UKRAINIAN Railways (UZ) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with logistics and wagon leasing company VTG that will see the two parties work together to develop intermodal services between Ukraine and Europe.
The MoU was signed during the Transport Logistic 2023 trade fair which took place in Munich last week.
According to UZ freight and logistics director, Mr Tymofii Murakhovskyi, regular intermodal services would offer shippers a number of advantages, including providing greater certainty over arrival times and cost as well as improving rail connections between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) overall.
UZ has established an intermodal subsidiary, Liski, and is now considering the introduction of intermodal services from Ukraine to Poland, Romania, Austria and Turkey.
During Transport Logistic, UZ also signed MoUs with Lithuanian Railways (LTG) and Laude Smart Intermodal of Poland. Joint efforts to develop new services were discussed during meetings between the UZ delegation and representatives of PKP Cargo, EP Logistics and Slovenian Railways (SŽ).
According to Mr Artem Khachaturyan, UZ’s permanent representative in Lithuania and the Baltic States, matters under discussion included adopting the variable-gauge wheelset technology developed by Spanish engineering consultancy Tria.
It is planned to establish an expert working group to assess the prospects for UZ’s EU partners to introduce this technology that would enable wagons to switch from 1520mm to 1435mm-gauge at the Ukrainian border.
