Poland Calls on Ukrzaliznytsia to Lift Freight Transport Blockade

Ukrzaliznytsia previously cited technical reasons for being unable to continue transit, but it later turned out that no such reasons exist and that the blockade is beyond Ukrzaliznytsia's competence.

Polish railway PKP is calling for the immediate cancellation by Ukrzaliznytsia of transport restrictions on rail transit to Poland. This was reported by board members of PKP SA, PKP Cargo and PKP Linie Hutnicza Szerokotorowa, according to Inwestycje.pl.

The publication reports that on January 20 additional restrictions will take effect, banning the import into Poland of cargo in Ukrzaliznytsia wagons, which, according to PKP SA estimates, will further worsen the situation for PKP Cargo and PKP LHS.

Andrzej Olszewski
Board member of PKP SA

Since the possibilities for negotiations within the PKP group under the auspices of PKP SA have been exhausted, I would like to repeat, this time publicly, our expectations regarding Ukrzaliznytsia. We expect the introduced and planned transport bans to be lifted and uninterrupted traffic between our countries to be restored.

Acting President of PKP Cargo Władysław Szczepkowski said that most transport, including cargo from China to Poland, passes through Belarus, especially through the Brest – Terespol border crossing.

He described Ukrzaliznytsia's actions as "harmful and unjustified" and expressed hope for their immediate and unconditional cancellation.

Władysław Szczepkowski
Acting President of PKP Cargo

Due to the introduction by Ukrzaliznytsia of transport restrictions, including a ban on transporting loaded and empty wagons in transit through Ukraine to Poland, as well as the announcement of a complete restriction from January 20 on the export of Ukrzaliznytsia-owned wagons, our company, like Ukrzaliznytsia, will suffer specific financial and reputational losses.

"Ukrainian Railways is our key trading partner. Over 20 years of operation, PKP LHS has invested more than 1 billion zloty in modernizing rolling stock and expanding infrastructure. It is thanks to the development of transport that both the scale of shipments and the revenues of Ukrzaliznytsia are growing. We hope that our Ukrainian partners will unblock transit, as they are its main beneficiary," said PKP LHS President Zbigniew Tracichleb.

PKP recalls that since November 30, 2021, Ukrzaliznytsia has banned the acceptance for carriage of all cargo sent to Poland in transit through Ukraine and to: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova and Estonia.

At the same time, the list of Ukrzaliznytsia's transport restrictions announced a complete restriction on the export from Ukraine to Poland of Ukrzaliznytsia-owned wagons from January 20 of this year. 

Initially, Ukrzaliznytsia also introduced restrictions on transit to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria, but these restrictions were lifted a few days later. This means the restriction applies only to Poland.

Initially, the reasons given for the transport restrictions directed against Poland were the periodically limited capacity of the Ukrainian railway network and the accumulation of cargo awaiting transfer from Ukrzaliznytsia to PKP.

During consultations between the board president of PKP SA and Ukrzaliznytsia, it turned out that such obstacles in fact do not exist, and the Polish side stated that cancelling the introduced restrictions is beyond the competence of Ukrzaliznytsia.

Recall that another transport conflict is ongoing between Ukraine and Poland, concerning restrictions on the transport of goods by Ukrainian carriers within the EU.