Ukrainian Railways (UZ) has finalised the acquisition of 115 tank wagons equipped to run on standard gauge infrastructure.
The tender for this procurement was won by Slovakian rail rolling stock manufacturer Tatravagonka.
The tank wagons will be delivered to Transport Logistics Centre, UZ’s rail freight subsidiary.
The total cost of the deal is €12,569,500, meaning that each container costs roughly €109,000.
The deal will be funded through “funds from the economic activity of the enterprise”, as it was mentioned on Prozorro, a Ukrainian public electronic procurement system where state and municipal customers announce tenders.
The items will have to be delivered to Kyiv by the end of 2023.
Integrating Ukraine into EU railways
This initiative can be considered another step towards Ukraine’s integration into the European railway system, where rolling stock plays a crucial role.
To this end, the European Investment Bank recently highlighted that variable gauge rolling stock is not a viable option for the long run.
Moreover, Poland and Ukraine agreed to build a standard gauge railway line from Warsaw to Kyiv.
Ensuring efficient connections between Ukraine and Poland is vital in this day and age.
Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv has found itself isolated from the Baltic countries and Poland is currently the only way to reach them as well as the rest of Europe.