The head of Ukrainian Railways apologised to customers for recent delays on the nation’s railway network. The apology was made to international and domestic customers by Oleksandr Kamyshin in an interview given to BBC. British Rail leaders have come under fire for their performance of late, but Kamyshin really was under fire. The live interview went ahead, despite an air raid.

Despite being bombed during the transmission, Oleksandr Kamyshin, the boss of Ukrainian Railways, went ahead with a live interview for the BBC. Speaking to presenter Paddy O’Connell, he told the radio audience how the operation to bring US president Joe Biden to Kyiv by rail had been conducted in complete secrecy last Sunday (19 February). The Ukraine railway network has been repeatedly targeted by the Russian military in an effort to cripple the country’s logistics chain.

Total secrecy

Last week, Ukrainian Railways conveyed US president Joe Biden to a meeting in Kyiv with his counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The operation was quickly dubbed “Rail Force One” in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the official designation of the US presidential aircraft. The journey from the Polish border took ten hours – a fact remarked upon in the British media as “an entirely acceptable commute for most British travellers”.

Despite an air raid siren, the boss of Ukrainian Railways explained how the operation had been carried out. “No leakage happened until after the operation had been completed and president Biden arrived in Kyiv”, Kamyshin said in the interview conducted in English. “We managed to keep it silent, together with our partners.”

Apologies for delay

The movement of Rail Force One caused considerable disruption to the network timetable in Ukraine. Kamyshin apologised for that inconvenience. “We had to delay [very many] trains”, he said. “It was really painful for me and my team because we usually pride ourselves for being on schedule. This time we had to do it on purpose and I really apologise. Next day I really apologised to my passengers and customers because we had to bring Rail Force One safe to Kyiv and back.”

“Putin said it will take three days to bring Ukraine to heel. Well, on day 362 we brought president Biden to Kyiv to meet with our president. So you can imagine it was really important to show that the US president can come to [our capital] as well as many other world leaders though our ‘iron diplomacy’ – and the use of our railways is a symbol that we are winning this war.”

More than three hundred killed on duty

Despite enemy action, the railway in Ukraine has been praised for time-keeping that would stand muster in most other European countries, where typical hazards are confined to missed connections and leaves on the line. Most readers are already familiar with the shocking images of a line of Russian tanks crossing the rails in front of a Ukrainian train, endangering everyone. Such incidents have been common problems for Kamyshin and the planners at Ukrainian Railways.

More than three hundred railway workers have been killed in the first year of the war, either in action as volunteers in the armed forces, or on railway duty. Kamyshin paid tribute to them, and emphasised the importance of the railways in the peacetime and wartime economy of the country. “We stand since day one in this war. We are the largest company in Ukraine, with 261,000 people behind me”, he said. “People should have something reliable, even during war. The railway is one of the most important things and should be reliable so that people know it shouldn’t be a problem to move [themselves or goods]. Railways is that kind of transportation [and reliable part of the civic fabric].”