PHOTO-2024-10-18-14-52-05

Donations from British rail companies answer calls from Ukrainian Railways to protect its train drivers working in high-risk regions

  • Rail Partners has raised around £65,000 to support the Ukrainian Railway’s need for protective kits for employees working near the frontline, with train drivers in high-risk regions beginning to receive their protection.
  • Members of Rail Partners, including Arriva, DB Cargo, FirstGroup and Transport UK have contributed to Rail Partners’ Kit for Kyiv campaign.
  • Ukrainian train drivers are often working in dangerous areas and are the last to leave territories under attack. There has been an urgent need for protective equipment to keep them safe while they’re at work.

Following the launch of the Kit for Kyiv campaign earlier this year, Rail Partners has raised around £65,000 to protect Ukrainian train drivers working near the frontline. The kit will protect train drivers and assistant drivers in high-risk regions with each set including body armour, a Kevlar helmet, 2 interchangeable balaclavas and tactical glasses.

The kit is rated for Class 5 protection and protects from wreckage and bullets from automatic weapons fired from a distance of 10 metres. Deliveries are beginning to take place and are being coordinated by the Trade Union of Railwaymen and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine.

British rail companies including Arriva, DB Cargo, FirstGroup and Transport UK are some of the headline donors that have contributed to the campaign to fund body armour and helmets for Ukrainian rail workers. Kit for Kyiv has also been supported by Rail magazine and the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force.

Known in Ukraine as the ‘Iron People', Ukrainian rail employees are often working in dangerous areas and are the last to leave territories under attack. Even away from the frontline, stations are often targeted by missiles and drones. There has been an urgent need for protective equipment to keep them safe while they’re at work and the money has now been raised to fund the protective gear for Ukrainian train drivers in high-risk regions.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the railway has played a key role in the conflict. It has helped to evacuate civilians, stepped in to provide a vital lifeline for grain exports following the closure of the Black Sea Ports, and helped with troop movements and evacuating injured personnel. 

Oleksii Semerun, chairman of the Trade Union of Railwaymen and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine, said: ‘For the third year in a row, railroad workers have been working in war conditions. They repair, serve, and move trains under the barriers of war. They need the appropriate protection, and we support the initiative of Rail Partners.’

A Ukrainian train driver said: ‘Many of our colleagues have suffered from shelling because they did not have bulletproof vests. If we had bulletproof vests and helmets, we would feel safer.’

The campaign was initially launched at a Rail Partners with Ukraine event at Rail Live in June 2024. At the event, senior members of the Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia) management board spoke about their experiences and the challenges Ukrainian rail workers are facing due to the ongoing conflict with Russia.

The Kit for Kyiv campaign has built on the previous efforts of British rail companies to support their Ukrainian colleagues. Earlier this year, nearly 7,500 food parcels, paid for by donations from British rail companies were delivered to Ukrainian Railway workers and their families with the help of the Trade Union of Railwaymen and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine. The funds which supported this aid delivery were raised at the Rail Partners with Ukraine fundraiser in September 2023, at which Rail Partners and its private-sector passenger owning groups, freight operating companies, and other industry colleagues, raised over £106,000.

In January 2024, Andy Bagnall, Rail Partners chief executive, Steve Montgomery, managing director of First Rail, and David Brown, managing director of Arriva Trains, travelled to Kyiv to see firsthand the challenges Ukrainian rail workers are facing. They travelled as part of a delegation from the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force to show solidarity with rail colleagues working in the most difficult of circumstances and to continue to raise awareness of their ongoing struggle. 

Rail Partners chief executive, Andy Bagnall, said: ‘Rail Partners and its members are incredibly proud to have raised enough money to provide Ukrainian train drivers with the body armour and helmets they need when working in high-risk regions.

‘The protective gear is in the process of being purchased and donations will soon be making a difference to the lives of Ukrainian train drivers. The Ukrainian Railway continues to play a vital role in the conflict, and we stand with our railway colleagues in Ukraine.’  

The Global Ukraine Rail Task Force has partnered with WE AID, founded by Phineo, the German branch of the leading charitable organisation United Way to provide the practical arrangements for the donation campaign in support of the Ukrainian railway.

