The UAC appealed to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Transport and Infrastructure Chairman Yurii Kisel with a call to intensify the process of consideration of bills aimed at reforming the railway industry of Ukraine. These are bills № 1196-1 “On Railway Transport of Ukraine” and № 3927 “On the National Commission for the State Regulation of Transport”. Inaction in this direction can lead to irreparable consequences for the state of railway transport in Ukraine.

Currently, there are many problems in the field of railway transport, and the current legislation contributes to the inefficient operation of the railway, "preserving" these problems, rather than solving them. In particular, the appeal contains a list of issues that need to be addressed immediately:

In Ukraine, one legal entity (JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia”) combines different segments of activity: provision of services of main freight locomotives within Ukraine, transportation of goods and passengers by public rail transport and provision of wagons within Ukraine. Considering the fact that income of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" is formed with cargo traffic (88% in 2019), this combination leads to the fact that incomes from cargo traffic are not spent on infrastructure development and cargo traffic, but to cover losses in the passenger segment.

Most of the railway infrastructure assets are worn out too critically, which negatively affects the cost, quality, speed and safety of rail transport. According to expert estimates, the cost of capital repairs postponed for future periods are more than UAH 40 billion. At the same time, the analysis of the information provided on the Unified State Web Portal of open data shows that in 2020 the situation has approached a critical limit and has significant signs of a threat to the security of critical infrastructure.

3) Currently JSC "Ukrazliznytsia" is the only carrier of goods with public railways in Ukraine. However, it cannot ensure the proper transportation of goods due to the critical shortage and wear of locomotives.

4) The current model of state regulation in the field of railway transport is inefficient due to the lack of an independent regulator, which contributes to the abuse of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" with the help of its monopoly position. This, in turn, limits the efficiency of railway transport and attracts of investment, as well as makes it impossible to form an economically sound tariff policy in the field of rail transport.

The appeal proposes to solve these problems through the implementation of the following measures:

• separation of organizational and financial functions of the infrastructure operator and the carrier;
• introduction of a new model of passenger transportation organization in order to stop the practice of cross-subsidization with freight transportation;
• introduction of an investment component in the tariff, ensuring transparent conditions for setting the tariff for infrastructure services and further use of funds exclusively for the maintenance and repair of infrastructure facilities;
• demonopolization of the locomotive traction market (creation of a proper legal framework and issuance of permits for the use of private traction on main tracks);
• formation of an independent regulator in the field of railway transport (national transport commission);
• ensuring non-discriminatory and equal access of carriers to the railway infrastructure at a regulated tariff.