Ukrainian municipalities and civil society organizations have sent letters to the Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine O. Kuleba with a request to support the development and approval of a new edition of building codes regulating the planning and design of tram and trolleybus lines. As we reported earlier , the new edition of DBN V.2.3-18:20ХХ "Transport structures. Tram and trolleybus lines" is being developed in 2026 by the State Enterprise "Scientific Research and Design and Technological Institute of Urban Economy" at the request of the NGO "Vision Zero".
Official letters addressed to Minister Oleksiy Kuleba with a request to facilitate the approval of new building codes have already been sent by municipal enterprises and specialized departments from Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia and Chernihiv, as well as the association “CIVINET Ukraine”, the Association “Energy-Efficient Cities of Ukraine”, public organizations “Vision Zero” and “Ecodia”. In their appeals, the organizations emphasize the strategic importance of electric public transport and the need for its large-scale modernization and call on the Minister to include the approval of the DBN in the plans and priorities of the Ministry for 2026–2027.
The study “Comparative analysis of legislative and technical standards for electric public transport in Ukraine and EU countries” , conducted in 2024–2025 by the public organization “Vision Zero”, revealed that the current DBN V.2.3-18 “Transport structures. Tram and trolleybus lines” from 2007 (as amended) is entirely based on outdated Soviet approaches and typical solutions and creates numerous barriers to the implementation of modern, inclusive and safe solutions for the development of electric transport. The document contains numerous unfounded requirements, restrictions and regulations, the implementation of which is either impossible in modern urban planning conditions, or requires excessive expenditure of funds and materials. In addition, the entire document fundamentally does not meet the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Building Standards”, according to which preference should be given to parametric and target-based methods of standardization in construction as opposed to the outdated prescriptive method of standardization.
The initiative to update the DBN received broad support from local governments and the expert community. On January 29, 2026, consultation meeting No. 1 was held within the framework of the development of the new edition of the DBN V.2.3-18”, which was attended by 40 representatives of municipal enterprises, transport departments and private companies from 16 cities of Ukraine. The workshop participants presented and discussed more than 20 specific proposals on which norms could find a place in the future new edition, and which, on the contrary, it makes sense not to include, based on the principles of decentralization, subsidiarity and parametric regulation.
If your city or public organization also supports the development and approval of new, pro-European DBN for electric transport, we invite you to send a similar letter of support to the Minister of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine. If you wish to participate in the DBN development process, including in further consultation meetings, please write to our organization’s email address.
Previously, the NGO “Vision Zero” published a study assessing the cost of modernizing electric transport in Ukraine , in which the total investment need was estimated at 11.2 billion euros. We also invite you to read an informative analytical article on the CTS website entitled “Examples of new tram systems in Europe and why they are impossible in Ukraine” and a blog entitled “Soviet tram will not take you to Europe” .
