“A balancing act” to evacuate refugees, says the boss of the Ukrainian railways
Ukrainian Railways is engaged in “a real balancing act” to transport refugees to the country attacked by Russia, said Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of the public company UZ, in an interview with the French specialized magazine Rail Life.
“By March 11, we will have transported 2 million people”explains Mr. Pertsovskyi. “This figure remains approximate because at the moment our trains carry 4 to 5 times more than their capacity. As we have stopped our ticketing system, we are boarding as many people as possible on the trains”he adds. “The trains are full in one direction. In the other direction, they are filled with food and materials »he underlines, noting that the drop in freight traffic has made it possible to recover more powerful locomotives.
Regarding the state of the rails, the boss of the Ukrainian railways believes that “90% of the rail network is intact despite some destroyed bridges”. “Five or six major stations are no longer accessible, such as Mariupol or Mykolaiv”he adds. “But we can bypass damaged tracks and equipment with alternative routes. In this case, the refugees board buses that take them to accessible stations. » If the main axis towards Russia, in the east, “no longer accessible”the one to Western Europe still is, but “is attacked on several fronts”he notes.
Trains were destroyed near the Belarusian border where a fuel depot was attacked, he describes. “North of Mariupol, trains were waiting, ready to evacuate refugees. But the shelling was so intense that they couldn’t leave. And the network has been damaged. Fortunately, no one died in the attack.says Oleksandr Pertsovskyi again.