Ukraine in Arabic | Ukrzaliznytsia stopped train traffic in Donbass conflict zone
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ The administration of Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia has said that it may have to suspend freight and passenger train traffic on territories controlled by militants in the conflict zone due to fears over safety.
The head of the legal department of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleh Titov announced the possible suspension at a press conference on Tuesday.
"We will stop the movement of passenger trains in the area of the anti-terrorist operation. That is, we will transport people to the so-called border. When exactly this happens depends on the [Infrastructure] Ministry. A presidential decree [No. 875/2014 on the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of November 4, 2014 on urgent measures to stabilize the socio-economic situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions] stipulates that the concerned ministry exercises control and makes the final decision," Tytov said.
As reported earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia changed the terminal station of three passenger trains in the Donetsk region to Kostiantynivka instead of Yasinuvata due to the increase in fighting in the east of Ukraine. The move affected trains No. 10/9 Kostiantynivka to Moscow, No. 125/126 Kostiantynivka to Kyiv, and No. 92/91 Kostiantynivka to Odesa.
Ukrzaliznytsia has said that if there is any further destabilization of the situation in eastern Ukraine, the railway industry could lose up to $3 billion by the end of 2014.