New Ukrzaliznytsia head advocates uniform freight tariff, privatization of non-core assets

The newly appointed chairman of the board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia Volodymyr Zhmak has said that it necessary to simplify and standardize tariffs for freight rail transportation.

"Aviation companies charge a fee regardless of what the plane is carrying, the cost is calculated according to the tariff per tonne-kilometer of transportation. So it should be in Ukrzaliznytsia for main rail sections. For ore, sand, crushed stone or computers – the cost should be based on the kilometer. For shunting is only a payment per tonne," he said in an interview with the Liga.Business portal.

According to him, business is also interested in the cargo arriving faster, since companies earn more money due to turnover than they save on cheap tariffs.

"The tariff per tonne-kilometer must be uniform. But it must be economically viable and calculated. Now Ukrzaliznytsia simply cannot calculate these tariffs, because the locomotives are at the disposal of the Directorate, the wagons are in another branch or they are private, or some other and they cannot draw up an economically viable cost. I want to create a group with the involvement of specialists to calculate the tariff," Zhmak said.

He said that he does not rule out that tariffs for a number of groups of goods will not decrease. Zhmak also announced the introduction of a discount on the volume of traffic for the uniform tariff.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua