In 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia transported about 1.4 million passengers to EU countries. This is a record figure for the last 10 years.
As the press service of the carrier reports, many Ukrainians were forced to go abroad because of the war. In particular, more than 600,000 people were evacuated by train to neighboring countries.
“Then the railway was the safest form of transport, and now it is the most convenient form of transport for traveling between home and place of temporary residence. In addition to evacuation, 1.4 million passengers were transported to and from EU countries last year. This is almost 10 times more than in 2021”, – Oleksandr Kamyshyn, chairman of the board of “Ukrzaliznytsia”, noted.
It is noted that the Kyiv-Warsaw flight remains the most popular international train. Ukrzaliznytsia receives more than 2,000 requests to buy tickets for this train per day through its online services, but its capacity is limited to 150 seats per flight.
“On this route, so-called international RIC wagons are used, the fleet of which is limited. Currently, Ukrzaliznytsia, together with Polish colleagues, is working on the issue of running ordinary Ukrainian wagons on the route, which are somewhat wider. The test run was successful, so it is expected that seats on this route will increase “, Kamyshyn added.
In total, in 2022, 16.9 million long-distance passengers were transported. Another 4 million passengers were evacuated.
News of Ukrzaliznytsia
As previously reported, on January 6, “Ukrzaliznytsia” received 100 powerful charging stations for smartphones, which will be installed at stations with the most significant passenger traffic.
On January 13, “Ukrzaliznytsia” launched a loyalty program for its passengers “Rail Friends”, under which every kilometer of travel will turn into a bonus.
On January 17, it became known that during the year all Intercity+ trains will switch to the Internet from Starlink. The Ministry of Digital Transformation team has already handed over 450 Starlink terminals to Ukrzaliznytsia. Another batch will be delivered next month.
In addition, on January 26, it became known that Ukrzaliznytsia, due to the enormous social burden and restrictions on freight transportation, expects losses of UAH 20.2 billion in 2023, but will not increase fares.