The state budget proposal for 2026 includes funding for the purchase of 100 new railway coaches at a total cost of approximately UAH 5.7 billion, which will include the first modern double-decker passenger coach. This was reported by the Ministry of Finance.
According to Deputy Minister Oleksandr Kava, double-decker passenger coaches will significantly reduce the costs of transporting passengers.
“The maintenance costs for single and double-decker coaches differ by about 10%, while the capacity in a double-decker coach increases by nearly 80%. This means that under comparable operational costs, the company can transport considerably more passengers,” Kava stated during a meeting with the leadership and members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) and representatives of the Ukrainian business community.
In the future, Kava mentioned that the model range of double-decker coaches will include options for both overnight travel – with sleeping accommodations, and for daytime travel – with seating.
Over the past five years, the government has purchased 166 modern passenger coaches produced in Ukraine, which are already operating on Ukrzaliznytsia routes, Kava noted.
The state order of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia” under the public investment project “Purchase of Passenger Coaches” plans to acquire 366 coaches, including 200 coaches in 2026-2027, the press service of the Kryukov Railway Car Building Works reported.
The first double-decker Skoda trains were acquired by Ukrzaliznytsia back in 2012 in preparation for the UEFA Euro 2012 football championship. By July 2019, these trains required major repairs, and Ukrzaliznytsia announced a tender for the capital repair of two Skoda double-decker trains for UAH 160 million. The repairs were supposed to be completed by the end of 2020, but the work dragged on. The first repaired Skoda City Elephant EJ675 electric train set out on its route on December 30, 2021, on the Kyiv-Lviv route No. 747. The second Skoda train, also restored at the Kyiv Electric Car Repair Plant, was returned to operation in August 2022.