The Global Ukraine Rail Task Force has visited Kyiv, Ukraine to mark a €130,000 ($141,000) donation to the Trade Union of Ukraine Railway Workers and support the purchase of food packages for rail workers and their families in the country.
Hosted by passenger rail company association ALLRail, the task force was set up in 2022, after the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, to support refugee trains and the country’s continuing freight and passenger rail companies.
More than $300,000 has already been donated through the task force, which operates with the support of WE AID, the German branch of United Way, with the latest donation including contributions from the UK’s Rail Partners, Norway’s Bane NOR and Swedish Railways.
Rail Partners Chief Executive Andy Bagnall thanked the UK rail companies that had donated to the fund and explained: “It’s important for us to continue to raise awareness of Ukrainian Railways’ struggle and to show solidarity with rail colleagues there.
“We need to highlight what they are achieving in very difficult circumstances – and encourage colleagues across the railway and beyond to continue to help support them.”
During the ceremony in Kyiv, a symbolic cheque for €130,000, the largest single donation by the task force so far, was presented to Yevhen Lyashchenko, CEO of Ukrainian Railways and its Passenger Rail division’s CEO Alexander Pertsovskyi.
The pair discussed other ways of supporting the country’s rail network in the future with members of the delegation.
The task force is just one of many international efforts to support Ukraine’s rail network, including the US’ Agency for International Development which recently invested $225m into a project constructing a new rail segment as an alternative export route.