May 25, Transcarpathia will lose another train

From May 25, the train number 7/8 Chop-Kyiv, which departed at 18.10, will be canceled. The train number 13/14 Kyiv-Uzhgorod, which departed at 23.08 from Uzhgorod, will be transferred to another schedule (as was previously reported). This was confirmed by the head of the "Passenger Service" separate division of "Lviv Railway" B. Yavorsky in response to the request for information from the newspaper "Novyny Zakarpattya."

 The letter states that "in order to ensure passengers transportation during the summer and to engage additional trains to the south, it was decided to change the schedule of the train HP 13/14 Uzhgorod – Kyiv in the summertime: every other day instead of daily. In the autumn-winter period the schedule will remain the same (daily)." They refer to the analysis of passenger flow in 2012, which determined that the load on the train number 13/14 in the summer is 20% less compared to the autumn-winter period.

And all that despite the fact that the railway line Kyiv – Lviv – Chop is deemed strategic. Recall that last year, because of the economic irrationality, "UZ" wanted to cancel the train Lviv-Rakhiv, but people defended it. "We lost Kharkiv-Uzhgorod, Uzhgorod-Chernivtsi, and this year they tinker with the Kyiv-Uzhgorod train. It seems that someone would be glad if tourists and investors were uncomfortable to come to us," – the head of Transcarpathian Tourinfocenter Oleksandr Koval says. He adds that continuous reduction of the number of trains in turn reduces the attractiveness of Transcarpathia in the eyes of potential tourists and transit persons. They will choose other ways for transit, travel, leisure, and investments.

It seems that the regional government is not too concerned. Although, two weeks ago, the head of industry and infrastructure development of RSA Victor Lukecha told us that they "prepared the letter signed by the head of the RSA Oleksandr Ledyda to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine in order to keep passengers transportation schedule unchanged. The Reginal State Administration have not approved any changes to the schedule of trains"…