The former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Aleksandr Kava stated that the cancellation of trains to Russia will lead not only to multimillion losses for Ukraine, but also to 5,000 Ukrainian families being left without a source of income. He reported this during an interview to the “NewsOne” TV channel.
According to Kava, trains to Russia bring rather good profit to Ukraine, while transportation inside Ukraine is unprofitable.
“Those trains that travel on routes between the cities of Ukraine and Moscow operate on an interstate tariff, which is much higher than an internal tariff. Over the past 6 months the net profit from transportation between Ukraine and Russia totalled nearly 180 million hryvnia. Internal transportation involves much lower tariffs and bring a loss to ‘Ukrzaliznytsa‘. The income from 285 wagons travelling between Ukraine and Russia is equal to the income from 2,500 wagons that travel internally,” said Aleksandr Kava.
Kava also explained that although the distance between Kiev and Uzhgorod and Kiev and Moscow is almost identical, a ticket for a compartment on the train “Kiev-Uzhgorod” costs from 220 to 500 hryvnia, depending on the travel class, and “Kiev-Moscow” – from 3,300 to 3,800 hryvnia.
“If transportations between Ukraine and Russia stop, ‘Ukrzaliznytsya’ will be forced to dismiss 5,000 employees in different corners of Ukraine and to deprive 5,000 families of a source for income,” added the former deputy minister.