Donations to support Ukrainian rail workers in other ways can continue to be made here: https://www.we-aid.org/en/initiatives-2/allrail-support-ukraine-rail-task-force/

Notes to editors

  • Watch the Kit for Kyiv appeal video, which includes messages from some rail workers who will benefit from the protective equipment, shown at the National Rail Awards here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ206GUdDI0
  • To make donations to support Ukrzaliznytsia staff and for more information on the initiative, please visit:  https://www.we-aid.org/en/initiatives/allrail-support-ukraine-rail-task-force/
  • Gold donors include:
    • Arriva: Since entering the UK rail market in 2000, Arriva now operates 285 trains and covers around 9% of the entire network (by total revenue), with services ranging from rural commuter lines to long-distance and inter-urban routes. It is the only owning group running services under all operating models in use in the UK. Arriva’s companies include: Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Grand Central, Arriva Rail London.
    • DB Cargo: DB Cargo UK is one of the UK’s leading rail freight companies, transporting everything from consumer goods, steel and scrap metal, to aggregates and automotives. The company offers its customers safe, sustainable and innovative rail logistics solutions, linking their supply chains to domestic and international markets through its extensive network, service and people excellence. DB Cargo UK is part of the broader, pan-European DB Cargo AG group, which since the outbreak of the ongoing war in Ukraine has played an important role in the relief effort, quickly establishing a rail bridge to transport goods in and out of the war-torn country.
    • FirstGroup: is one of the leading providers of public transport. It is the UK’s largest rail operator and one of its most experienced, running all types of passenger rail: long-distance, commuter, regional and sleeper services.  FirstGroup operates three Government contracted operations (Avanti West Coast, GWR, SWR) and two open access routes (Hull Trains and Lumo). Its businesses are vital to communities and the services it provides are critical to delivering wider economic, social and environmental goals. 
    • Transport UK: Transport UK is a leading private sector transport operator serving millions of rail and bus passengers every day. Owned and operated in the UK, the group runs Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains, East Midlands Railway, and Merseyrail (as a 50:50 joint venture with Serco), as well as 11% of London’s bus routes. The company has been serving customers for over 20 years and is at the forefront of creating the future of transport in the UK.
  • Silver donors include:
  • Bronze donors include:
    • GB Railfreight
  • To find out more about Rail Partners with Ukraine and Kit for Kyiv, visit our website:  https://railpartners.co.uk/our-work/kitforkyiv
  • To see photos from the visit to Kyiv in 2024: https://media.railpartners.co.uk/resources/f/ukraine-visit-january-2024

About Ukrainian Railways

Ukrainian Railways (UZ) is a state owned, joint stock company administering railway infrastructure and rail transport in Ukraine. Ukrainian Railways is the world’s sixth largest rail passenger transporter and world’s seventh largest freight transporter. Since the start of the conflict on 24 February 2022, Ukrainian Railways has played an important role in the war effort including:

  • Transporting millions of refugees to safety
  • Rebuilding infrastructure, including the bridge at Irpin, a strategic suburb west of Kyiv, in 29 days – a task which would normally take months 
  • Supporting the travel of world leaders and diplomats into Ukraine as well as transporting President Zelensky 
  • Initiating the Children’s Railway initiative to engage children in the railway so that their association isn’t just one of evacuation and war, but to demonstrate the potential of rail for adventure and fun. They have an ambition to become the most child friendly railway in the world 
  • Moving military personnel and materials as well as civilian freight traffic such as grain exports.

https://www.uz.gov.ua/en/about/

About Rail Partners

Rail Partners exists to make the railway better by harnessing the expertise and creativity of private sector operators for the benefit of those who use the railway, passengers and freight customers, and those who pay for it, including taxpayers.

Rail Partners provides advocacy and policy solutions for its private sector passenger owning group and freight company members. Rail Partners additionally provides technical services to train operating companies in both the public and private sectors. For more information regarding our membership visit:  https://www.railpartners.co.uk/ 

About the Trade Union of Railwaymen and Transport Construction Workers of Ukraine

Our trade union unites almost 258 thousand employees, of which 86% are employees of Ukrzaliznytsia. In the context of the extended martial law, the trade union, together with all organizational units, protects the labour rights and socio-economic interests of railway workers, controls safe and fair working conditions for them, provides practical (legal support) and advisory legal assistance, and supports railway workers who find themselves in difficult life circumstances due to military operations.

Thanks to international organisations and charitable foundations, the trade union has been supporting Ukrainian railway workers with various charitable initiatives for three years already. The war is ongoing, so everyone's support is crucial.

For more information - visit our website https://zalp.org.ua/, Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/zalporg/