Reducing energy consumption helps make Ukrzaliznytsia more efficient According to the Ukrainian Railways, the current five

e year program of upgrading the locomotive stock envisions replacing 509 dated locomotives. Experts believe that efficiency of Ukrzaliznytsia can and should be raised byredu cing energy consumption and maintenance costs of locomotives. The majority of th e existing locomotives date back to the 60s of 20th century. They are costly to operate and inefficient compared with the new generation engines. Purchase of th e new locomotive stock will help reduce operating costs for maintenance and ener gy by some 1 billion USD. By implementing the locomotive upgrade program, it is necessary that the leading railway equipment manufactures work together with Ukrainian scientists, who, in turn, will stimulate development of the scientific and technological base of Uk raine. The locomotive upgrades will also help develop domestic locomotive production in frastructure and create new jobs, experts emphasize. Ukrzaliznytsia experts have emphasized that the technological development and up date of locomotives across Ukraine is one of the priorities for the railway indu stry. Updating the locomotive fleet is one of the strategic tasks and conditions for meeting the essential transportation needs. Under the development program, Donetsk, Lviv and Odessa railways plan to purchas e 350 electric locomotives by 2016 while the entire railway industry has already acquired 115 electric locomotive since 2000. Ukrzaliznytsia comprises six railways including Donetsk,Lviv,Odessa,Dnieper,South an dSouth-Western railways totaling 30,300 km in length, out of which 9,900 km are e lectrified. The Ukrainian railways are among the top ten largest railway systems in the world. The Ukrainian Railways locomotive fleetincludes 2,447locomotives, 1 ,547 electric ones, 1,547 sectionsof electric trains and 528 sections of diesel t rains. The railways of Ukraine employ around 385,000 persons. From January to July 2013 , Ukrzaliznytsia transported 252 million passengers and 247.7 million tons of lo ads.The railways transported 429.6 million passengers and 457.5 million tons of l oads in 2012. Offset:Some 350 new locomotives will be purchased by 2016