Investment Support for Sustainable Development of Railway Transport Enterprises in Ukraine in the Context of Post-War Recovery and European Integration

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the foundations of investment support for the sustainable development of railway transport enterprises in Ukraine in light of the challenges of the full-scale war, the needs of post-war reconstruction and the obligations related to integration into the European transport space. The purpose of the study is to substantiate conceptual approaches to forming a comprehensive mechanism for attracting capital for the restoration and modernisation of the industry based on ESG principles. The research methods include the analysis and synthesis of statistical indicators of the financial and economic activity of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" for the period 2022–2025, a comparative analysis of the structure of investment sources in Ukraine and the European Union countries, the systematisation of the regulatory framework and a critical review of recent scientific publications indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The results made it possible to reveal a significant imbalance in the structure of capital investments in the industry, to assess the direct losses of railway infrastructure caused by enemy attacks, to systematise four groups of sources of financing the recovery (internal, public, international and private) and to propose ESG criteria as a filter for investment decisions. An integrated model of the investment support mechanism is proposed, which combines diversified sources of capital, the environmental, social and governance filter and a sequence of implementation stages - from diagnostics of the current state to monitoring of results. The conclusions confirm that the diversification of capital sources, adherence to ESG criteria and the alignment of projects with the TEN-T and ERTMS standards constitute a necessary precondition for the transformation of economic relations in the industry and contribute to enhancing the financial stability, investment attractiveness and competitiveness of Ukrainian railway transport. The obtained results provide a basis for further development of practical recommendations for state authorities, the management of JSC "Ukrzaliznytsia" and potential investors.