The government plans to allocate 13 billion UAH for the support of Ukrzaliznytsia in 2025. Additionally, in 2026, the company will receive another 16 billion, as reported by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko during a press conference.
"All 16 billion represents the difference between ticket prices and their actual cost," she noted.
This year, there is a significant imbalance: the income from freight transportation provided by the company does not cover the losses from passenger transportation, the cost of which is significantly higher than current prices.
"For example, a ticket to Kherson costs about 200 UAH, while its actual cost is four times greater," Svyrydenko explained.
The company suffered the largest losses in transporting metallurgy and coal, stated the chairman of Ukrzaliznytsia, Oleksandr Pertsovsky. Previously, these categories constituted 60% of the company's freight volume.
"We lost more than half of the freight volume due to the approaching front," said Pertsovsky.
Currently, long-distance operations of Ukrzaliznytsia bring in 7 billion UAH in revenue, while the company's expenses total 20 billion UAH, including salaries and electricity. The state compensates the difference of 13 billion UAH.
These funds come from taxpayers, which is why Ukrzaliznytsia proposed the support program "UZ-3000", offering each Ukrainian free travel for 3000 kilometers on domestic routes.
"This program is being launched alongside the start of a systematic compensation for the actual cost of passenger transportation, which will improve the situation for the railway and maintain travel accessibility for all Ukrainians," emphasized Oleksandr Pertsovsky.
On November 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he had instructed the development of a transportation support program, under which Ukrzaliznytsia proposed to allow Ukrainians to travel 3,000 kilometers by train within Ukraine for free.