you'll find that the majority of railroads in Europe are owned and operated by the Government and the money comes directly from the Committee and the transportation officers who over see them. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are 100% Government operations and don't share much about there operations as the Military also has a stake in there day to day movements.
Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian: Укрзалізниця), also known as Ukrainian Railways, is the State Administration of Railroad Transportation in Ukraine, a monopoly that controls vast majority of the railroad transportation in the country with a combined total length of track of over 23,000 km, which makes the Ukrainian railroad network the 14th largest in the world. Ukrzaliznytsia is also the world's 6th largest rail passenger transporter and world's 7th largest freight transporter.
State Administration of Railroad Transportation is subordinated to the Ministry of Infrastructure, administering the railways through the 6 territorial railway companies, which in turn immediately control and provide of all aspects of the railroad transportation and maintenance in a unified way under the common Ukrzaliznytsia brand. The general director of the administration is appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.The administration employs over 403,000 people through all regions of the country. The railways are split into 6 territorial railway companies: Donets'k, Lviv, Odessa, Southern, South-Western and Near-Dnipro. The subdivision is purely administrative as it doesn't correspond to the particular railway lines or branches. The names of regional railways are purely historic, inherited from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires. For instance, the 'South-Western Railway' actually operates the 'north-central' part of Ukraine's rail network. The 'Southern Railway' actually operates in the east of the country, whilst the Near-Dnipro Railways are the southern-most.
A UZ Inter City+ service arriving at Kharkiv Main Station.
The six separate territorial railways each have their own directorates, located in the following cities:
Donetsk Railway – Donetsk
Lviv Railway – Lviv
Odessa Railway – Odessa
Southern Railway – Kharkiv
Southwestern Railway – Kiev
Near-Dnipro Railway – Dnipropetrovsk
In 2008 the Ukrainian State Railways transported around 498.5 million tonnes of domestic freight and 69.8 million tonnes of international freight in transit through Ukrainian territory; freight transport figures were particularly high on transport routes 3, 5 and 9 which saw a combined total of 105 million tonnes carried along their routes in 2008. Further to this, Ukrzaliznytsia served around 518.8 million passengers over the course of the year. The State Railways ran with an annual consolidated budget of a little more than 40 billion UAH (5 billion USD) in 2008.
By the end of 2005 the railways had produced a profit equivalent to 1.76 billion UAH (220 million USD) from all their operations including freight, passenger service, associated services and the operation of subsidiaries. The total capital invested in fixed assets of the State Railways is thought to be equivalent to around 22 billion UAH (4.4 billion USD), however, depreciation of these fixed assets is estimated to be around 57%, or in terms of rolling stock, closer to 66.7%.
The full extent of the railway system in Ukraine administrated by Ukrzaliznytsia is currently put at around 22,300 km, of which 9,752 km (44.3%) is fully electrified with the use of the overhead wire. The network is fully interconnected, central-dispatched and consists of 1,648 stations of all sizes spread throughout the country. The largest stations are Nyzhnodniprovsk-Vuzol (in the city of Dnipropetrovsk) and Darnytsia (in the capital Kiev) – both freight.
The Belarusian Railway (BCh) (Belarusian: Беларуская чыгунка, Belaruskaya chyhunka, БЧ; Russian: Белорусская железная дорога.) is the national state-owned railway company of Belarus. It operates all of the rail transport network in Belarus. As of 2005, the railway employs 112,173 people. The company, formed in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is one of the inheritors of the Soviet Railways. It administrates 5,512 km of railway with Russian broad gauge (1,520 mm). The railway's most important station is Minsk Terminal, the central station of the capital.
BCh is answerable to the ministry of transport and as of 2010 was composed of 84 organizations; 46 enterprises, 38 institutions, and 7 factories/plants. The rail network is divided into 6 departments: named after the regions around Minsk, Baranovichi, Brest, Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk
The Russian Railways (RZhD) (Russian: Российские железные дороги (РЖД), Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (RZhD)) is the government owned national rail carrier of the Russian Federation, headquartered in Moscow. The Russian Railways operate over 86,000 km (53,000 mi) of common carrier routes as well as a few hundred kilometers of industrial routes, making it the second largest network in the world exceeded only by the United States. The Railways also are one of the largest companies in the world employing 950,000 people and is also a monopoly within Russia.
The Russian Railways were created in 1992, to take over existing lines within Russia from the Soviet Union. Russian Railways accounts for 2.5% of Russia's GDP. The percentage of freight and passenger traffic that goes by rail is unknown, since no statistics are available for private transportation such as private automobiles or company-owned trucks. In 2007, about 1.3 billion passengers and 1.3 billion tons of freight went via Russian Railways. As of 2007, the company operated state-owned 19,700[citation needed] goods and passenger locomotives, 24,200 passenger cars (carriages) and 526,900 freight cars (goods wagons). A further 270,000 freight cars in Russia are privately owned.
Russia (in 2009) has 86,000 kilometers of common-carrier railroad line, of which about half is electrified and carries most of the traffic. Almost half of the total is double track or better.
Russian Railways operate commuter rail and/or regional rail services throughout the country, using mostly electric trains (known as elektrichka) as well as some diesel ones, on the non-electrified railway sections. As of 2007, 4085 commuter trains a day (in each direction) were running on the Russian Railways network; 1069 of them, in Moscow metropolitan area.
In October 2010, RZD announced that its 2010 investment programme had increased to 3.15Bn Roubles (€7.45 billion), and announced an energy efficiency partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
In December 2010, RZD announced a plan to buy 1250 new locomotives between 2011 and 2013, possibly including 2ES10.
In September 2012, it was announced that Russian Railways is looking to acquire 75% of PSA Peugeot Citroën's logistic business Gefco, the main distributor of Vauxhall and Opel cars in Europe and Russia. The deal is speculated to equate to an €800 million payment.
no matter the weather or the country I'll still be trackside!
