Around 60-70% of railway tickets for peak days of passenger transportation are bought in the first hours of their going on sale, Deputy Head of the main passenger department of the State Railway Administration of Ukraine (Ukrzaliznytsia, Ivan Terpiak, said on Tuesday.

"On the peak days of transportation – with three and more days off for the last working day before the days off – 60-70% of tickets are bought in the first hours of their going on sale, according to an analysis conducted," he said.

Terpiak said that in the new train schedule [from May 26, 2013] Ukrzaliznytsia foresees 291 passenger train pairs. He said that a passenger flow analysis is being carried out every day, and decisions to reduce the schedules of some trains and increase those of trains in the most popular directions are made.

He also said that according to the analysis, in the period from June 8 to June 17, 2013, Pivdenno-Zakhidna railway offered from 8,000 to 11,000 seats in trains going to Crimea. Every day, from 600,000 to 1,200 seats in trains going to Crimea were vacant.

"One has to understand that tickets are sold not only from the home station to the terminal station, but also to intermediate stations on the route," he said.

Commenting on the peak days of transportation, he said that the closest date is June 21. Then, the peak of transportation is expected in the first ten days of August to Crimea, by Ukraine's Independence Day and in the last ten days of August – to carry passengers from Crimea.

Asked about the possibility of increasing the number of trains in the peak period, Terpiak said that Ukrzaliznytsia faces a lack of passenger trains due to high physical deterioration and the absence of the possibility to upgrade them. He said that in peak periods, railways find ways to increase the number of trains, in particular, thanks to "children" trains, if there are no orders for the organized transportation of children.

Commenting on the possibility of there being illegal schemes with the sale of railway tickets, he said that, jointly with the interior ministry's agencies, the railways have designed special measures and a procedure for tracking persons who try to sell tickets privately. Today, the procedure is being followed.

"I want to say that the issue of punishment for carrying out the said transactions has not been settled in Ukrainian law," Terpiak said.

He said that for Ukrzaliznytsia the main thing is that its employees were not involved in cooperation with the said persons.

As Ukrzaliznytsia reported earlier, before June holidays there are enough seats for trains going from the Ukrainian regions to Crimea.