Gary Essex reports on the courage and dedication shown by Ukraine’s railway workers, as they defy life-threatening conditions to keep the country’s rail network operational.
When Russia invaded in February 2022, escalating the conflict that had begun eight years earlier, Ukraine’s airspace was closed to civilian traffic owing to the threat of missile attack.
For Ukrainian Railways - Ukrzaliznytsia - that meant an increase in passenger numbers, along with the task of evacuating people from conflict areas.
In the first week of the invasion, the UN reported that more than a million refugees had fled Ukraine. That figure had topped eight million by February 2023.
Since then, a significant number have returned, especially to the western and southern regions away from the conflict zone, although there are still around eight million displaced people inside Ukraine.
The vast majority of these refugees have moved by rail, with 61,000 people evacuated by train from frontline settlements in 2023. The railways have taken on this increased workload along with several other new roles, including military traffic and carrying politicians to Kyiv for meetings.
Evacuation trains returning empty from the west were soon utilised by volunteers to deliver humanitarian aid to the affected regions.
When US President Joe Biden wanted to visit Kyiv, he boarded a train for the ten-hour journey from Przemysl in Poland. Most of the government heads of EU and NATO countries, as well as other VIPs including Bono, Angelina Jolie and Sean Penn, have taken trains to Kyiv. Ukrzaliznytsia calls catering to this new class of passengers “iron diplomacy”.
During the early months of the invasion, the railway’s senior leadership stayed constantly aboard moving command trains, both to avoid Russian attacks as well as to reassure staff in far-flung regions across the country.
When the early stages of the invasion had been repelled, they returned to their offices in Kyiv, carrying on with repairs to the damaged network and planning for the future. Initially, the Kremlin was not actively targeting critical rail infrastructure such as bridges and depots, assuming that it would take control of the country quickly and depend on the same infrastructure.
But after the Ukrainian counter-offensive, the network has sustained a significant amount of damage, both from the retreating ground forces and air attacks.
And there have been hundreds of casualties among Ukraine’s railway workers. To date, 684 railway workers have been killed and almost 2,000 wounded, with a further 460 losing their homes.
Attacks on the network have also killed scores of civilians.
In April 2022, a missile strike on a crowded platform at Kramatorsk station, in Donetsk Oblast, killed 60 and wounded 150.
Four months later, on August 24 (Ukraine’s Independence Day), a rocket attack on a station in Chaplyne, in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killed 25 and wounded 31 more.
The Kyiv School of Economics estimated that by September 2023, Russians had damaged $4.3 billion (£3.4bn) in railway infrastructure and rolling stock. And to date, Ukrzaliznytsia has stated that around $16bn (£12.5bn) is needed for reconstruction work, including several major bridges.
Across the north and east of the country, Ukrzaliznytsia has restored service to more than a dozen liberated stations.
In November 2022, passengers arrived in Kupyansk, in the Kharkiv region, a month after it had been liberated.
The retreating Russians had blown up the bridge connecting two sides of the city, and shelled the city heavily, damaging the station.
However, passengers were able to disembark short of the bridge and continue their journey on a floating pontoon.
Whenever the army pushed Russians out of occupied towns and villages, Ukrzaliznytsia was close behind them - often working to repair damaged infrastructure under fire, and at record speed. Repairs that would previously have taken a year now took weeks or months.
Oleksandr Kamyshin, the 38-year-old chief executive of Ukrzaliznytsia, says: “We have a rule: our tanks go in first, followed by our trains. Once our troops reclaim our territory, our job is to restore rail service there as quickly as possible.”
According to released data from UZ, damage to the network is being repaired quickly where possible, although some infrastructure takes longer. Two major bridges were destroyed, and reconstruction is a multi-million-euro project.
As of June 2024: 83 bridges have been destroyed and 46 have been rebuilt; 25km (15.5 miles) of track has been rebuilt of 52km destroyed; and of 2,000km (1,242 miles) of damaged and destroyed overhead line equipment, 700km has been reinstated.
As well as maintaining and repairing infrastructure, UZ has paid attention to existing stations and their facilities.
