| Rail network in Ukraine | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Operation | |||||
| National railway | Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) (Ukrainian Railways) | ||||
| Statistics | |||||
| Ridership | 53.7 million (2014, Ukrzaliznytsia only)[1] | ||||
| Freight | 443.222 megatonnes (436,222,000 long tons; 488,569,000 short tons) (2013, Ukrzaliznytsia only)[1] | ||||
| System length | |||||
| Total | 21,640.4 kilometres (13,446.7 mi)[1] | ||||
| Electrified | 9,878 kilometres (6,138 mi)[1] | ||||
| Track gauge | |||||
| Main | 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)[1] | ||||
| Features | |||||
| No. stations | 1,447[1] | ||||
| |||||
Rail transport in Ukraine is a majortransport mode in Ukraine. Most railway infrastructure in Ukraine is owned by thegovernment of Ukraine throughUkrzaliznytsia (PublicJSC 'Ukrainian Railways'), ajoint-stock company which has a de facto country-wide monopoly on passenger and freight transport by rail.
The first railway tracks were constructed in present-day western Ukraine byAustria-Hungary, but most lines were built under theRussian Empire orthe Soviet Union, resulting in a track web dominated by1520 mm gauge railways. Part of the rail network ineastern Ukraine was privatized in the late 1990s, creating the biggest private railway company in the country,Lemtrans, which focuses on freight transport. Since the outbreak of theRusso-Ukrainian War in 2014, intensified by the February 2022 full-scaleRussian invasion of Ukraine, major parts of the Ukrainian rail network have been occupied by Russia-aligned military forces, while the Ukrainian government and Ukrzaliznytsia have undertaken considerable efforts to repair and transform the network for better vital logistical connections with theEuropean Union (which mostly hasstandard-gauge railways) andMoldova.
For more information, see:
On 24 September 1991, following the resolution of theVerkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) on separation from theSoviet Union, all railroad administration was temporarily passed to the South-Western Railways. According to the resolution, all assets located within the borders of the formerUkrainian SSR became property ofUkraine. To improve efficiency a special centralized administration was created. On 14 December 1991 theCabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued declaration No. 356"In creation of the State Administration of Railroad Transportation in Ukraine" which proclaimed Ukrzaliznytsia a government body in administration railroad transportation uniting the six state railroad companies.[3]
At the outbreak of theRusso-Ukrainian War in 2014, the Russian Federation annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, while large parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts were seized by Russia-backed separatists, severely disrupting rail transport throughout southern and eastern Ukraine.
As of 2015 the Ukrainian government transformed the railways into apublic joint-stock company namedUkrainian Railways (Ukrainian:Ukrainska Zaliznytsia).[4]
The 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine showed the crucial role of railways in both civilian and military logistics in the area. Given the lack of roads passable duringrasputitsa and the Russian lack of vehicles capable of off-road operation, logistics relied heavily on rail transport. Railway nodes became an important target of Russian attacks to maintain their own supply lines and disrupt those of Ukraine.[5] At the same time, Ukraine's exports and imports were shifted even more to rail than in peacetime as Russia captured or cut off many importantBlack Sea ports that usually handle a large share of Ukraine's external trade.[6] Railways were crucial in transporting refugees and European governments, and state railways organized special trains for humanitarian aid to and from Ukraine.[7] As airports were targets of Russian attacks and/or Ukrainian counter-attacks, trains were also used for diplomatic visits by foreign heads of state and government.[8]
Due to the Russian invasion, many of the country's Black Sea ports were blocked, prompting a crisis in the export of agricultural products that were normally shipped. Railway freight has become the most viable alternative, but the Ukrainian railway network has not been able to cope with the demand, mainly because of the railwaybreak-of-gauge between Ukraine's Soviet-era1520 mm gauge railways and thestandard-gauge railway (1435 mm) of states west of its borders has created bottlenecks attransloading stations.[9][10] On 7 April 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia reported that 10,320wagons (about half of the total) were waiting at theUstyluh (Izov)–Hrubieszów border crossing on theLinia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa line, the main railway connection between Ukraine and Poland and the longest 1,520 mm gaugerailway of Poland.[9]
Efforts to quickly increase rail freight capacity have been launched, including construction of new large transloading stations nearMostyska and elsewhere, mainly in Poland.[10] As of 12 April 2022, the Mostyka station was planned to be completed by June 2022, with a transloading capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes of grain per month by July, and 100,000 tonnes by September.[10] Additional challenges included the need to increase the number of wagons, appropriate permits to let Ukrainian wagons ride in EU territory, and to increase the capacity of EU ports (such asGdańsk,Hamburg andRotterdam) that would have to take over the shipping role of the blocked Black Sea ports.[10]
