“Don’t expect a miracle”: Ukrzaliznytsia explains why there won’t be more air conditioners on trains this summer
1 July 14:47
With the onset of the summer heat, social media (particularly the Threads platform) has been flooded with complaints from passengers about the absence or malfunction of air conditioning in Ukrzaliznytsia train cars. Users are sharing photos en masse of sweltering open-seating cars and even private compartments without air conditioning, and are calling on the company to resolve the issue, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Ukrzaliznytsia acknowledged the scale of the problem, noting that its social media team received over 430 mentions from outraged passengers in just one day. The carrier published an official statement in which it not only provided instructions to passengers but also candidly admitted: “The situation will not change drastically this summer.”
“A railcar manufacturer cannot build or modernize thousands of railcars in a matter of weeks. This requires years of work, significant investment, and production capacity, especially amid a full-scale war. We do not want to create false expectations. It is much more honest to say this now than to promise something that is physically impossible to deliver,” reads the official statement from Ukrzaliznytsia.
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Ukrzaliznytsia added that the extreme heat is a challenge currently faced not only by Ukrainian carriers. In recent days, due to high temperatures, rail operators in a number of European countries have been forced to limit train speeds, cancel hundreds of trips, and even more trains are running with significant delays.
“In Ukraine, despite the full-scale war, regular shelling of infrastructure, and extreme heat, we are doing everything possible to keep trains running. Yes, there are sometimes delays due to security concerns or difficult weather conditions, but we continue to transport over 100,000 passengers every day,” explains the Ukrzaliznytsia press service in an official statement to passengers.
Meanwhile, the main railway carrier advises potential passengers to pay attention to the car designation when purchasing a ticket. If the ticket indicates “air-conditioned” but the air conditioning is not working, Ukrzaliznytsia advises passengers to immediately contact the train conductor. If there are available seats, the carrier states, the passenger must be transferred to another car.
If the ticket states “no air conditioning,” this means that the car is outdated and the cooling system is “not structurally provided for” in it. Ukrainian Railways emphasizes that it deliberately displays this information before purchase so that passengers can make their own decisions. They clarify that the indication of whether or not a car has air conditioning is displayed in the mobile app and on the official website next to each car’s number during the seat selection process.
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