People work next to a railway containers carrying a spent nuclear fuel, on the construction site of the Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Facility (ISF-2) next to the Chernobyl Nuclear Power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 22, 2016. (Xinhua/SIPA)

KIEV, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine plans to invest up to 6.1 billion U.S. dollars within the next five years to modernize its railway infrastructure, the head of the state-run company Ukrainian Railways Wojciech Balczun announced here on Monday.

"Our five-year strategy envisages upgrade, renewal or purchase of about 40 percent of the passenger rolling stock," Balczun told reporters during a press conference.

He said about two-thirds of the total investment will be used for the renovation of outdated trains, some of which are operating for more than 30 years.

The Ukrainian Railways operate a railway network of about 22,000 kilometers, accounting for about 50 percent of the country's passenger traffic and 82 percent of the cargo transportation.

Last year, the company provided services to 439 million passengers and carried about 344 million tons of cargoes.