Grain farmers complain that a lack of state railroad locomotives is causing farmers to miss port delivery deadlines.

Grain farmers complain that a lack of state railroad locomotives is causing farmers to miss port delivery deadlines. “Due to a lack of traction, wagons stand idle at stations and elevators,” Ukrainian Agribusiness Club complains, charging that the farm gate to sea port turnaround time for a grain wagon has doubled in two years, to two weeks. As grain production rises, the farm group charges that only 500 of Ukrzaliznytsia’s 2,500 locomotives work. Last week, the state railways told reporters that its ‘youngest’ freight locomotive was built in 2000. The average age for its freight locomotives is 40 years old.