Some railway stations have been damaged due to the war.[11]
By October 2022, operations were underway to repair damaged railway infrastructure, while mines were cleared and unexploded ordnance were defused or safely detonated and removed.[12] The railways had proven to serve an essential role for Ukrainian military, cilivian and humanitarian logistics, and the recapture of Russian-occupied train tracks seriously disrupted the logistics of invading forces.[12] Ukrainian Railways was also in the process of planning the replacement of its1,520 mm gauge with the 1,435 mmstandard-gauge railway for future integration with theEuropean Union's rail network.[12]
In early February 2022 (just before the Russian invasion began), upon returning from a visit to Poland, Infrastructure MinisterOleksandr Kubrakov, his deputyMustafa Nayyem and Ukrzaliznytsia CEOOleksandr Kamyshin announced that Ukraine and Poland had agreed that ahigh-speed rail link would be built between Kyiv and Warsaw throughYahodyn railway station,[13] reducing travel times by four hours. Ukrzaliznytsia also decided to remove all restrictions on rail transit to Poland beginning on 10 February 2022.[14][15] After the Russian invasion caused a lot of damage to Ukrainian railway and airport infrastructure, the Polish government in October 2022 offered to help Ukraine's post-war reconstruction, as well as adding an extra high-speed rail link betweenLublin andLviv throughZamość andBełżec.[13]
Since the 2010s, and especially since the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, much urge has been given to plans to build new standard-gauge connections between the largest cities and EU countries, and switch over parts of the Ukrainian network from 1,520 mm to standard gauge.[16] Although switching the entire network over quickly would not be realistic, the construction or renewal of standard-gauge border crossings were deemed viable options to be prioritised.[16]
In February 2021, plans were drafted by the Ministry of Infrastructure for building four standard-gauge sections with a total length of 2,000 km, with a top train speed of over 250 km/h.[16] The first and longest of these would be a 896 km-long track between Kyiv and Lviv, onwards to the Ukrainian-Polish border.[16] The plans also included standard-gauge rail betweenChernivtsi andSiret, Romania.[16] Restoration of theMostyska-1 toRodatychi standard-gauge track is under discussion.[16]
Following the October 2022 European Union decision to extend the EUTEN-T system, in June 2023 it was agreed for passenger transport to bring a European Standard gauge line from Poland to Kyiv via Lviv.[17]
Other planned TEN-T European standard lines include:
A long-term plan is to turn Lviv into a European standard rail hub, but that major project would have to be performed in several smaller stages.[19]
In July 2023, the European Commission published the "Strategy for the EU integration of the Ukrainian and Moldovan rail systems".[20] A principal conclusion and recommendation of the study is to develop a new backbone Standard gauge network in Ukraine, to be operated in conjunction with the existing 1520mm network. The new backbone network would focus on higher speed intercity transportation, while the 1520mm system would cater for lower-speed transport (local and regional passenger traffic and heavy bulk).[20] The development of the backbone network would be implemented in a phased manner, from West to East.[20]
In April 2024, Ukraine commenced building the Standard gauge track betweenChop andUzhhorod (22 km).[21] After its completion in September 2025, Uzhhorod became the first administrative center (oblast capital) of Ukraine connected to the EU by the standard gauge.[22][21]
In July 2025, the Ukrainian Railways announced that the EU committed the funding for the Standard gauge track from Poland to Lviv.[23]
Because of the difference in gauges, most of Ukraine's rolling stock cannot move across standard gauge rail into neighbouring countries to its west, namely Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania.[16] Although replacing thebogies would make wagons compatible with most Romanian and Bulgarian railways, '[Ukrainian] grain wagons have a width of 3,224 mm, while the maximum allowable one in many European countries is 3,150 mm, and the axle load of [Ukrainian] wagons is up to 23.5 tons with the maximum allowable 18–20 tons in many neighboring countries. Therefore, in Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland, basically only European wagons can be used.'[16] Specialised freight fleets atKovel railway station compatible with the European network can move across Ukraine's longest standard-gauge track into Poland, but as of 2022 had not been in use for almost 30 years.[16]
Since 2010s efforts have been undertaken to make several Poland-Ukraine connections fully operational again, includingKhyriv -Przemyśl andKhyriv -Sanok. Both have a combined dual gauge 1435/1520mm track.[20]
In 2019, the Košice (Slovakia) to Mukachevo (Ukraine) passenger service was opened.[24]
In August 2022, a previously abandoned link betweenBasarabeasca (Moldova) andBerezyne (Ukraine) was rebuilt and reopened.[25][26]
In October 2022 the border crossing fromRakhiv south toValea Vișeului railway station in Romania (closed in 2011[27]) was reopened.[28]
