About 20,000 rail workers – about 5% of Ukrzaliznytsia’s 400,000-strong workforce – have left since 2016 to work in Central Europe, largely Poland

About 20,000 rail workers – about 5% of Ukrzaliznytsia’s 400,000-strong workforce – have left since 2016 to work in Central Europe, largely Poland, Yevhen Kravtsov, the railroad’s chairman, complains to reporters. Most damaging, he says, is the loss of trained machinists. Compared to other railroads in the former Soviet Union, Ukrzaliznytsia’s average salaries are 10-15% below Kazakhstan, 20% below Belarus, and 20-25% below Russia. Last week, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan promised to raise rail worker salaries by 15%.