{"id":1316784,"date":"2025-11-06T12:19:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/how-ukrzaliznytsia-turned-into-a-rusty-symbol-of-the-era-of-effective-faces\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T04:58:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T02:58:43","slug":"how-ukrzaliznytsia-turned-into-a-rusty-symbol-of-the-era-of-effective-faces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/how-ukrzaliznytsia-turned-into-a-rusty-symbol-of-the-era-of-effective-faces\/","title":{"rendered":"Rust, Corruption, and Empty Promises: How Ukrzaliznytsia Became the Symbol of Ukraine\u2019s \u201cEffective Managers\u201d Era"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Author’s Facebook<\/a> page<\/em><\/p>\n

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Once the pride of Ukrainian industry and a lifeline connecting cities and people, Ukrzaliznytsia has turned into a monument to mismanagement, political appointments, and endless \u201creforms.\u201d Behind the glossy talk of modernization lies a system corroded by inefficiency, where every attempt to \u201csave\u201d the railway seems only to push it closer to derailment.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The last time this giant breathed profit was back in 2018 \u2014 when the country was still managed by a professional, not an actor auditioning for his own series. Back then, Ukrzaliznytsia brought in a modest but honest profit of 280 million hryvnias \u2014 earned, not carved off.<\/p>\n

Then the team from Bankova stepped onto the tracks \u2014 and the train set off straight toward \u201cfree fall.\u201d Five or six \u201cgeniuses\u201d replaced one another at the speed of a suburban express, each promising a \u201creboot,\u201d but in reality, simply overloading their own pockets. The result: passenger traffic down by twenty billion, freight in a coma, and the tracks turned into a farce.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry! There\u2019s a new strategy \u2014 three thousand kilometers of happiness! No trains, no locomotives, no staff, but plenty of branded selfies. Perhaps it\u2019s brilliant: why repair the rails when you can film the project in PowerPoint and present it on a national telethon?<\/p>\n

The audit department at Ukrzaliznytsia was quietly shut down \u2014 apparently, so the sound of calculators wouldn\u2019t drown out the rustle of theft. The supervisory board, as in all good fairy tales, supervises only its own bonuses.<\/p>\n

And now the skinny symbol of \u201creform\u201d \u2014 Mr. Leshchenko \u2014 stands in his branded hoodie at the Verkhovna Rada podium and declares:
\u201cThe railway can stop!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Would you like me to make this piece sound more newspaper-editorial<\/strong> (sharper, more political) or more magazine-feature<\/strong> (ironic, storytelling tone)?<\/p>\n\t\t