Launch of a humanitarian rail bridge between Ukraine and Prague with partners – Ukraine
People in Need and RegioJet, together with ČD Cargo and Rail Cargo Group, are launching a daily humanitarian “rail bridge” to connect Prague and other cities in the Czech Republic with Ukraine.
People in Need will be responsible for the logistics of humanitarian aid on these trains, with our director Simon Panek noting that “logistics and security issues have so far prevented us from bringing more humanitarian aid into the country; the needs are huge. The joint project to use trains with transfer to Ukrainian Railways and distribution to various places in the invaded country is great, and if it takes off, it will mean hundreds and hundreds of tons, and that is already a really important help.”
In total, the following sum was collected at 9:00 p.m. on March 3: 920,000,000 CZK
These sentiments were echoed by Radim Jančura, owner of RegioJet, who stated that “the train will be used for the humanitarian transport of people free of charge. At the same time, in the direction of Ukraine, it will transport food, medicine, hygiene products supplies, sleeping bags and other requested aids. The train will have both sleeping cars with a total capacity of up to 400 seats (with sufficient capacity for luggage) and pallet cars for the transportation of humanitarian cargo up to 600 pallets per day, according to In total, we rely on up to 20 car trains – we will provide Ukraine with a large daily capacity for transporting people and humanitarian aid.
In addition, RegioJet will cover the costs of the operation. Humanitarian trains will run at night from Prague to Přemyšl near the Polish-Ukrainian border. Then, in cooperation with Ukrainian Railways, it will continue via Lviv to Kiev. The return service will run from Lviv to Přemyšl with a change to a RegioJet sleeper train serving Ostrava, Olomouc, Pardubice and Prague. The cross-border rail link is the fastest way to evacuate women and children from the war zone.
The Czech company ČD Cargo and the Austrian company Rail Cargo Group will supply the freight wagons. In addition to Ukrainian citizens fleeing the war, they will also be used by aid workers and other helpers in Ukraine or at its borders.
We would like to thank Regiojet and ČD Cargo for providing this vital means of transport and Camping sro, Pastee, Mana, Hervis, Alza, Rohlik, Rewe (Penny, Billa), Mall CZ, Drogerie Teta and Benu for their humanitarian assistance!
contacts
AID FOR UKRAINE: CONTACT FOR DONORS AND MEDIA
Fund raising
+420 775 607 028
dary.ukrajina@clovekvtisni.cz
Author: Člověk v tísni
