Ukrzaliznytsia head announces enhanced security measures due to enemy's threats to stop railway

Ukrzaliznytsia will strengthen control measures at stations and asks passengers to arrive at them in advance, preferably 20-30 minutes, and plan transfers with a margin, this is due to additional security measures in response to increased security risks and threats from enemy propagandists to stop the railway, Head of Ukrzaliznytsia board Oleksandr Pertsovsky said.

"We believe it is right to communicate openly about the risks we are counteracting. We are taking measures together with all the services involved to minimize these risks (including briefings for all railway workers on the line, speed limits, bonuses for employees for vigilance, many additional technical and organizational measures that are not worth shouting about)," he said on Facebook on Friday.

Pertsovsky apologized on the occasion and warned that due to the security measures being taken, "somewhere we will go slower, somewhere we will be delayed for additional control."

He also called on passengers to be as vigilant as possible about everything that is happening around them – at stations, around the tracks, and to report any suspicious actions, persons, objects to railway workers nearby or immediately to law enforcement.

According to the head of Ukrzaliznytsia board, the latest threats to strike the railway infrastructure are justified by supposedly "retaliatory" strikes. "But in reality, these are not threats and no response, but our daily reality for more than three years," he said.

Pertsovsky said that now every arrival in Kherson is accompanied by drones, people are waiting for the train to arrive in shelters, some cars are burned and there are dead.

"However, this will not force us to cut off communication with Ukrainian Kherson – in body armor and helmets, train drivers continue to drive trains, and track workers, signalmen, and power engineers – restore infrastructure after shelling. The same is true in Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and other regions," the head of Ukrzaliznytsia board said.

He reported that in total, the railway infrastructure was attacked more than 3,700 times. Crimes qualified as sabotage or terrorist acts about 300, as violations of the laws and customs of war over 400.

Pertsovsky added that now the enemy has become especially insidious: one by one, Ukrzaliznytsia employees are finding special devices on the tracks designed to derail trains, as well as means of photo fixation

"Continuing movement today is a daily risk. Let's talk about it frankly. The option of airlines that curtailed their work immediately from the start of full-scale is not an option for us, because the country must move, keep up and gain momentum. Let's unite, as in the first months after the enemy's invasion in 2022, be as vigilant as possible, treat each other with understanding, and the work of railway workers with maximum respect in order to get through this period of heightened risks focused and in good shape," the head of Ukrzaliznytsia board said.