Chernihiv–Ovruch railway

Last updated
Chernihiv–Ovruch railway
Zaliznichnii vokzal Chernigiv.jpg
Chernihiv station building and platforms
Overview
Native name Ukrainian: Дільниця Чернігів–Овруч
Russian: Участок Чернигов–Овруч
Belarusian: Ўчастак Чарнігаў–Оўруч
StatusPartially active (84.4 km)
Owner Ukrainian Railways (UZ)
Locale Ukraine, Belarus
Termini
Service
Type Commuter rail
Operator(s) Southwestern Railways (PZZ)
History
Opened1930 (1930)
Technical
Line length177.5 km (110.3 mi)
Track gauge 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) (Russian)
Electrification 25 kV 50 Hz AC (84,4 km)

Contents

The Chernihiv–Ovruch railway is a partially electrified [4] and partially operational single track railway line that stretches between the town of Ovruch and the city of Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, passing through southern Belarus and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The line is owned by Ukrzaliznytsia alone, with railway stations located in Belarus being leased from the government of Belarus. A portion of the line between railway stations Vilcha and Semykhody has not been in service since the Chernobyl disaster, on 26 April 1986.

History

The line's construction started in 1928, as part of a modernization and development program of Southwestern Railways (Ukrainian : Південно-Західна залізниця). It was opened for passenger traffic in 1930. [5] [6] Partially abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, it works in its eastern section, between Chernihiv and Semikhody, a terminus station near Pripyat serving the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This line section was electrified in 1988. [7] [8]

Route

Chernihiv-Slavutych-Pripyat

The line begins at the central station of Chernihiv, capital of the Chernihiv Oblast, located on the Minsk-Gomel-Kyiv line. After two minor stops within the city, it passes through a few small villages in Chernihiv Raion. At Zhukotky station began a now closed branch to Karkhivka and Zhydinychi. 36 km (22 mi) after Chernihiv the line reaches Slavutych, a city built in 1986 for the refugees fleeing the Chernobyl disaster. Its station replaced the pre-existing "Nerafa", demolished to build a larger station for the new city. [9]

After the stops in Lisnyi (in Slavutych) and Nedanchychi (in Chernihiv Raion) the line enters Belarus' Oblast of Gomel, passing over the Dnieper river. The station of Iolcha is the only functioning stop working on the Belarusian part of the line. It serves the villages of Staraya Iolcha, Novaya Iolcha, Krasnoe, and the near town of Kamaryn, all in Brahin Raion. After Iolcha, the line enters in the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, created to enclose the territory of Belarus most affected by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident, through three abandoned stations. The first one, Kaporenka, was the interchange point (in Russian : Пересадочная, "Peresadochnaya") [10] of an abandoned siding to a decontamination park.

The line then reenters Ukraine, joining Vyshhorod Raion, in Kyiv Oblast, and the Exclusion Zone. After Zymovyshche it passes over the Pripyat River and past a branch to the new Semikhody terminal station. [11] Built in 1988, the Semikhody station is a terminus that substitutes Semykhody stop, on the main line, and is the endpoint of the electrification and passenger service. Located in front of the nuclear plant, close to the New Safe Confinement, the terminus serves workers and is the only working station in Pripyat. [12] [13]

Continuing on the main line, it passes the first industrial siding for the Chernobyl Plant and, after the so-called Bridge of Death , a second siding, just before Yaniv, the main station of Pripyat. The industrial line, which runs a loop around the nuclear plant passing between the 4 reactors and next to the cooling pond, is partially active because it allows goods and materials to be moved around the plant. [12]

Pripyat-Vilcha-Ovruch

Yaniv station, located between Yaniv village and the southern suburb of Pripyat, was an important passenger hub before the nuclear accident. It is the nearest station to Chernobyl town, 18 km (11 mi) south, and nowadays is a railroad graveyard, with a high number of abandoned trains, making it one of the tourist sights in Pripyat. The station, refurbished in the 2010s, is used by workers of the society "Chornobylservis" (Ukrainian : Чорнобильсервіс) [11] for fixing heavy machinery. [14] [15] [16]

After leaving Pripyat, the line continues through a forested area, highly contaminated at several points. It is rarely used by freight trains serving the nuclear plant and passes several villages, such as Buriakivka, known for its large vehicle graveyard full of abandoned radioactive machinery. [17] After Tovstyi Lis the line runs along the border between the "10-km" and "30-km" zones and enters Vyshhorod Raion. It passes through the ghost town of Vilcha, 17 km (11 mi) north of Poliske, today one of the checkpoints to the Exclusion Zone. This section of the line is the most decrepit, with the track invaded by vegetation and the station buildings mostly in ruins. [13] [18]

Leaving Vilcha, the line enters Narodychi Raion of the Zhytomyr Oblast and after Radcha, the line reaches Ovruch Raion. It crosses several villages and ends at Ovruch station, on the line linking Mazyr to Korosten. The Vilcha-Ovruch section, de jure operating but de facto abandoned, has had no passenger services since 1986. Vilcha station was open until 2013. [13] [19] [20]

Train services

Until 1986, the entire line was served by regional and long-distance trains such as the Moscow-Khmelnytskyi express service. [6] [14] Current passenger services include the following trains:

Category Route (RT)Notes
Regional Chernihiv-Slavutych-Iolcha With not all stations served, the Nedanchychi-Iolcha service, passing the Belarusian border, is limited. [10] [4]
Regional Slavutych-Semikhody Non-stop train, for Chernobyl Plant workers [4]

Ovruch station was mentioned in the 1963 book The Truce (Italian : La tregua), by the Italian writer Primo Levi. It was a stop on his roundabout 1945 trip from the Auschwitz concentration camp to his home in Turin. [21] [22] [23]

Yaniv station appears as an accessible location in the 2009 video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat .

