Hyundai Rotem’s high-speed trains arrived in Ukraine with much fanfare last spring ahead of the Euro 2012 football championship, which Ukraine co-hosted with Poland. But problems with them seemed to arise faster than their Kyiv-Kharkiv route time.
The 10
trains, purchased for about $30 million each, have experienced power outages,
breakdowns, schedule and ticket price changes and more, all of which have been widely parodied in YouTube videos and mocked in photo memes.
Government
statements have been even harsher, with President Viktor Yanukovych telling
reporters the purchase was a misstep.
“A
serious mistake was made during the (the Euro 2012) preparations. I mean the
infamous Hyundai trains. While they coped with their tasks in summer (during
the football tournament), they showed their complete unpreparedness for the
Ukrainian winter,” Yanukovych said in an interview with a local newspaper.
Prime
Minister Mykola Azarov was even tougher, saying the state would favor a local
train maker for future purchases.
“Kriukov Car Building Works built a train that is not better and not
worse than Hyundai, which runs on our railways today. We will never buy Hyundai
again,” the prime minister said.
This
criticism was printed in the Kyiv Post and other media. So it was with some
hesitation that Yansuk Choi, general director for Hyundai Rotem in Ukraine,
accepted the Kyiv Post’s request for an interview.
Over tea
at his office on Bohdana Khmelnytskoho Street one April afternoon, Choi
discussed what he called “technical issues” with the trains – especially during
the cold winter months – but he wasn’t so quick to take responsibility for
them.
“We have
solved the technology issues and we’re modernizing – 100 percent of the trains
are being repaired and modernized. This will be finished in May, as promised to
the Ukrainian government,” he said.
Choi
suggested that Ukraine’s tracks, many of which are in poor condition, are
partly to blame. He added that Hyundai is consulting with the Ukrainian
government and engineers on how to properly modernize the tracks.
Cold
weather and ice was partly to blame, Choi claimed. “The climate in Ukraine is
very special. (The Hyundai trains) automatically stopped and turned to
emergency situation (when the tracks were frozen), which meant there was no
electricity,” he explained.
In such
cases batteries on board should keep the power on for around one hour, he
added. But more often than not, the electricity went out in a matter of
minutes.
The
reason?
“We
didn’t fully train the Ukrainian conductors,” Choi said. “Before operation,
batteries must be charged at the depot. Often they weren’t charged before
departing. This was our fault.”
Choi
also noted that the French batteries used in the Hyundai trains originally may
not have been the best choice, as they didn’t hold up as well as planned under
the extreme summer heat and frosty winter weather.
Looking
for a better alternative while also moving to appease the Ukrainian government,
the company is now changing from the French batteries to Ukrainian-made, which
he noted are currently being tested and should better endure the varying
temperature changes. In early tests the batteries also lasted nearly five-times
longer than the French ones.
According
to Choi, the power outages were also due to ridged pantographs, the arms mounted on the rooftops of the trains to collect power through contact with
overhead catenary wires. Because of their stiffness, the arms could not always make lasting contact with those
wires. In one incident, a Hyundai train’s pantograph ripped down hundreds of
meters of overhead wire and tore apart its rooftop electrical equipment when it
failed to bend to an approaching set of wires.
As for
its potential competitor, Kharkiv-based Kriukov Car Building Works, which Prime
Minister Azarov said could deliver the same quality at lower cost, Choi said he
welcomed competition as a driver of improvement.
For now,
however, the relationship seems mostly about collaboration, with Hyundai
contracting Kryukiv for some of the repairs on its trains.
Other
repairs and upkeep on the Hyundai trains are happening at a repair depot in the
Darnytsa region of Kyiv, where some 40 Korean engineers are working with about
50 Ukrainian engineers to modernize them.
Choi
stressed that the Hyundai trains, designed in accordance with government
specifications, were the first high-speed trains of their kind in Ukraine and
issues were bound to arise.
He did
mention that Hyundai had tried its hand at a marketing campaign here in Ukraine
in hopes of turning the tide of public opinion in the company’s favor, but was
tight-lipped about the specifics.
Part of
that might have been a ceremony in March, during which Choi awarded the
one-millionth passenger of the Hyundai trains a Hyundai Accent sedan.
“I
believe everyone is satisfied with the quality of our cars. We hope they will
be satisfied with the quality of our trains,” Choi said.
Despite
the remarks of the president and prime minister, Choi and Hyundai Rotem remain
optimistic Ukraine will look to the company again for its high-speed trains,
which he said are among the best in the world and speak for themselves.
The
company hopes others will also be pleased, as Hyundai Rotem would like to
extend to neighboring countries. Hyundai Rotem currently has a train factory in
Turkey, and is crossing its fingers Poland as well as other Central European
countries will take notice of its successes there, despite its “issues” here.
Ukraine
was a sort of test for the company, he said. While there have been some low
points during that test, Hyundai “will always get better,” Choi said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Christopher J. Miller can be
reached at [email protected], or on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.
