Ukrzaliznytsia postpones launch of Mukachevo-Budapest train to late 2018

Published Oct. 1, 2018 at 11:48 am

Former Ukrzaliznytsia CEO Yevgen Kravtsov speaks in the railway monopoly’s Kyiv headquarters on Feb. 14, 2018. Kravtsov officially resigned from his post on Jan. 29, after two and a half years at the job, amid bad press over mismanagement and corruption at Ukrzalisnytsia. Ukrzaliznytsia is regularly criticized for its obsolete and non-transparent organization that has allowed corruption to flourish. The dilapidated railway system is in dire need of modernization, experts say, and the government has often said that its modernization is a priority.

Photo by Kostyantyn Chernichkin

PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia plans to launch the Mukachevo-Budapest train by the end of this year and restore the Kyiv-Berlin train in 2019, acting Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov has said.

“I hope we can finish all the technical issues no later than the end of this year for the train to Budapest from Mukachevo,” he said during the presentation of the new Kyiv-Riga route last week.

Kravtsov said that the maximum will be done to launch the Kyiv-Berlin train next year.

As reported, Ukrzaliznytsia together with the Hungarian state railways MÁV-START planned to launch a direct train on the Mukachevo-Budapest route on the narrow gauge track before the end of the summer of 2018.

Ukrzaliznytsia is the main transportation company, carrying 82.4 percent of the total cargo traffic and almost 50 percent of the passenger flow in the country.