Ukrainian Railways posts UAH 7.2 bln in losses in Jan-Sept 2025, proposes increasing freight tariffs by 41.5%

MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Railways can no longer subsidize unprofitable passenger transportation at their expense due to the losses of 49% of freight traffic in 2021-2025, proposes raising freight tariffs by 41.5% next year in two stages and asks for budget support, the company's Supervisory Board deputy head Sergei Leshchenko was quoted by Ukrainian media as saying.

"The net losses for the past nine months stood at UAH 7.195 billion, the losses of passenger [traffic] last year amounted to UAH 18 billion. The indexation of freight tariffs cannot be avoided, but it must be done gradually, so that there are no shocks in the industry, in two stages," he said from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada, where he was summoned by parliament members.

"We need to at least index producers to the growth rate [of prices]. This could bring UAH 22.5 billion if we do it next year from January 1 and July 1 - by 27.5% and 11%, [respectively]," Leshchenko said.

He said that UAH 16 billion of budget assistance is being discussed in 2026 to compensate for the passenger traffic's losses, and the company is very grateful that there is a willingness to support this with the government's decision.

Leshchenko mentioned that it was decided this year to send UAH 13 billion to Ukrainian Railways to compensate the passenger traffic's losses.

He also said that, for its part, the company could also receive up to an additional UAH 10 billion through the sale of scrap metal.

As reported, the draft state budget for 2026 plans UAH 4.2 billion for the development of urban passenger transport in Ukrainian cities, and UAH 1.2 billion for retrofitting the railways. Additionally, UAH 1.8 billion is provided to fund the implementation of a joint project with the French government for the supply of rails to Ukrainian Railways.

The Ukrainian Railways export shipments decreased 13.5% to 38.7 million tonnes in January-June 2025, domestic shipments down 11.7% to 35.5 million tonnes, while import shipments increased 5.4% to 5.3 million tonnes.

Passenger traffic went up 1.2% to 13.52 million in the first half of 2025.

According to the Ukrainian Railways expectations, which were presented in the draft state budget for 2026, the losses from passenger transportation in 2025 totaled UAH 20.8 billion, UAH 22.3 billion in 2026, UAH 24.7 billion in 2027 and UAH 29.4 billion in 2028. At the same time, the company forecasts a sharp fall in profits from freight transportation in 2025 to UAH 0.9 billion, a moderate increase in 2026 to UAH 9.0 billion, to UAH 12.6 billion in 2027 and to UAH 19.3 billion in 2028.

According to the results of the company's performance in 2024, the losses in the passenger transportation segments edged up by UAH 2.4 billion, or 15.4%, to UAH 18.1 billion, the source of its coverage was the profit from the freight transportation segment, which amounted to UAH 20.4 billion.

Overall, in 2024, Ukrainian Railways raised revenue by 11.1% to UAH 102.87 billion, but posted net losses of UAH 2.71 billion versus a net profit of UAH 5.04 billion in 2023.