Ukrainian Railways to employ veterans to patrol its facilities with drones

Ukrzaliznytsia creates a unit of war veterans to protect railroad infrastructure with drones, the press service reports.

What is the problem?

Russia is systematically attacking Ukraine's transportation and logistics infrastructure to damage export potential and disrupt domestic transportation. Ukrainian Railways company has also suffered severe damage.

More than 10,200 employees of the service are fighting in the ranks of the Ukrainian forces. Of these, 1,000 veterans have returned home, and this number is constantly growing.

"Our most important mission during the war is to support enlisted railroad workers and keep in touch with them. It is also to create all conditions for the resumption of those returning from the war, and to give all those mobilized confidence that they are needed and are expected at work. We are doing everything we can to help them return to the workplace and realize their potential, and we are becoming even stronger together with them," said Yevhen Liashchenko, the Ukrzaliznytsia Chairman.

What is the solution?

Ukrzaliznytsia is setting up a unit that will use drones to monitor and protect rail infrastructure. It will be staffed by railroad veterans who have been injured and returned from the front.

How does it work?

The initiative will help ensure the protection of railway facilities and enable veterans to apply their military experience and skills in civilian work.

The training will be conducted via an online platform for veterans.

Instructors will be engaged in retraining railroad veterans in piloting drones, engineering, and maintenance.

Drones will be used to combat property theft at stations and tracks, record offenses, detect fuel theft from locomotives and inspect infrastructure during martial law. The first step will be to create a test unit.

The enterprise has planned to create a network that will help ensure the efficiency of the railroad in the future.