The private Polish railway company SKPL will begin operating trips from Rava Ruska to Warsaw in October, in November the Chop-Prague trip of the largest private rail passenger carrier in Central Europe RegioJet (the Czech Republic), with which Ukrzaliznytsia has two more projects planned, will be launched, head of the board of JSC Ukrzaliznytsia Yevhen Liaschenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"The connection (Rava-Ruska-Lviv with the Polish company SKPL) will be launched in October of this year. This will be the first experience of cooperation between Ukrzaliznytsia and a European company in the passenger direction. RegioJet will not have time to launch by then. They will begin operating trips Chop - Prague from about November. But this will also happen before the end of 2023. With RegioJet we now have two projects on the way: trips Chop - Prague and Przemysl - Berlin - Hannover," he said.

The head of Ukrzaliznytsia clarified that foreign carriers are allowed on the European route, since Ukrzaliznytsia does not have enough rolling stock necessary to carry out passenger transportation of this format.

"Strategically, we, of course, see ourselves as a player in this field. Over time, a European passenger company Ukrzaliznytsia can be created, as Cargo Polska appeared on the freight transportation market. But this is a complex and lengthy process. In addition, rolling stock is needed: cars, locomotives. I must admit, this is a question for more than one year," Liaschenko said.

Ukrzaliznytsia will pay SKPL for passenger transportation services on the company's rolling stock. At the same time, Ukrzaliznytsia will receive funds from ticket sales. RegioJet will operate under a different model, with full coverage of its operating costs. At the same time, the profit distribution model from the sale of tickets with Ukrzaliznytsia is still being discussed.