Mastering and development of industrial production of rolling stock in Ukraine (1991–2022)

The article attempts to investigate the historical circumstances of the mastering and development of the industrial production of rolling stock in Ukraine from 1991 to 2021. The aim of the article is to carry out a retrospective analysis of events and a historical and technical summary of the main measures, problems, and consequences of the development of industrial production of rolling stock in Ukraine from 1991 to 2021 on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of sources and scientific literature. In the course of the scientific development of the proposed research, materials from mass-circulation newspapers, industry publications of railway transport, as well as technical studies of employees of manufacturing plants were used. It has been determined that during 1991‒2008, the engineering and design team of HC «Luhanskteplovoz», having a strong scientific and production potential, by order of the State Administration of Railway Transport – Ukrzaliznytsia – for the purpose of import substitution, designed and mastered the industrial production of innovative models of rolling stock for social purposes, namely diesel trains DEL-01 and DEL-02, as well as electric trains EPL2T and EPL9T to meet the needs of Ukrainian railways with high-tech equipment. It has been found that with the beginning of the economic and financial crisis of 2008 and a significant reduction in Ukrzaliznytsia's orders, the production of rolling stock at the facilities of HC “Luhanskteplovoz” was actually stopped, and the enterprise, privatized by a Russian investor, focused mainly on the production of locomotives. Instead, since 2012, the production of rolling stock on its own design platform has been mastered as part of the diversification of PJSC “Kriukiv Railway Car Building Works”. In the end, the historical experience of the formation and development of the Ukrainian research and production base of railway engineering needs to be properly understood in the context of a retrospective analysis of the industry's production activities to clarify the reasons for its inefficient development, as well as the determination of conceptual ways of harmonizing the domestic design and technological potential with the actual needs for updating the fleet of traction rolling stock of global transport operators. Further research into the history of the development of railway mechanical engineering in Ukraine requires clarification of the historical circumstances of the institutionalization of design bureaus of individual enterprises in the direction of scientific research activities.