1.524-m gauge (9,250 km electrified) (2014). Russia's rail network is broad gauge. Poland has the European standard 1,435-millimeter rail gauge for its railroad network. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania all have the Russian rail gauge of 1,520 millimeters. In order to use the rail system from Germany to Ukraine, the cargo on the rail cars must be transloaded at the Ukraine-Poland border to rail cars that are compatible with the rest of the rail system.
In Ukraine railroads are a major mode of transportation. Because the natural waterways lie from north to south, the east–west traffic must be borne by land transportation, in which railways played the dominant role. The lower cost of railroad building and maintenance gives them an advantage over motor vehicle transport. Ukraine’s railroad network was developed by the imperial powers that controlled its territories and served the interest of the imperial economies, not Ukraine’s economy.
The country also has an extensive network of highways. However, very few of these – mostly near big cities – have more than one lane each direction. Many of the national highways are actually in very poor condition, and are not really suitable for transporting heavy materials.
So it is that the railroad became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in 2022. Russia had not succeeded in capturing the Ukrainian rail network, it now intends to destroy it, at least in part, primarily in order to cut off Western arms shipments to the front. It brings weapons, aid, and supplies to the east of the country. It evacuates millions of people fleeing. It is also transporting families back to areas previously occupied by Russian troops. It brought important visitors to Kyiv, such as the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, and the leader of the German opposition, Friedrich Merz. Increasingly, the railroad is also playing a key role in transporting goods for export. Before the war, 50% of Ukraine's imports and exports passed through its sea port of Odesa. Since Russia began its blockade of the Black Sea coast, Ukraine has increasingly been trying to export goods like wheat, coal, steel, and chemical products to the West by rail.
In the first months of the war, the railroad system has proved surprisingly robust and adaptable. The network has many branches, and when stretches of track are bombed, it is often possible quickly to find alternative routes. "In some instances, we can repair damaged rail lines in just a few hours," Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, the CEO of the Ukrainian Railways Passenger Company, told the American news broadcaster NBC. His boss, Oleksandr Kamyshin, said on CNN that the company was now operating a "flat" management structure. Route managers, he said, could now make on-the-spot decisions without seeking permission from their superiors. Repairs could be carried out without bureaucracy in a fraction of the usual time. Pertsovskyi admitted that, although damaged or destroyed bridges could not be repaired so quickly, "the bottom line is that we can continue to operate the system, despite the intensification of the attacks."
The Ukrainian railroad system was fiercely contested right from the start. Russia tried to swiftly seize control of Ukrainian Railways logistical centers in major cities like Kharkiv and Kyiv, but it was thwarted by the strength of the Ukrainian resistance. At the same time, the Ukrainian army and some Belarusian railroad operators managed to destroy or sabotage rail links between Russia and Belarus – tracks that would have been key to the redeployment of large numbers of Russian troops.
Russia redefined its war aims to focus on conquering territory in the east and southeast of the country. Starting in mid-April 2022, the Russian army intensified its attacks on the Ukrainian rail network all over the country. A rail bridge over the Dnipro river was severely damaged on 04 May 2022, while several train stations in the west and south of Ukraine were hit the previous night. Many stations had already been attacked before this, including in the eastern city of Kramatorsk: At least 50 people died when it was bombed on April 8. In particular, provincial stations, electrical substations, and rail bridges were increasingly becoming the targets of Russian missiles.
The administration of public railway transport is The State Administration of Railway Transport of Ukraine "Ukrzaliznytsia", which was established in December 1991. The management sphere of Ukrzaliznytsia covers the railways of Donetsk, Lviv, Odessa, Pivdenna (Southern), Pivdenno-Zakhidna (Southwestern) and Pridniprovska Railways, and also other enterprises and organizations of integrated industrial-engineering complex, that enables freight and passengers transportation.
Ukrainian Railways is a state-owned joint-stock company of rail transport in Ukraine, a monopoly that controls the vast majority of the railroad transportation in the country. It possesses a combined total track length of over 23,000 km, making it the 13th largest in the world. Ukraine has a developed railway network, its total working mileage amounts to over 22 000 kilometers. Two third of Ukrainian railway lines are heavy worked, equipped with modern management facilities, dispatcher's centralization and automatic block system.
