More than 200 companies have signed an "Antimemorandum" on the inexpediency of the proposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine program to upgrade railway wagons for 2022-2028.

This is an opinion of the leading shipping companies in response to the memorandum announced by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Railways of Ukraine with wagons-building plants and banks who support the draft order on the procedure for extending the service life of railway wagons. The memorandum proposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Railways of Ukraine is unilateral and does not reflect the position of shippers, who are a large part of Ukraine's economy.

"Representatives of the leading sectors of Ukraine's economy, represented by metallurgical, byproduct coke making, coal agricultural enterprises, mining and processing plants, producers of construction materials and chemical products, as well as rolling stock operators on behalf of thousands of teams agreed to cooperate to prevent a crisis in Ukraine," is mentioned in the document.

The participants of the memorandum registered their position: a balanced approach to the issue, which will include:

• gradual renewal of the wagons fleet without creating a deficit;
• strengthening control over scheduled repairs of wagons to ensure traffic safety.

Currently, the draft order proposes to send 43% of the working wagons for scrap by 2028 (about 75 thousand units, which will cost businesses UAH107 billion), which will lead to a persistent long-term deficit in the wagon market.

This threatens problems with shipment of products, increases transport costs, reduces traffic, which will negatively affect Railways of Ukraine – jobs reduction in industries and agriculture, reduced foreign exchange earnings and state budget revenues, another negative moment in Ukraine's investment attractiveness.

The full text of the memorandum and its signatories can be found here

We will remind, the UAC Chairman Andrii Dykun in the comment noted that writing off wagons because of the age - the lobbying scheme which will cause catastrophe in the transportation market.