New CEO pledges to get Ukrzaliznystia on the right track

An old steam locomotive starts a trip from the central railway station in Kyiv on Nov. 4, 2018. In Ukraine, only one company controls all the rolling stock, infrastructure and railroad dispatching — state-owned Ukrzaliznytsia. Employing 250,000 people, the railway monopoly is one of the country’s largest enterprises, and it’s mired in corruption scandals and on the verge of bankruptcy. On top of that, the company did not have a permanent CEO for three years. Finally in August 2020, the government appointed Volodymyr Zhmak as Ukrzaliznytsia’s head. For Zhmak, 56, Ukrzaliznytsia is a “professional challenge.” He outlined his turnaround in a Kyiv Post interview.