The Cabinet of Ministers approved the Roadmap for the Reform of Railway Transport

The roadmap is aimed at the gradual introduction of competition in the freight and passenger rail transportation market.

This was reported by the Ministry of Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport of Ukraine.

This is a sequence of changes necessary to form a competitive and transparent rail transportation market in Ukraine, its gradual integration into the European transport space and the approximation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law.

“Ukrainian railways today operate in conditions of full-scale war and remain critically important for defense logistics, evacuation of people, transportation of humanitarian cargo and support of the economy. Railway transport also plays a key role in forming a system of alternative routes for uninterrupted export and import. That is why railway transportation must remain stable even despite constant attacks by Russia on both infrastructure and rolling stock,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, Minister of Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport of Ukraine.

The phased reform should create a model in which the state establishes transparent rules for the functioning of the market and ensures independent control over their observance, and carriers compete among themselves in terms of quality, efficiency and ability to meet the needs of passengers and cargo owners.

Among the key areas of the reform:

• gradual opening of the freight and passenger transportation market to competition;

• transparent and non-discriminatory rules for access to railway infrastructure;

• transition to European safety, certification and interoperability requirements;

• a new model for organizing and financing socially important passenger transportation;

• transparent rules for tariff formation for access to infrastructure.

The ministry noted that further implementation of the reform will be carried out in accordance with the measures provided for in the Roadmap and will include, in particular, the adoption and entry into force of legislation on the organization of socially important passenger services by rail (PSO), as well as the development and adoption of necessary by-laws for the phased implementation of a new model of the railway market.