Passengers board and de-board a train in Artemovsk. Most of the engines and wagons in Ukraine are decades old and slow.
Ukraine Vice-Premier and Infrastructure Minister Borys Kolesnikov said Tuesday that the first “Ukrainian Express” high-speed Hyundai trains will begin running May 15, 2012, with tickets available May 1, news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported.
The announcement was made in London at the Inside Ukraine conference organized by the Economist Magazine with the support of the Foundation for Effective Governance.
In December 2010, the State Rail Transport Administration Ukrzaliznytsia and the Hyundai Corporation signed a contract to supply 10 high-speed trains to Ukraine in order to transport guests visiting the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk will all host matches in Ukraine.
Two of the high-speed trains are expected to be delivered to Ukrzaliznytsia by late February to early March 2012. The remaining eight trains should arrive in Ukraine in early May 2012.
The trains will be equipped with comfortable high-backed seats, televisions, spacious lavatories and even wheelchair access, which is absent from most of Ukraine’s currently operating trains.
A look at the trains’ designs can be seen over at tochka.net.
Are they diesel or electric?? I don’t understand how they have the proper rails in place, etc. Sounds a bit rushed unless these plans have been in the works for awhile? SO many questions!
Electric. I’m not sure how fast the trains will be going, but I do know that travel times to the far corners of the country will be cut in half. As for infrastructure, Ukraine has a lot of rails. But I’m not sure how many are in fact high-speed-train ready. I do know that there have been improvements made over the past couple year in preparation for Euro 2012.