Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov has publicly discussed the possibility of constructing a new $97 million (Hr 2.6 billion) rail line to Mariupol, cutting the journey time to Kharkiv by six hours.
He made the comment in a Facebook post on Sept. 3.
The project would involve rebuilding 18 kilometers and electrifying 46.5 kilometers of existing tracks, as well as laying 20 kilometers of new track on the Kyiv-Pokrovsk line to Mariupol.
At present, trains to Mariupol must make a long detour through the southern city of Zaporizhia, which adds several hours to the journey.
The current journey times from Mariupol are between 14 and 19 hours to Kyiv, and 14 hours to the eastern city of Kharkiv, located 337 kilometers away from Mariupol.
Kubrakov said that the ministry is also considering other solutions, without specifying which ones.
“We are currently studying and calculating the costs of various solutions which will decrease the travel time,” Kubrakov wrote.
Before 2014, Mariupol was connected to most of Ukraine’s major cities by the arterial railway line passing through the city of Donetsk, which, since April 2014, has been occupied by Russian-sponsored militants who stopped all rail traffic on the once-crucial route.
Kubrakov said that the new line could be funded by Ukrzaliznytsia’s recent increase in cargo transport tariffs.
In August, Ukrzaliznytsia began to gradually raise its cargo transport tariffs, which by Jan. 1, 2022, will be 30% higher for coal and iron ore, and 15% higher for agricultural products.
“Thanks to the resolution of Ukrzaliznytsia’s cargo tariff issues, the government now has the opportunity to update railway infrastructure with its own resources,” the minister added.
The tariff increases were opposed by energy company DTEK and metallurgy giant Metinvest, two large companies owned by Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov. They will pay an extra $157 million a year in total, according to Ukrzaliznytsia’s figures.
The ongoing war in Eastern Ukraine still affects rail travel: from Aug. 28 to Sep. 3, all passenger services to the frontline town of Avdiivka were halted due to separatist artillery bombardments landing dangerously close to the line.
