Donations from British rail companies paid for nearly 7,500 food parcels to be delivered to Ukrainian Railways employees and their families.

Over £106,000 was raised by industry body Rail Partners to support the Ukrainian rail workers, which paid or food packages that included a variety of essentials, and all bought from local producers in Ukraine to support the economy.

The railway employees are known locally as the ‘Iron People’, and many of them live close to the front lines or have had to flee their homes and become internally displaced.

Included in the packages were essentials such as oil, sugar, flour, salt, pasta, rice, corn and wheat cereals, canned fish and meat, pate, tea, and biscuits. The donations also paid for household cleaning products for rail workers living in temporary accommodation.

The donations were raised at a ‘Rail Partners with Ukraine’ fundraiser in September 2023, which was attended by Rail Partners and its private-sector passenger-owning groups, freight operating companies, and other industry colleagues. The money raised went into a wider effort by the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force which also received financial support from American, Norwegian and Swedish rail companies.

The charity WE Aid arranged the delivery of the aid and the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of Ukraine distributed it to the workers and their families.

In January, a Global Ukraine Rail Task Force delegation travelled to Kyiv to see at first-hand the challenges facing Ukrainian rail workers. Among the British delegates were Andy Bagnall, Rail Partners chief executive, Steve Montgomery, managing director of First Rail, and David Brown, managing director of Arriva Trains.

Throughout the Russian invasion, Ukrainian railways has played a key role, helping to evacuate civilians, providing a vital lifeline for grain exports, helping with troop movements, and evacuating injured personnel.

The Global Ukraine Rail Task Force continues to collect donations to support Ukrainian railway workers. Anyone wishing to donate to the cause can do so by clicking here.

We have focussed on working together with Ukraine’s rail trade union to provide large food packages and water to rail sector workers and their families who have given so much to the Ukrainian rail sector and are often called the second army.

‘Together, all of us in the global rail family can make a real difference to the lives of rail compatriots in Ukraine.

Andy Bagnall, Rail Partners chief executive