Kyiv, January 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The number of categories of persons entitled to travel by rail discounts could be reduced, acting CEO of State Railways Administration of Ukraine Ukrzaliznytsia Maksym Blank has said in a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

"The Ministry of Finance should determine the procedure on how we have to do this," he said.

Blank said it is incorrect that the government allows the provision of discounts but it doesn’t pay for them.

"It should be clearly understood that business should be business oriented, the state - socially oriented. Our position is as follows: all the benefits must be paid by the state, shippers must pay for passengers and privileged citizens," he said.

As reported, railways in Ukraine in 2014 reduced passenger traffic by 8.9% compared to 2013, to more than 440 million people. The loss from passenger travel exceeded UAH 7.9 billion.

Currently the country's railways provide discounts for 25 different categories of people.

According to Article 9 of the law on railway transport, losses from the carriage of persons entitled to benefits are compensated by the state or from local budgets, depending on the authority which decided to introduce relevant the discounts.