Nine months have passed since the beginning of the brutal war that Russia is waging against Ukraine. The rail sector has played a crucial role over this period: evacuating refugees, bringing in humanitarian supplies and much more. With the aviation sector closed, it is the lifeline for the country. Its role is so important it is called Ukraine’s “second army”.

Last week, German and European Union leaders gathered experts together to start work on what Germany’s chancellor described as a “new Marshall Plan” for the rebuilding of Ukraine.

The Marshall Plan helped revive democratic western European economies after the Second World War. Now in 2022, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is looking at “how to ensure and how to sustain the financing of the recovery, reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine for years”. The New Marshall Plan would be such an effort. 

The Global Ukraine Rail Task Force is a group of rail sector professionals working on a voluntary basis to help the Ukraine rail sector during this crisis.  We welcome this call by European Leaders for a “Ukraine Marshall Plan”.

Indeed: Ukraine Railways CEO and Task Force member Oleksandr Kamyshin already called for such a Marshall Plan last spring. 

Meanwhile, our Task Force Chair Jolene Molitoris now follows Kamyshin with her call for a Marshall Plan specifically for the Ukraine rail sector. This is due to its central and critical role both now and during the future reconstruction of the country.

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