Inter In 2017, Ukrzaliznytsia plans to raise tariffs by 35%

Another ministry prepared a New Year's present for Ukrainians. The Ministry of Infrastructure met with the management of Ukrzaliznytsia and decided that a 35% increase in tariffs for passengers and a 25TP3T increase for freight transportation was justified. Now the Cabinet of Ministers has the final say. Read more in the story to find out whether Ukrainians will be happy with another increase.

Kyiv Railway Station. For many people, this is where Ukraine begins. Hundreds of different destinations and thousands of passengers every day. But the complaints are the same.

Ready or not, you will have to pay. Most likely. "Ukrzaliznytsia has submitted new tariffs to the Cabinet of Ministers. They are planned to be indexed in two stages by 16% in the first quarter of next year, and by the same amount at the end of 2017. However, it has not been revealed what the money will be spent on. The agency refused to give an interview and sent a written response. They said that everything was not so bad.

According to the calculations, the tariff change will increase the fare by an average of only 19.4%. Also, starting from January 2017, the fare for first and second class cars on Intercity trains will change by 10%.

In other words, in January, a ticket from Kyiv to Kharkiv may rise to two hundred and thirteen hryvnias, and a trip to Dnipro will cost the same amount. And from the capital to Lviv or Ivano-Frankivsk, it will cost about three hundred and thirty hryvnias.

The reason for this is inflation, the carriers say. They say that 90% rolling stock needs to be modernized, along with the roadbed and power grids. However, experts say that all this can be done without raising tariffs. Just by fighting corruption.

"We were exposing these scams, showing how the cost of maintenance, supplies, and so on is overstated many times over. 23.28 That is, in theory, approximately 20% of the railroad's expenses should have been a plus to the company's profit due to the implementation of anti-corruption mechanisms," said Viktor Medvid, director of the consulting firm.

And even if Ukrainians do start paying railroaders in a new way, it will not be possible to modernize rolling stock globally with their money, says Kava.

"This will take into account only inflationary aspects and will allow more money to be spent on rolling stock repairs and, possibly, allocate some money for the purchase of new railcars. All European countries, including Poland, annually date their railways. The total amount of subsidies to railways in the European Union reaches 75 billion a year," said Alexander Kava, a transport industry expert.

Whether or not to introduce new tariffs, the Cabinet of Ministers should put the matter to rest. The head of Ukrzaliznytsia, Wojciech Balczun, has already claimed "hysteria" in the media and suggested an open discussion next week. Together with MPs, experts and representatives of the relevant ministry. But consumers, traditionally, were again modestly forgotten.