BREAKING: PKP and Ukrainian Railways take their cooperation to a new level

foto: PKP Polskie Koleje Państwowe/BREAKING: PKP and Ukrainian Railways take their cooperation to a new level

22 / 09 / 2022

The extremely difficult time for Ukraine has raised the long-term cooperation between PKP and Ukrzaliznytsia to a whole new level. Yesterday, during the largest railway exhibition in Europe, InnoTrans in Berlin, the companies announced their intention to continue and expand cooperation. During this year's exhibition, Ukrzaliznytsia is an honoured guest of the PKP Group stand.

Efficient and safe railway transport is one of the elements of the country's security, and in times of war, it plays an extremely important role. Ukrzaliznytsia has demonstrated this by evacuating refugees from threatened areas and providing supplies to the army and humanitarian transport.

The importance of the railway in difficult times was also proved by the PKP Group companies, which in the first days of the Russian aggression against Ukraine joined the assistance to Ukrainian citizens and the state, providing railway stations for the operation of aid points and allowing free travel on the trains of the national carrier PKP Intercity, which were used by more than 2.3 million Ukrainians.

For all key companies of PKP Group, the recent events were a difficult test, which the railway industry in Poland withstood very well. Cooperation between Polish and Ukrainian railways has significantly intensified.

The war in Ukraine has actualized completely new challenges for the railway sector and a new view on the importance and scale of this type of transport, which has become one of the most important logistics tools.

The events of recent months have led to cooperation between PKP Group and Ukrzaliznytsia on an unprecedented scale.

Since the second quarter of the year, there has been a steady increase in cargo volumes on the Polish-Ukrainian railway borders, especially when it comes to grain imports to the EU.

"Recently, we have also noted an increased interest in the implementation of investments on the Polish-Ukrainian border, in terms of creating new infrastructure to increase the transport of food products. These investments can stimulate economic growth both in Poland and Ukraine, as well as create new prospects for cooperation with PKP S.A. It is because the company manages the real estate included in the logistics package. The interest from the market is already obvious," said Krzysztof Mamiński, CEO of PKP S.A.

"On June 3, 2022, the European Union made a historic decision - to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for European Union membership. It means that we are accelerating the process of building sustainable relations with European companies. Transparent and mutually beneficial. The railway can become decisive in this process - a kind of integrator of Ukraine into the European Union. Now, thanks to cooperation with the Polish side, we are increasing the capacity of our transhipment terminals. But the main thing we need now is to find the right vision of the future architecture of European railways. Thinking over this potential architecture, it is important to keep in mind that the railway infrastructure of Poland and Ukraine is more than 40 thousand kilometres of tracks connecting the Black and Baltic Seas," said Oleksandr Kamyshin, CEO of Ukrzaliznytsia.

Today at the InnoTrans exhibition in Berlin, Polish State Railways S.A. and JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" signed a joint statement on the development, continuation and strengthening of cooperation to promote further development of economic relations between Poland and Ukraine. In the joint statement signed today, the companies expressed interest in continuing beneficial cooperation in the development of railway transport systems in both countries as an important part of the European transport system.

They also stressed the importance of the changes taking place in the structure of the railway markets of Poland and Ukraine as a result of the ongoing military actions. PKP S.A. and Ukrzaliznytsia emphasize the need for dialogue on decisions on the functioning of the railway market, institutional and organizational changes, as well as financing of railway transport.

Within the framework of cooperation, the parties will hold periodic consultations on the development of railway transport and take measures to transform the railway systems of Poland and Ukraine.

The areas of cooperation will focus, among others, on strengthening and developing active cooperation in all areas of railway transport between PKP and Ukrzaliznytsia.

Source: PKP Polskie Koleje Państwowe Press Releases