Ukrainian infrastructure minister: Railway connection with Russia unlikely to be closed

Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Omelyan supports the complete cessation of railway communication with Russia, but no trains will be canceled so far.

“I see that a political decision is unlikely to be made, although we support it,” Omelyan said in an interview with LIGA.net, when asked whether it is planned to cancel the railway communication with Russia in the near future.

He admits that this destination is in demand but to a lesser extent than before, and the occupancy rate of cars is constantly decreasing.

“Last year, for the first time in the history of Ukraine, the number of trips by rail to the EU countries exceeded the number of trips to the Russian Federation. Therefore, it would be reasonable to decrease the number of trains running to the Russian Federation,” Omelyan said.

As of year-end 2018, the passenger flow to Russia fell by 15%, from Russia - by 16%. Last year, minister Omelyan said that Ukraine was going to stop railway communication with Russia.

ol