United Multimodal › Freight
We don’t find out at the border. Neither do you.
Planning the crossing is routine. Having somewhere else to plan to is not. We run our own trains through every freight crossing on the Poland–Ukraine border, and we hold a path on each one before you need it.
- Today’s plan— the crossing we would route you through
- The fallback— already pathed, before you need it
What runs on our paths
Five kinds of train. One licence behind all of them.
We are a licensed railway undertaking, not a broker with a phone. That means the train is ours to plan, and the five things below are moves we run ourselves rather than pass on.
Sea containers
Boxes off the vessel at Gdańsk or Gdynia, on our platforms, to a Ukrainian terminal. One loading unit the whole way — nobody opens it at the border.
Specialised containers
Our own dry bulk boxes, held through UMC in Poland and GCS in Ukraine. 43.5 m³ on a standard 20 ft footprint, so grain reaches the wagon’s weight limit instead of filling up short.
Fertiliser
Our own forty-unit gondola set, running east out of Gdańsk. Owned outright, which is why the capacity is there when the season turns and everyone else is short.
Diesel
Tank wagons, EU into Ukraine. A regulated cargo with its own paperwork, and the reason we keep customs work in-house rather than handing it to an agency.
Grain
Standard hoppers, Ukraine to the Polish ports. The workhorse move on this corridor, and the one where the crossing you use decides whether the train is early or parked.
Whichever crossing is open, we already hold a path on it.
Five rail freight crossings on the Poland–Ukraine border. Planning the crossing is routine — having somewhere else to plan to is not.
Schematic. Line order and junctions are correct; distances and geography are not to scale.
| Poland | Ukraine | Gauge | Reached via |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorohusk | Jagodzin | 1435 | Kovel |
| Hrubieszów | Izov | 1520 | Kovel |
| Hrebenne | Rawa Ruska | 1435 | Lviv |
| Werchrata | Rawa Ruska | 1435 | Lviv |
| Medyka | Mostiska II | 1435 | Lviv |
Hrubieszów–Izov feeds the LHS — 1520 mm broad gauge running 394.65 km to Sławków. The only track in the EU a Ukrainian wagon travels that far without changing bogies.
Block trains from 2,000 tonnes. Grain west, fuel and fertiliser east, containers both ways.
Why a choice is the point
A carrier with one crossing has one answer, every time.
Everyone plans the crossing. That part is ordinary and every competent operator does it. The difference is what your plan is worth on the morning one of them stops.
We plan with a choice, which is the only reason the plan can be the right one. That is not a promise that nothing goes wrong at a border — it is a statement about what we can do when it does. The paths are held before you need them, so a reroute is a dispatching decision rather than a new application.
Where 1520 meets 1435
Two gauges meet at this border. One line does not stop.
Ukraine runs on 1520 mm track. The EU runs on 1435. Something has to give at the border, and what gives decides your transit time.
The transload costs a day
Cargo comes off one wagon and goes onto another. That is a day, a handling, and every handling is a chance to lose weight, mix grades or break a seal.
The LHS skips it
Broad gauge runs from the border deep into Poland. When your lane fits it, the wagon keeps rolling and nothing is handled at all.
Containers skip it too
A box is lifted from one wagon to the next in minutes and the seal stays intact. That is the argument behind our specialised bulk containers.
Which one you get is a planning decision
Not a preference. It depends on the cargo, the receiving terminal and what is open that week. We tell you which before you book, not after.
Proof, not adjectives
What you can check before you call.
Everything below is either a public record or an asset with a number on it. None of it is a claim you have to take on trust.
Where we are the wrong answer
What we will not take.
Saying this early is cheaper for both of us than saying it in week three.
- NoSingle wagons or part loads. We run block trains. Below roughly 2,000 tonnes the economics stop working and you will get a better price elsewhere.
- NoRoad haulage. We do not own trucks and we do not sub-contract them. First and last mile is yours or your terminal’s.
- NoRetail or private shipments. This is a business-to-business service on a rail corridor.
- NoPoland to Germany. Well served by others and not where our paths or our people are.
Questions before the first train
Which border crossings do you use?
All five freight crossings on the Poland–Ukraine border: Dorohusk–Jagodzin, Hrubieszów–Izov, Werchrata–Rawa Ruska, Hrebenne–Rawa Ruska and Medyka–Mostiska II. Which one your cargo takes is decided when we plan the run, and it can change after the train is moving.
What is the smallest shipment you take?
A block train. In practice that is about 2,000 tonnes, or a full rake of wagons. We do not take single wagons or part loads, and we will say so on the first call rather than waste your week.
Do you own the wagons, or rent them?
Both. We own a forty-unit gondola set outright and run leased wagons alongside it. We also hold the railway undertaking licence, which is the part nobody can rent.
What is the LHS and why does it matter?
It is the broad-gauge line that runs from the Ukrainian border deep into Poland, so 1520 mm wagons keep going without a transload. When it fits your lane it removes a day and one cargo handling. When it does not, we plan around a standard-gauge crossing instead.
What do you carry?
Sea containers, our own specialised bulk containers, fertiliser in our own gondolas, diesel in tank wagons, and grain in standard hoppers. Grain and oilseed move west out of Ukraine; fuel and fertiliser move east into it; containers go both ways.
How fast do you answer?
One working day, with a price. If we cannot serve the lane, you get that in the same message instead of silence.
One lane
Send us one lane. You get a price in one working day.
Where it loads, where it goes, how many tonnes. You get back which crossing we would route it through, the lead time on each, and what happens to your cargo when one of them closes.
If rail is the wrong answer for your volume, we will say that instead of quoting you anyway.