Ukrainian Railways to speed up its own grain carriers from Nov 1

MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax) - Ukrainian Railways will change the average speed of movement for its own grain carriers starting on November 1 to increase their competitiveness on the freight transportation market, Ukrainian media reported on Thursday, citing a statement by Valery Tkachev, deputy director of the Ukrainian Railways commercial operations department, at a meeting with grain market participants.

The following speeds will be used for the grain carriers moving to the port stations: for carload shipments - 111 km/day (the current rate is 50 km/day), and for route shipments - 253 km/day (against the current 138 km/day).

The traffic of grain carriers towards western border checkpoints will also be accelerated. The average speed will increase from 50 to 61 km/day for group shipments and from 50 to 187 km/day for route shipments.

The average speed of grain carriers traveling in domestic and international traffic has been revised. For freight shipments, the indicator will be 57 km/day against the current 50 km/day, and for route shipments - 128 km/day (currently 118 km/day).

As expected, thanks to these changes, Ukrainian Railways' carriages will increase their competitive advantages on the grain transportation market.