During the signing of the guarantee agreement between the EBRD and the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksii Kuleba noted that the relevant projects were aimed at modernising the railway infrastructure and increasing the resilience of Ukraine’s transport system as a whole.

“Thanks to the cooperation with the EBRD, we will start implementing two large and critically important programmes at once. The first is the renewal of Ukrzaliznytsia’s locomotive fleet, which is already beyond its service life. This has a direct impact on Ukraine’s export capacity, evacuation of the population and defence capability. The second is the construction of gas-fired power generation, which is currently in short supply due to the enemy’s terrorist attacks. It will partially cover the needs of the railway itself and other critical infrastructure facilities. The implementation of these initiatives will contribute to Ukraine’s sustainable development, increase its economic potential and integration into the European market. Thank you for your support and I look forward to fruitful cooperation in these important projects,” said Oleksii Kuleba.

The project “Participation of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia in the national distributed generation system” provides for a tranche of EUR 180 million for the construction of additional distributed generation facilities with a capacity of up to 270 MW. Thus, Ukrzaliznytsia will become the first state-owned company in the non-energy sector to commit to building a network of gas-piston power plants at its own locations. This will ensure decentralised generation of up to 270 MW by the start of the 2025/2026 heating season.

Ukrzaliznytsia will receive a loan of EUR 300 million as part of the electric locomotive fleet renewal project. The project will upgrade the fleet of dual-powered electric locomotives. The project will be financed by a parallel investment grant of USD 190 million under the Repairing Essential Logistics Infrastructure & Network Connectivity (RELINC) project administered by the World Bank.

“The signed agreements with the EBRD are the result of the hard work of the team of Ukrzaliznytsia, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development and the Ministry of Finance, which will allow us to implement specific and much-needed projects. First, to upgrade the fleet of electric locomotives, which is already critically worn out, with new modern dual-system locomotives. They will partially replace outdated electric locomotives and ensure timely delivery of goods on sections with different types of current. Secondly, we will build our own gas generation, a project to ensure our energy independence, which will allow us to operate in blackouts and transport passengers and cargo steadily, as well as support the national power grid. It is important that these two projects have a 100 per cent payback period and favourable financing terms,” concluded Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, Chairman of the Board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia.

It is important to note that the preparations for the signing of the agreements were carried out in record time: negotiations between the Government and the EBRD began in October, and final agreements were reached and signed in December. This quick turnaround was made possible by the coordinated work of the teams of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development and Ukrzaliznytsia at each stage of approval at the Government level. This, in turn, will allow to start implementing the projects next year, which is critical in the context of the electricity shortage.