With 80% of ticket sales now online, Kyiv’s ticket office has been replaced by ‘Iron Land’ - a UNICEF-funded space offering a friendly, welcoming environment for families. With toys, model railways, table tennis and libraries, the centre caters for all ages.
The concept was to give a calm space for families fleeing the violence further east, showing children that railway stations aren’t intimidating places that only hold memories of war.
It’s part of an effort by UZ to make its stations nationwide into more attractive public places. More have opened in Odesa, Lviv, and in the shelter at Kharkiv station. UZ also intends to rebuild some of its carriages to incorporate play spaces, as the fleet goes through a modernisation programme.
Despite the huge pressure placed on the staff and infrastructure since February 2022, services have continued with a remarkable level of punctuality, achieving a 95% rate (something some other European nations struggle to achieve in everyday conditions).
There are many reasons why the railways continue to function so well in a war zone.
The network is expansive, with diversionary routes available and diesel traction on around half the network. A huge number of employees are also available to repair damage and accommodate the extra roles.
Communications are key. UZ operates a Soviet-era closed phone system that connects every station, and which has been invaluable not only for keeping railway management updated on the situation across the country, but also (especially in the early weeks) supplying military intelligence.
A large number of traffic controllers and other staff live trackside, enabling them to feed back information such as how many Russian tanks had passed them or how many paratroopers had landed. That intelligence was passed directly to senior managers and onto the military.
Railway staff are even more highly regarded by people across Ukraine than they were before the invasion.
In a country whose citizens have shown extraordinary resilience and determination, they have demonstrated they are prepared to do whatever is needed to keep the railways operational.
With many volunteering to carry on working in dangerous areas to ensure evacuees reach safety, and working to repair the network while under fire from Russian drones and artillery, it is small wonder that they are known in Ukraine as the ‘Iron People’.
International connections
Previously, there was only minor passenger traffic to Hungary, Moldova and Slovakia, and none to Romania, but all are now connected.
The service level to Poland has increased from two to 12 daily, and more are planned.
There were around 20 connections with Russia and seven between Belarus and Ukraine, all of which are now closed.
Line gauges referred to are standard (1,435mm) and broad/Ukrainian gauge (,1520mm)
UKRAINE-POLAND
Yahodyn-Dorohusk
Two lines, one standard, one broad gauge - freight and passenger.
The standard gauge line extends eastwards to a transshipment facility at Kovel, 59km east of Yahodyn, and the broad gauge terminates at an oil installation near Chelm.
Both lines are used by freight over their full length. The standard gauge track is electrified as far as Dorohusk. PKP (Polish Railways) operates a Warsaw-Kyiv overnight service on the standard gauge line to/from Yahodyn, where bogie exchange takes place.
Hrubieszów-Izov
A broad gauge line betwen Slawków (near Katowice, Poland) and Vladimir (Ukraine). Current use is limited to freight and ‘road-train’ services. There is currently a project to electrify the section from Kovel in Ukraine to Hrubieszów (the line was formerly part of PKP and called ‘Steel and Sulphur Rail’).
Hrebenne-Rava Ruska
A PKP-operated, standard gauge through service to/from Warsaw used this line, but it was withdrawn in June 2005. No freight traffic can operate as lines to interchange sidings at Rava Ruska have been dismantled
Werchrata-Rava Ruska
A broad gauge, freight-only crossing operated by UZ, with very limited traffic. The lines on the Polish side, serving transhipment sidings, are all out of use
Medyka-Mostyska II
PKP and UZ operate a daily overnight service between L’viv and Wroclaw/Warsaw.
The standard and broad gauge lines, which take different alignments within Poland, were previously used on alternate days in each direction. In one direction the train changed gauge at Mostyska II by means of a gauge changer, and in the other direction the other train performed a manual bogie change at Przemysl, but this ended in 2017.
In 2016, UZ introduced a direct Kyiv-L’viv-Przemysl daytime inter-city service, using a modern broad gauge electric multiple unit (HRCS2 Hyundai Rotem) with on-board customs control.
This was doubled in August 2017, when Ukrainian citizens no longer needed visas to visit the EU, with the additional service running on a different route between L’viv and Kyiv.