By 2021 Ukrzaliznytsia, the state-owned railway, was on the verge of technical default due to years of mismanagement compounded by losses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Debts exceeded $1.5 billion, and the company lost $426 million in 2020. Its only chance to dig itself out is to raise freight tariffs. But to do so, it needed to be in the hands of good management. Ukrzaliznytsia's neglected tracks and equipment are outdated and in dire need of modernization. Of the nearly 19,800 kilometers of railway tracks, only 9,300 are electrified. Ukraine had to buy diesel fuel from Belarus, made from crude oil produced in Russia.
In response to the crushing economic losses of 2020, the company cut almost 9,000 staff out of more than 250,000 employees, but the financial results for the first half of 2021 were still $52.3 million in the red. The government had refused to help the company financially. The situation had gotten so bad that on 30 July 30, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine 2021sked the Cabinet of Ministers to step in to stop financial practices that NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov called "dangerous to national security."
Ukrainian railway directly borders and cooperates with railways of Russia, Byelorussia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and ensures the work with 40 international railway cross-walks, and also serves 18 Ukrainian seaports of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov basin.
Ukraine’s operational railway network is one of the largest in Europe, stretching over 20,952 km, of which 9,926 km (47 %) are electrified. The rail system, which moves 60 % of the country’s total exports, is almost entirely outdated. The Ministry of Infrastructure estimates that 97 % of the rolling stock required modernization or replacement. In 2018, GE Transportation, Ukrainian Railways, and UkrExIm Bank signed the final contract for the purchase of 30 new U.S.-made locomotives and officially announced the agreement to the public.
Under this ten-year agreement, modernization and service of an additional 150 locomotives and supply of another 195 locomotives are planned. Also, certain work will be localized in Ukraine to further bolster job creation and economic development in the country. The deregulation of the freight wagon tariff component for the transport of goods by Ukrainian Railways’ owned rail cars has been carried out, creating a more equitable playing field for all enterprises. The draft law “On Railway Transport of Ukraine” introduces a new regulatory framework for the functioning of the industry (tariffs, rules for access to infrastructure, new market access procedures – licensing, security certification, locomotive driver access, etc.).
For a country of its size Ukraine’s railroad network is inadequate. At present the two major junctions in Ukraine are Kharkiv and Lviv, with eight railroad lines each. Kyiv, Bakhmach, Kupiansk, Yasynuvata, Pokrovsk, Korosten, Kovel, Shepetivka, Stryi, Ternopil, and Pomichna are five-line junctions. Many other important junctions are small towns, such as Koziatyn, or even villages, such as Hrebinka and Romodan. Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has only one terminal, which until 1933 was a wooden structure. Kharkiv has three terminals; Lviv, Odesa, Poltava, and Dnipro have two terminals each.
The first railroad line in Ukraine, built in 1861, connected Lviv, Cracow, and Vienna. Later the line was extended southward toward Chernivtsi, in Bukovyna (1866), and eastward to Brody and Pidvolochysk (1867–71). By the turn of the century nine lines had spread rapidly from Lviv, the largest rail center in Western Ukraine. The other main junctions, with five lines each, were Stanyslaviv, Stryi, and Ternopil. The first railroad in Russian-ruled Ukraine was built in 1865. It ran from Balta to Odesa. In 1868 it was extended to Yelysavethrad and from there through Kremenchuk to Kyiv (1872). By then Kyiv had been connected by rail to Moscow (1869). In the 1870s the Moscow–Kursk–Kharkiv line was extended south to Lozova, and then branched out to Rostov-na-Donu and Sevastopol.
In 1870 Kyiv was connected with Odesa through Zhmerynka and with Moscow through Konotop. In 1880 to 1890 numerous trunk lines were constructed to connect the Donets Basin with the Kryvyi Rih Iron-ore Basin and the newly established heavy-industry complexes at Katerynoslav and Oleksandrivske. By 1914 several other main lines, including the Mykolaiv–Bakhmach, Kyiv–Donbas, Kyiv–Warsaw, and Fastiv–Katerynoslav, were built. The railways in central and eastern Ukraine carried mostly wheat to the seaports for export and raw materials to the rapidly growing industry in the Dnieper region and in Russia. By 1913 Ukraine had approximately 15,600 km of rails, some of them double-track trunk lines. Lines were built without any general plans, so that some important cities, such as Radomyshl, Bobrynets, and Pereiaslav, were left without rail service. The physical plant, rolling stock, and carrying capacity of the railways were well below European standards. The Ukrainian-Soviet War (1917–21) destroyed much of the railroad network in Ukraine.
