Ukrzaliznytsya JSC (UZ) can write off up to 60 thousand worn-out ("elongated") freight cars, which will give an impetus to the renewal of rolling stock and provide the metallurgical industry with raw materials. This was stated by Valery Tkachev, Deputy Director of the Department of Commercial Work of UZ, during the Metal Expert conference "Ferrous Metallurgy of Ukraine 2025".
UZ appealed to the Ministry of Community, Territorial and Infrastructure Development with a request to cancel orders No. 62 and No. 267, which are currently blocking the decommissioning of old rolling stock. If the changes are adopted, the company will be able to scrap up to 60,000 railcars, of which about 40,000 belong to Ukrzaliznytsia itself, and another 20,000 to private companies.
The resulting scrap metal can be used in the domestic metallurgy industry, and the proceeds can be used to purchase new wagons.
Recall that Ukrzaliznytsia has not been selling scrap to the domestic market of Ukraine through auctions in the Prozorro system for about two years.
Sales. The last time the raw materials were put up for auction was in September 2023. In 9 months of that year, the railway operator sold only 76.4 thousand tons of scrap, while in 2022 it sold 113 thousand tons with a planned 170 thousand tons.
Since UZ is the largest state-owned scrap company, with annual sales of about 10-13% of domestic consumption, the prolonged lack of sales poses a real threat to the Ukrainian metallurgy industry. Among the reasons for the detention are attempts to obtain permission to export raw materials, which were not accepted by the Cabinet of Ministers, and allegations of imperfection of the regulatory framework, which were refuted by the government.
Recently, the Cabinet of Ministers simplified the property disposal procedure for Ukrzaliznytsya JSC, according to which the company can independently, without coordination with the government, decide on the alienation of property if its book value does not exceed 500 million UAH.
It is expected that thanks to this decision, UZ, in particular, will be able to receive more than 218.6 thousand tons of ferrous scrap (for UAH 1.6 billion) and 3.8 thousand tons of non-ferrous scrap and alloys (for UAH 233.4 million).
