Rail Travel news.

Economical, market situation and technical problems make continuing this type of tours imposible. "Dzherelo" company announces that in 2008 their steam locos will be scraped.
For now we are receiving a lot of letters with question - "What happened?". One of them came from our Swiss friend and customers Mr. Christian Amman:

"...We never got an idea, how many steam engins are propriety of Dzherelo, what for engins and so we don't know about what will be scrapped. It would be interesting to know the reasons of this changement, just in a time, when it became easier to go to Ukraina. Is one of the reason that died Mr. Kirpa, the changement of gouvernement. Is it the concurrence of Belarus and Russia, who offers nice steam trains in good condition? And what will become Dzherelo? But almost you see that many people are looking this events with (sad) interest and ask how, why?
Best regards, Christian"

For the moment we have as our private property 6 steam locos: Su, L, L, YEA, Er. Em (1524 mm gauge). Exactly these steam locos will be scrappe for metal during the next year. The reason is very sinple - economics. Today  these steam locos are stabled in 2 loco depots - Kolomiya and Chernovtsy. Each month depots require payment for taking care of them, it's approximately 100 US$ per each. It means per month we pay 600-700 US$. But what is the sence of it?
And more than that the steam loco YEA cannot be operated as it requires the overhaul repair. The next year is the final date (10 years period of their last repairng) and it means that all of them should
repaired in shops. In Ukraine the repair of one steam loco costs about 50 000 US$ (as minimum). It means it is necessary to spend about 300 000 US$ for all totaly.

From the other side,  there is no request for the steam loco tours (in compare with the former years). Less and less the steam loco enthusiasts but the prices ( for coal, oil, salary of drivers and etc.) are increasd each year For example in 2005 we operated  2 tours with the income about 10 000 US$. In 2006 - 1 tour with the income 7 000 US$ and in 2007 - 1 tour with the income 5 000 US$.
With such a tendency the mathematics is very simple. In case we repair all the steam locos:   300 000 US$ : 5 000US$ = 60
It means we need 50-60 years to work without any income and work only with the aim to return  money spent for repairing  back.

The Ukraine government is not at all interested to safe this technique and more than that the Ukraine museums have no money to buy these locos even for the price as metal.
For a while I do not see the way out. May be you can suggest some idea?

As for the "Dzherelo" company I don't wory. We actively work operating the railway tours and particulalwe operate ordinary r/w tours to China, TransSybirea and more than that we actively develop a new profitable business - IT technology as well as the advertising the tour companies in INTERNET Portal www.Tourua.com
So all the team is together and quite happy.

We are not the first one who stop steams operation. But the time came for this historic locos even for tourist ideas. You are invited to take part in this last steam locos tour with unforgetable
impressions. We are looking for all of our old friends and customers in the last steam loco tour, February 2008. You are welcome. All the details you can see here >>>

The Ukraine Ministry of Transport and Communication initiates the construction of the railway line on the branch from Izmail to the Reny port round Moldova. It was informed in the Ministry. In such a way there will be the direct railway transfer without crossing Moldova and
without the custom house and frontier control for 150 citizens of Ukraine who live in the frontier regions of Odessa. The price of the railway
branch of 50 km long is estimated about 275 mln US$.

To solve the situation which took place on the frontier line of Ukraine and the Pridnestovskiy region of Moldova the Ministry of Transport and Communication and the State administration of the railway transport conduct negotiations with the owners of cargo and the expedition companies concerning the possible overtransfer the cargo via Izmail port and partly  via Mogilev-Podolsky transit line.
As "KM.ru" reminds, according to the agreements decleared by the prime-ministers of Ukraine and Moldova on the 30th December 2005, the Ukraine State custom house administration since the 3rd of March 2006 provides the registration of cargo and transport transferred to Ukraine   from Moldova ONLY on the base of the Moldova custom house control.
 
The State custom house control of Ukraine provides the registration of goods and transport means transferred to Ukraine from Moldova only on the base of the Moldova custom house documentation. In reply to it the Pridneprovskaya side broke off the transfer of railway trains at the Kuchuran and Slobodka stations for further transfer to the Reny port and to Rumania. As a result of it according to the information of 6 March at the Kuchuryan transfer line from the Ukraine side 1707 r/w waggons (among them 558 waggons prepared to be transferred further to the Reny port) were waiting for the cargo.

The State Railway Transport Administration or Ukrzaliznytsia is going to keep the current railway fares in place during the year.

Ukrzaliznytsia Director General Vasyl Hladkykh made this statement to a press conference in Kremenchuk on January 19.

"Prices for passenger tickets will remain unchanged during this year, though this kind of transportation is unprofitable in many ways," he said.

Hladkykh added that railway freight charges will be changed depending on the rate of inflation.

Railway continues to be the cheapest means of transport in the country, he said.

Last year railways incurred losses of UAH 2.4 billion from passenger transportation.

Reportedly, Ukrzaliznytsia carries around 1.234 passengers daily.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, last December Hladkykh voiced the need to introduce floating tariffs on both industrial freight transportation and passenger services. The practice will help avoid strict fixation of prices for the customer and contractor of transportation services and will coordinate a tariff plan for a certain type of transportation services.

He did not rule out then that transportation fees might be increased in 2006, and added that their rise should be normalized and not higher than 1.2% a month.

The Cabinet of Ministers appointed Hladkykh director general of Ukrzaliznytsia in December 2005.

Ukrzaliznytsia initiates equalization of tariffs for domestic, import and export transportation in line with standards exercised by the World Trade Organization and intention to invest UAH 3 billion into a comprehensive program for replacement of rolling stock next year.

Ukrzaliznytsia monopolizes the Ukrainian railway network, running all six railway companies.

This was disclosed by Aleksandr Shishkov, CEO of the International Airport Boryspil.The project will be financed through means, borrowed from a Japanese bank for thirty years.

 The D Terminal (the future facility's name) will be capable of accepting and servicing 200 passengers per hour. The Boryspil Airport's managers are also contemplating to construct new aprons and taxiways along the number one runway. On March 2005 an agreement was signed in Kyiv, which provides for the Japanese Bank's 30-year 19,092 M. yen loan to the Government of Ukraine to finance the Boryspil Airport's development.