In the interwar period the Soviet regime built some lines that had been planned before the First World War, including the Kharkiv–Dnipropetrovsk–Kherson, Fastiv–Novohrad-Volynskyi–Zhytomyr, Chernihiv–Horodnytsia, and Pavlohrad–Hryshyne lines and several short links in the Vinnytsia and Kyiv regions serving the sugar industry. A number of short lines in the heavily industrialized Dnieper-Donets region were opened to relieve congestion on the trunk lines, such as Fedorivka–Snihurivka in the Kherson region, Vesele–Dniprorudne in the Zaporizhia region, Dolynska–Pomichna in the Kirovohrad region, Novomoskovsk–Dniprodzerzhynsk in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and Horlivka–Ocheretyne in the Donets Basin. Many of the new lines had a special purpose and were restricted to a certain industry or enterprise. Altogether about 4,000 km of track were added to Ukraine’s network.
During the Second World War over 9,200 km of track were destroyed. Ukraine’s railways returned to their prewar capacity only in 1948. No new lines were built; instead some old ones in the heavily populated areas of Western Ukraine were shut down. To stimulate trade with Western Europe the Lutsk–Ustyluh line was rebuilt in the 1980s.
Since the 1950s the railway network had been expanded and improved. Many trunk lines have been double-tracked, and approximately 7,800 km have been electrified. With the exception of some local lines, all lines use either electric or diesel power. Lines linking Ukraine with other republics of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and international lines, such as the Kyiv–Lviv–Chop, Koziatyn–Kovel, and Lviv–Odesa lines, are double-track and electrified. The heavily used Kyiv–Konotop trunk line is being rebuilt into a three-track main line. Modern tracks consisting of heavier rail (R-100 instead of R-50 or R-75), a solid ballast-type bed, concrete ties, and deep side ditches for drainage have a higher load capacity. Containers and longer cars with eight instead of four axles have been introduced. More powerful locomotives make it possible to pull heavier loads at higher speeds. By European standards train speeds are still quite low: the technical speed is approximately 55 km/hr, and sectional speed is 45 km/hr. Most locomotives used in Ukraine are built at its own locomotive works. Major repair shops are located in Luhansk, Popasna, Dnipro, Odesa, Lviv, and Stryi.
With minimal capital outlays Soviet railroads were run to the point of exhaustion. Whereas Western railroads require sizable government subsidies, Soviet railroads were profitable with an index of efficiency between 0.75 and 0.85. The Soviet Ukrainian system suffered less from obsolete or outdated rolling stock than from managerial incompetence. Infrequent train runs, empty freight runs, poor traffic distribution, and lower locomotive working time were the main sources of inefficiency. Suburban traffic had its own problems. The major one was the irregularity of traffic.
One potential source of upside risk is the growing involvement of China in the Ukrainian transport sector. The country is already a major source of investment into the Ukrainian infrastructure sector and continues to commit to new projects. For example, China Railway International Group (CRIG) and China Pacific Construction Group announced in May 2017 the companies have signed an agreement with Kyiv City State Administration to build the 16 km-long fourth subway line in the city in a $2 billion project. This was followed by news in late 2018 that CRIG had reportedly concluded a preliminary feasibility study for the project. Chinese lenders will fund 85% of the project’s cost, which will reportedly begin after the completion of the Podilsko-Voskresensky Bridge and will last for 60 months.
By May 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia was ready to provide free tickets to mothers of Russian soldiers who will come to collect the bodies of their children. The chairman of the board of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" Oleksandr Kamyshyn told about this in an interview with " Meduza ". "New types of activities have been added. For example, before the war, we did not store the bodies of Russian soldiers. Now we have 270 dead Russian soldiers - in refrigerator cars in various cities, where active hostilities were and are being conducted. Russians leave their own on the battlefields, and we burn 100 liters of diesel per car every day in order to store these bodies - to keep the temperature in the refrigerators. If the Russians don't need the bodies of their soldiers, can't we just take them and throw them away? We treat the Russian dead better than they do to us alive," Kamyshyn noted.
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