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Spain to give 5,5 million to Ukraine for variable-gauge systems

Marco Raimondi — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 09:23:27 +0000

Spain and Ukraine are taking the next steps in their partnership to develop variable-gauge bogies. With a grant of 5,48 million euros, Madrid will help Kyiv in developing “a new innovative bogie for freight wagons with an automatic change of gauge from 1520mm to 1435mm”, Ukrainian Railways said.
The money will come from the Spanish government via a grant agreement on non-repayable funding, while the expertise will be provided by Spain’s infrastructure manager Adif and engineering company Tria. The project is the first one to receive money from the 200 million euros made available by Spain to help Ukraine at the end of last year.

Cheaper than new infrastructure

The technology would allow for bogies to automatically increase or decrease their width when the rail gauge changes. Ukraine has the same rail gauge as Russia (1520mm). The idea of implementing a standard gauge (1435mm, like most of Europe) was already in the air, but the war intensified the need for solutions. Given the high costs of building new infrastructure, variable gauge bogies gained in popularity.

Spain also has a different gauge compared to the rest of Europe (1600mm) and has been working on variable-gauge bogies since at least 2014. Thus, their expertise could prove significantly useful for Ukraine and its rail freight sector, which is in desperate need of new connections towards the West. Possible cooperation between the two countries was first explored in the summer of 2023 with the signing of a MoU in March 2024.

Ukrainian Railways auctions export services with retrofitted equipment

Nikos Papatolios — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 12:46:16 +0000

To stimulate grain exports via rail, Ukrainian Railways held an auction to sell transport services for company-owned grain wagons retrofitted for transportation in a 1,435 mm gauge. The auction took place on 5 October, and the objective was to provide more favourable prices for the bidders. The auctioned services concerned rail links to Romania and Poland, specifically through the Vadul-Siret, Dyakovo and Mostyska-2, Yagodyn border crossings.
Ukrainian railways mentioned that it implemented a ‘Dutch auction’ with the starting price for using its wagons set at 600 UAH per day (15,60 euros) and with the minimum possible charge set at 204 UAH per day (5,30 euros). These prices were based on transport fees within Ukraine, while international transit prices will be adjusted and made competitive in coordination with UZ Cargo Poland, the Polish subsidiary of Ukrainian Railways. UZ Cargo Poland will have a central role in these services since the winning bidders must conclude a contract with it to carry out the transport.

Not only for grain

“Currently, UZ Cargo Poland has signed contracts with five customers to use UZ wagons with 1,435 trolleys. All freight owners have equal access to the service of transporting goods in wagons of Ukrzaliznytsia, including abroad. At the same time, large private cargo owners give their wagons only for transporting their cargo. In this way, we do not limit the export of Ukrainian goods by railway transport, but on the contrary, we offer the market a competitive service”, commented Vyacheslav Yeremin, a member of the company’s board of directors.

The Ukrainian state-owned company has been attempting to retrofit parts of its fleet for operations on 1,435 mm gauge since the beginning of the war. The main target is retrofitting bogies. According to data from Ukrainian Railways, the company currently owns 1,810 working bogies for the 1,435 mm gauge, meaning they are enough to convert about 905 wagons to European gauge. However, these wagons are insufficient to cover the needs of Ukrainian Railways, which faces substantial equipment shortages. “Private car owners can manufacture or buy European bogies and continue to use our interchange points. The bogies will only be leased if the company has the capacity to do so,” highlighted Yeremin.

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Lighter weight bogies to change rail freight industry

Majorie van Leijen — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 13:40:30 +0000

Reseachers at the University of Huddersfield in the UK are looking into the possibility of manufacturing lighter weight bogies for the rail freight industry. With a reduction in weight, track damage, energy consumption and carbon emissions could be lowered. Furthermore, track access charges may become more attractive.

The research is carried out by the Institute of Railway Research, a participant in a project named Dynafreight, which in turn is a component of the EU-funded scheme Shift2Rail. The aim of the project is to seek innovative technical solutions for improved train dynamics and the operation of longer freight trains.

Weight reduction

When looking at weight in the various components of a train, the weight of the bogie has most impact on the damage caused to the track, explains IRR Research Fellow Samuel Hawksbee, a structural engineer. “We want to reduce the weight of these bogies by as much as possible, but the intended reduction is by 30 per cent.”

He explains that in order to realise this weight reduction, the focus of the research is on the use of higher-strength steels as an alternative to the mild steels normally used for bogie construction. However, vital to the success of this approach is the development of techniques for improved welding of joints. “Manufacturing techniques would have to change. The railway industry could learn from automotive manufacturers, who are well ahead in reducing the weight of components”, Hawksbee explained.

Impact

The outcome of the research is expected to have a major impact on the rail freight industry, as freight per train would become more attractive in various ways. For example, by causing less damage to the tracks, rail operations may be reduced in costs, making rail freight more competitive, argued Hawksbee. Further, lighter weight bogies have environmental benefits, adding to the environmental advantages of rail freight compared to freight per road. As such, the development of lighter weight bogies fits well into the European ambition to double the amount of freight carried by rail.

The research is carried out in conjunction with the Valencia plant of Swiss-based train manufacturer Stadler, which provided information on one of their bogies to provide insight in how these could be made lighter. The Shift2Rail project is a joint undertaking under the H2020 Research and Innovation Programme.