Ukrzaliznytsia cargo shipments fall by 25% in Jan-March
Ukrainian railways saw cargo shipments fall by 24.5% in January-March 2015 year-over-year, to 77 million tonnes.
"Among the key reasons for the large fall in cargo shipments are hostilities in eastern Ukraine and the destruction of a large number of railway infrastructure facilities of Donetsk Railways, their share of dispatched cargo was usually the largest," reads a press release issued by the State Railway Administration of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia).
According to the press release, the sharp fall in Donetsk Railways cargo shipments began in June 2014, and in 2014 the decline of cargo turnover was 34.1%.
As reported, due to the difficult financial and economic situation in Ukraine, Ukrzaliznytsia predicted a 13.1% decline in rail freight traffic in 2015 compared to 2014, to 285.3 million tonnes.
The draft consolidated financial plan of Ukrainian railways for 2015 foresees 28.9 million tonnes of transit cargo traffic, which is 1.2% less than in 2014. It also plans to carry 439.6 million passengers, which is below last year's level by 0.1%.
