Businesses demanding abolition of maximum service life standards for railcars, with their technical condition being priority
Ukraine's leading industrial associations and unions advocate for the abolition of standards for the maximum service life of railway freight cars, prioritizing their technical condition.
Business representatives voiced this demand at a press conference titled "Not age, but technical condition: Business demands cancellation of limit term for railcars" at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday.
"The reason is Order No. 647 of the Ministry of Infrastructure, adopted in November 2021 and concerning Ukrzaliznytsia's rolling stock. Specifically, it contained a provision that had been debated for a year and a half to two years: the introduction of the term 'maximum service life of rolling stock,'" explained Ukrmetalurgprom President Oleksandr Kalenkov, adding that this scheme was used only in Russia to support Uralvagonzavod and some of its allies. However, no country in Europe or anywhere else in the world uses this approach. This approach benefits those who advocate decommissioning rolling stock (which is still operational) for the benefit of rolling stock manufacturers or those companies that purchased the rolling stock and want to profit from it.
Kalenkov noted that maintaining this standard would lead to a reduction in UZ's rolling stock, with the costs falling on consumers and a decline in rail traffic. Furthermore, UZ estimates that it will have to write off a third of its freight cars, which are unrealistically replaceable during a war.
"There will be a 24,000-25,000-car shortage by 2031," stated the head of Ukrmetllurgprom, proposing a return to the standards used by Canada, the USA, and others.
Maryna Lesnycha, a lawyer and industry expert and member of the Ukrainian Railway Freight Shippers Association, noted that Order No. 647 is an infringement on the property of private companies. "This regulation is discriminatory and violates the rights of property owners," she emphasized, adding that the regulation is not based on EU research or practice.
Volodymyr Husak, CEO of the Federation of Transport Employers of Ukraine, clarified that the order was adopted before the war. However, the overwhelming majority of businesses did not support it.
"The Federation also did not support such an order. If such a regulation is implemented, 25,000 units of rolling stock will have to be decommissioned by 2031. Replacing them is difficult. Therefore, no one will build new cars, or there will be very few of them. This will hurt the Ukrainian economy. The Federation's position is to eliminate the concept of ‘standard service life’ for cars altogether and instead rely on the technical condition of the cars," Husak said.
Liudmyla Kripka, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Cement Producers Association (Ukrcement), also stated that such a regulation would lead to a shortage of rolling stock.
"This standard should be repealed, abandoned—there's no such criterion anywhere in the world. The main thing is to focus on technical condition, not on expiration dates. We need to move to a model for assessing the technical suitability of wagons for operation," she said.
Serhiy Kudryavtsev, executive director of the Ukrainian Ferroalloy Producers Association (UkrFA), reported that this issue is being studied, although rail transport currently has less of an impact on the industry, as factories have significantly reduced production.
"While the Zaporizhia Ferroalloy Plant previously used up to 14,000 gondola cars annually, it now uses 1,400 gondola cars annually, primarily from independent operators. We believe that to avoid shortages, this requirement should be eliminated. Meanwhile, the plant is switching to road transport, while the Pokrovsky and Marganets Mining and Processing Plants, which mine manganese ore, rely heavily on rail. So far, they have transported only 10,000 tonnes of product due to a shortage of gondola cars," he said.
Kostiantyn Saliy, President of the All-Ukrainian Union of Construction Materials Producers, also advocated for the abolition of the maximum service life for railcars. "Not a single thorough economic study has been conducted on this issue," he emphasized, noting that railcar manufacturers would be unable to cover the 28,000-railcar shortage, and that the $1.8 billion international grant for railcar procurement could support foreign companies rather than domestic ones.
Ksenia Orynchak, Executive Director of the National Association of Mining Industries of Ukraine, stated that the mining industry shapes economic development. "We should also have requirements for our natural monopolies, as is the case in the European Union," she said.
The President of the Union of Chemists of Ukraine, Oleksiy Holubov, emphasized the relevance of the topic, "because it's absurd to raise the issue of limiting the service life of railcars during wars, especially since the most financially successful countries don't use such regulations."
Summarizing the discussion of this topic, the president of Ukrmetalurgprom announced the beginning of a review of this controversial regulation.
As reported, the Logistics Committee of the European Business Association (EBA) prepared proposals for a draft order from the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine regarding changes to the freight car repair procedure and called for the abolition of service life limits. Key business proposals include maintaining the repair contractor's identification number for tracking work, ensuring the independence of a specialized diagnostic organization, and introducing a six-month transition period before the new regulations come into effect.
Furthermore, the association emphasizes the need to abandon the practice of limiting the use of railcars solely based on the manufacturer's stated service life. Businesses believe that the continued use of rolling stock should be determined by its actual technical condition and remaining service life, in line with international practice in the USA and EU. According to EBA estimates, the current approach in Ukraine leads to an additional increase in logistics costs.
In addition, there were reports of businesses attempting to overturn Ministry of Development Order No. 647, which established the maximum service life of freight cars. Specifically, Valeriy Tkachev, Deputy Director of UZ's Commercial Operations Department, reported in May 2025 that the Kyiv District Administrative Court, as the first instance, overturned Order No. 647 of November 30, 2021.
Ministry of Infrastructure Order No. 647 of November 30, 2021, limiting the maximum service life of freight cars entered into force on February 1, 2022. It established the maximum service life of freight cars. Previously, the extension period could be 10-15 years, but with the entry into force of the order, the period became equal to the total duration of the future inter-repair period of the freight car plus 180 days. A gradual reduction in the maximum service life of freight cars was established over a 10-year period.
According to the order's initiators, the goal of the decision was to improve the condition of the country's railcar fleet and railway safety, as well as provide the railcar-building industry with work. According to estimates, over 51,000 new railcars were planned to be built over the next 10 years, with factories receiving orders worth UAH 120 billion.
The rolling stock of several companies was slated for write-off, sparking a heated debate about the feasibility of the decision. Several major cargo owners and operators in the agricultural and industrial sectors opposed it. It was expected that, as a result of the active implementation of the document's provisions, the planned write-off volume by 2028 would include an additional 21,000 cars from UZ's operating fleet (including approximately 8,000 gondola cars).