In 2023 atTeresva a fourth rail connection between Ukraine and Romania opened.[29]
The first freight train in 25 years travelled on the Basarabeasca-Berezino line from Moldova in April 2023, the line having been recently renovated by a joint Moldova/Ukrainian team in just over a month. This line reopens an historic connection between Ukraine and Romania and bypasses Transnistria.[30]
In October 2023, the Warsaw – Rava-Ruska connection was extended toBriukhovychi (just northwest of Lviv), and in November 2023 the new connectionChop –Prague was opened, thus adding two more standard-gauge rails from Ukraine to Poland and Czechia, respectively.[19]
Railways in Ukraine use various gauge types. The broad gauge (1,520 mm), a legacy of Imperial Russian and Soviet times, dominates the landscape, andnarrow-gauge railways (750 mm) also exist, but plans are being made to construct, restore or switch to more standard-gauge railways (1,435 mm) for better train connections with the rest of Europe.[16] About half of railways in Ukraine are electrified (some of which have been damaged during the ongoingRusso-Ukrainian War and temporarily switched to diesel trains).[31]
The total length of Ukrainian rails of all gauges was 28,000 kilometres at the end of 1997.[32] Around January 2022, the length of railways in Ukraine was 19,790 km in broad-gauge 1520 mm (excluding those located in temporarily occupied territory), about 350 km in standard-gauge 1435 mm, and about 400 km in narrow gauge 750 mm.[32]
As of 2020, the total length of the main broad-gauge (1,520 mm) railroad network was 19,787 kilometres (12,295 mi).[31]
As of May 2022, Ukraine had many stretches of standard gauge rail, although several had not been used for decades.[16] Thec. 80-kilometre-long railroad fromKovel railway station to Yahodyn railway station near the Ukrainian–Polish border was the longest standard-gauge track in Ukraine at the time;[16] in May 2021, Ukrainian Railways started electrifying and modernising this route.[33] Specialised freight fleets at Kovel station compatible with the European network had not been in use for almost 30 years, however.[16] FromChop toMukachevo and to the railway station atNevetlenfolu (Diakovo) in Zakarpattia, large sections of rail track are of European width as well.[16]
Various750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge railways operate inUkraine ascommon carrier,industrial railway orchildren's railways.
Belarus: same gauge, 1520mm broad. Closed and largely destroyed due to theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[citation needed]
Hungary:Break-of-gauge:1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Moldova: same gauge, 1520mm broad.
Poland. As of July 2023, there wereseven railway crossings on the Polish-Ukrainian border.[36]
Romania:Break-of-gauge:1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)[28] As of July 2023, there were 6 border crossings between the two countries.[39]
Russia: same gauge, 1520mm broad. Closed and largely destroyed due to theRussian invasion of Ukraine, but the occupied Crimea was re-connected by RZD viabridge since 2019,[41] as well as wereLuhansk throughKherson since 2023,[42] they are cut from any Ukrainian Railways networks as being controlled by the so-calledRailways of Novorossiya.
SlovakiaIn 2020, there were 1,402 stations.[31] Prior to the intensifiedUkrainian derussification after the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine there were still renaming railway stops whose names indicate the distance toMoscow.[45]
TheBeskydy Tunnel was inaugurated in May 2018, serving as the most important rail link between Ukraine and thepan-European railway network, handling 60% of Ukraine-EU freight traffic. The project was supported by theEuropean Union, theEuropean Investment Bank (EIB), and theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).[46] The new tunnel more than doubles the output on the line, to 100 trains from the previous 45, and allows a speed increase from 40 km/h to 70 km/h.[47]
In 2021 the electrification of the track sectionVasylkiv 1 –Vasylkiv 2 is planned, which will enable the launch of electric suburban rail between Kyiv andVasylkiv. The project involves the reconstruction of theBoyarkaelectrical substation, track works and a new passenger platform.[48]
In 2021, the line betweenZhytomyr andZviahel is planned to be modernized and electrified.[48][49]
The project envisages the electrification of the 30 km section between Taras Shevchenko (Smila) andCherkasy stations, which is the only non-electrified section between Cherkasy andKyiv. The project will enable the launch of INTERCITY+ services between Kyiv and Cherkasy, reducing travel time from 3 hours 41 minutes to 2 hours and 45 minutes.[50] Ukrainian Railways plans to carry out service usingSkoda City Elephant EJ675 double decker electric multiple units.[51]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Rail transport in Ukraine" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Rail transport used formass transit is usually administered by local government, typically city authorities; this includes trams, subway (metro), funicular and others. There are rapid transit systems inKyiv,Kharkiv andDnipro as well as tram systems among which theKryvyi Rih Metrotram contains underground sections.[citation needed]
In mountainous regions various narrow gauge railways are owned and operated privately, sometimes in the form ofheritage railways.[citation needed]
| Regional branches |  | |
|---|---|---|
| ||
