Ukrainian Railways reduced freight traffic by 11.8% y/y in January-June

In the first half of 2025, Ukrainian Railways reduced freight transportation by 11.8% year-on-year to 79.6 million tons. This was announced by the company’s CEO Oleksandr Pertsovskyi on Facebook.

If this trend continues, the total volume of freight transportation at the end of this year will be approximately 50-52% of the volume before the full-scale invasion (2021).

The volume of export transportation in January-June fell by 13.5% year-on-year – to 38.7 million tons, while imports grew by 5.4% year-on-year to 5.3 million tons. Domestic transportation decreased by 11.7% to 35.5 million tons.

The largest decline in freight transportation in the first half of the year occurred in the coal segment, which fell by 27.5% y-o-y due to mine losses and the deterioration of the security situation. In the grain and milled products segment, transportation decreased by 32.5% y-o-y.

At the same time, against the backdrop of some revival in the construction market in January-June, the transportation of construction materials (+4% y-o-y) and cement (+10% y-o-y) increased.

In terms of infrastructure development, Ukrainian Railways is completing the construction of the Chop-Uzhhorod European gauge railway line, and the company is preparing to launch trains and electrify this section. In addition, 44.9 km of new tracks were built in six months (no new tracks were built last year), 101.8 km of tracks were overhauled, and 389.2 km were repaired.

It should be noted that, in 2024, Ukrainian Railways increased the transportation of iron ore for export by 1.7 times compared to 2023, to 33 million tons. The total volume of cargo transported during this period increased by 17.9% year-on-year – to 174.9 million tons.