JSC Ukrzaliznytsia has added 12 new routes, sped up three trains, extended four routes to mountainous regions, and changed eight every-other-day trains to daily service in order to adapt the schedule to seasonal passenger demand, according to a company statement on Tuesday.
According to the company's announcement on Telegram, the updated schedule will take effect on June 28, but ticket sales will begin on June 9.
It is expected that the flagship train No. 1/2 "Yednist" (Unity) will be extended to Rakhiv; accordingly, starting June 29, it will run on Kharkiv-Rakhiv route (previously Kharkiv-Vorokhta).
"This is the longest route of the flagship train in Ukraine-1,325 kilometers. The train includes a women's car and a brand-new children's car," the company said in the statement.
Train No. 55/56 Kyiv-Rakhiv will run daily instead of every other day, which will increase the number of seats on routes from Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, and Ternopil to Ivano-Frankivsk, Yaremche, Tatariv, Vorokhta, Yasinya, Kvasiv, and Rakhiv.
Among other things, the Sakura train will travel faster from Kyiv to Uzhhorod and back; specifically, it will depart from Kyiv at 23:28 (instead of 17:41), and the return trip will arrive in Kyiv at 06:09 (instead of 09:58), and in Khmelnytsky by midnight.
As for train No. 113/114 Kharkiv-Uzhhorod, it will run every other day, thus providing a more convenient connection from Kharkiv and Poltava to Rivne, Lutsk, and Zakarpattia.
However, another Kharkiv-Uzhhorod service-No. 45/46-will change its route via Podillia, allowing residents of Vinnytsia, Khmelnytsky, and Ternopil to reach Zakarpattia at a convenient time.
Routes No. 137/138 Kyiv-Yasinia (instead of Kyiv-Ivano-Frankivsk) and No. 142/141 Chernihiv-Yasinia (instead of Chernihiv-Ivano-Frankivsk) have been extended to Yasinia Station, Ukrzaliznytsia said.
It is expected that the new cars will be used to form No. 83/84 Dnipro-Mukachevo night express, No. 153/154 Dnipro-Odesa day train (on certain dates), No. 157/158 Kyiv – Ivano-Frankivsk, No. 210/209 Mykolaiv – Ivano-Frankivsk (every other day), and No. 229/230 Kharkiv-Kremenchuk, which will begin running on June 29.
The company said tickets for these routes will become available gradually, so some trains will be accessible within a day or two.
"Unfortunately, we haven't acquired any additional cars, but we've worked diligently over the past few months to optimize our existing fleet as effectively as possible-and that's what made the new summer schedule possible," Ukrzaliznytsia said.
In early June, Ukrzaliznytsia stated in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine that this year's summer passenger travel season would be more challenging than last year's due to rising demand and a reduction in the number of railcars.
At that time, it was noted that the average ratio of demand to supply for seats on passenger trains is four to one, and during the summer season, this figure is expected to rise to 6 people per seat or more.