UZ also runs broad gauge freight trains to yards within Poland, and PKP operates standard gauge freight services to Mostyska II. On the Polish side, the broad gauge continues to Zurawica. On the Ukrainian side, the standard gauge track ends at a transhipment facility 3km east of Mostyska II station.
Malhowice-Nyzhankovychi
Closed as a through route, dual gauge. Until early 1995, PKP operated a standard gauge Warsaw-Zagorz corridor train through Ukraine via this route and the Kroscienko-Stariava crossing.
By July 2004, much of the standard gauge track within Ukraine was removed north of Dobromyl, with PKP standard gauge sidings remaining on a stub from Przemysl to Przemysl Bakonczyce.
Following the lifting of visa restrictions, there has been suggestions that this route may reopen to passengers, and on the Polish side vegetation clearance took place in 2016, along with repair work by UZ.
Up to December 2018 there were several cross-border trains with politicians, tourists, journalists and volunteers on board. The Polish government now has plans to rebuild this line
Kroscienko-Star’iava
Standard gauge, but closed to all traffic since 2010. Formerly carried local passenger services between Sanok and Khyriv, and some freight.
UKRAINE-SLOVAKIA
Chop is an important rail junction in the south-west of Ukraine, where the L’viv-Stryi-Chop-Cierna nad Tisou-Kosice-Bratislava line meets the L’viv-Uzhgorod-Kosice line.
On the Ukrainian side is Chop station, with Cierna nad Tisou station on the Slovakian side, on the TEN-T network as part of the Rhine-Danube Core Network Corridor, with dual gauge track between the two stations and a transhipment yard at Cierna nad Tisou
Uzhhoro-Mat’ovce.
A single broad gauge 88km (55-mile) freight line mainly used for iron ore deliveries to the US Steel factory in Kosice, via a transhipment yard at Haniska
UKRAINE-HUNGARY
Záhony-Chop
Mainly dual gauge, although the standard gauge is most used. Passenger services are operated by MÁV (Hungarian Railways) diesel locomotives, with passengers from Ukraine changing at Chop and Zahony. There is some standard gauge freight from Zahony via Chop to Mukacheve in Ukraine.
eske-Rendező-Bat’ovo
A dual gauge line, although the standard gauge tracks are out of use. Freight traffic only, using the broad gauge tracks to and from the gauge-changing and transfer facilities in Eperjeske. Standard gauge traffic runs via Záhony-Chop.
Construction of a new 22km standard gauge electrified line between Chop and Uzhhorod commenced in April 2024 and is expected to be open in autumn 2025.
UKRAINE-ROMANIA
Halmeu-Diakove.
Freight only, dual gauge, part of the TEN-T network. The broad gauge runs to the gauge-change and transfer facilities at Halmeu and an oil depot near Porumbesti. The standard gauge runs via the Ukrainian corridor line to Chop, with links to and from Cierna nad Tisou in Slovakia and Záhony in Hungary.
Campulung la Tisa-Teresva.
Out of use, broad gauge only.
Valea Viseului-Dilove
Broad gauge only, and out of use since April 2006 due to serious flood damage. Rebuilt and reopened in January 2023 as an alternative route to Romania instead of the vulnerable Zatoka bridge in Odesa.
Vicsani-Vadul Syret
Freight and passenger traffic, part of the TEN-T network. Sofia-Bucharest-Kyiv/Moscow services ran via this route, but were suspended in December 2014. Some daily services exist. There are gauge-changing facilities at Vadul Syret.
Galati-Reni
Freight only, with dual gauge between the transhipment area at Galati and the port of Giurgiulesti. The broad gauge continues to Reni in Ukraine.
Constanta-Illichivs’k (train ferry)
Freight only, broad gauge, with bogie-changing facilities at Constanta.
UKRAINE-MOLDOVA.
As both countries were part of the former USSR, both operate on broad gauge. There were around ten cross-border connections, of which several are freight only. Some are for local services and the status of most is unknown.
The Basarabeasca-Serpneve I route was closed around 2002 ,but reopened for freight in 2023 to avoid the breakaway territory of Transnistria. There is currently a daily Chisinau-Kyiv passenger service operating.
In June 2022, the Infrastructure Ministries of Moldova and Ukraine signed an agreement to develop rail connections between the two countries.
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