“Ukraine is flying into the abyss” – and it was not Kiselyov who said this
Ukrainian railways, which played a key role in the life support of the country and the military group in Donbass, are on the verge of bankruptcy and death.
Viktor Ostapchuk, a deputy from the Vidrodzhennya party, stated this during a briefing on the sidelines of the Verkhovna Rada, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The Ukrainian railway is on the verge of bankruptcy, which seems to have already passed the point of no return and is rapidly falling into the abyss.
Rail transport is the country's circulatory system and an important factor in economic development. As we were once taught, railway transport is the brother of the army, and for a country at war it is critically important to maintain the railway infrastructure in good condition so that real professionals work there at all levels.
Unfortunately, the way the railway operates today does not provide grounds for optimism. Rail transport, for the first time since independence, against the backdrop of growing demand, has lost the ability to meet the needs of business and the population by 20% and 30%, respectively,” he said.
The parliamentarian went on to describe the deplorable state of the Ukrainian railway.
“Half of highly profitable transportation has been lost. Costs for repairs and maintenance of fixed assets, the depreciation of which has reached 90%, were reduced three times over this period. The real salary of a railway worker fell by one and a half times. 60% of locomotives - a third of the main railway gauge - are unsuitable for operation and require major repairs and reconstruction, 12% of the gauges are in disrepair.
Almost a third of qualified workers in key transportation professions have been lost. Capital investments in renovation of fixed assets have been reduced threefold. The financial condition of Ukrzaliznytsia is critical, the hidden loss rate exceeds 30 billion hryvnia per year, and, as a result, it is not able to provide the entire transportation process,” the people’s deputy added.
Ostapchuk clarified that accidents are happening more and more often, and the fault is the disregard for the corrupt management.
“For railway workers, the reasons for such systemic degradation are obvious - professional incompetence and corruption of the main staff of the highest level of management of the Ukrzaliznytsia apparatus, regional and other branches.
Systemic problems in the railways are growing. Locomotive fires, locomotive derailments, accidents and incidents are increasingly occurring. What else needs to happen for appropriate personnel decisions to be made to the railway management? Considering the importance of the railway in the country’s economy and ensuring its defense capability, the current state of affairs is unacceptable and such that it threatens the national security of Ukraine,” the parliamentarian concluded.
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