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chernobyl</span> Partially abandoned city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Chernobyl or Chornobyl is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about 90 kilometres (60 mi) north of Kyiv, and 160 kilometres (100 mi) southwest of the Belarusian city of Gomel. Before its evacuation, the city had about 14,000 residents. While living anywhere within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is technically illegal today, authorities tolerate those who choose to live within some of the less irradiated areas, and around 1,000 people live in Chernobyl today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polesia</span> Natural and historical region of Central and Eastern Europe

Polesia, Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye is a natural and historical region in Eastern Europe, including part of Eastern Poland, the Belarus–Ukraine border region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kyiv Oblast</span> Oblast (region) of Ukraine

Kyiv Oblast or Kiev Oblast, also called Kyivshchyna, is an oblast (province) in central and northern Ukraine. It surrounds, but does not include, the city of Kyiv, which is administered as a city with special status, though Kyiv also serves as the administrative center of the oblast. The Kyiv metropolitan area extends out from Kyiv city into parts of the oblast, which is significantly dependent on the urban economy and transportation of Kyiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pripyat</span> Ghost city in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Pripyat, also known as Prypiat, is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, located near the border with Belarus. Named after the nearby river, Pripyat, it was founded on 4 February 1970 as the ninth atomgrad to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which is located in the adjacent ghost city of Chernobyl. Pripyat was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of 27 April 1986, one day after the Chernobyl disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chernobyl exclusion zone</span> Exclusion zone and disaster area in Ukraine

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation is an officially designated exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. It is also commonly known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the 30-Kilometre Zone, or The Zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavutych</span> City in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Slavutych is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, purpose-built for the evacuated personnel of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant after the 1986 disaster that occurred near the city of Pripyat. Geographically located within Chernihiv Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, Slavutych is administratively subordinated to the Kyiv Oblast and is part of Vyshhorod Raion. It hosts the administration of Slavutych urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 2021 the city had a population of 24,464.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poliske</span> Urban-type settlement in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Poliske or Polesskoye is an abandoned settlement and former urban-type settlement in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, part of Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located on the Uzh River and was an administrative center of Poliske Raion (district). However, later the town was taken out of a registry as it was completely depopulated being located in the Zone of alienation. Currently around 20 people live there, so called samosely ("self-settlers").

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwestern Railways</span> State-owned railway company in Ukraine

Southwestern Railways (PZZ), headquartered in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is a component part of the Ukrzaliznytsia company, its regional branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kopachi</span> Village in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Kopachi was a village near Chernobyl, Ukraine, just south-west of the Pripyat River Basin. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 the village was contaminated by fallout and subsequently evacuated and is now within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone; and thus has been abandoned since 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belarus–Ukraine border</span> International border

The Belarusian-Ukrainian border is the state border between Belarus and Ukraine with a length of about 1,084 km (674 mi). It starts from the triple junction with Poland to the west and stretches to the triple junction with Russia to the east. The tripoint border at the triple border junction of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine is marked in the form of a monument, while at the other border junction there is a river, the Western Bug that coincides with the border of Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polesie State Radioecological Reserve</span> Nature reserve in Belarus

The Polesie State Radioecological Reserve is a radioecological nature reserve in the Polesie region of Belarus, which was created to enclose the territory of Belarus most affected by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl disaster. The reserve adjoins the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine. The environmental monitoring and countermeasure agency, Bellesrad, oversees the agriculture and forestry in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaniv (village)</span> Village in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Yaniv is an abandoned village in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, northern Ukraine. It is located south of Pripyat and west of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilcha, Kyiv Oblast</span> Urban-type settlement in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine

Vilcha is an abandoned settlement and former urban-type settlement in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, part of Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine.

Vilcha is a Ukrainian urban-type settlement in Chuhuiv Raion in Kharkiv Oblast. It belongs to Vovchansk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: 1,639.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FC Stroitel Pripyat</span> Football club

Stroitel Football Club Pripyat, also known as Budivelnyk Football Club Pripyat was a Soviet and Ukrainian football club (team) from Pripyat, Kyiv Oblast. Founded in the 1970s, it competed only at republican level competitions in Ukraine. Before the Chernobyl disaster the team was playing at a small stadium in Prypiat. In 1986 for it there was built new home ground the Avanhard Stadium, at which the club never had a chance to play.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chernobyl Raion</span> Subdivision of the USSR

Chernobyl Raion or Chornobyl Raion was a raion in the Soviet Union located in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was one of 26 administrative raions (districts) of Kyiv Oblast in northern Ukraine. After the Chernobyl disaster, the majority of the raion was contaminated, and many of its populated places were included into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which is an officially designated exclusion area around the site of the disaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaniv railway station</span> Former railway station in Yaniv, Ukraine

Yaniv railway station, also named Yanov station, is an abandoned Ukrainian train station located in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Sometimes referred to as Pripyat station, it lies in the village of Yaniv, south of the city of Pripyat, and is part of the Chernihiv–Ovruch railway. It is included in the transport sector state-owned enterprise Chernobylservis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilcha railway station</span> Railway station in Vilcha, Ukraine

Vilcha railway station, is a station in Vilcha, Kyiv Oblast, not too far from Pripyat. It is part of the Chernihiv–Ovruch railway, and is included in the transport sector state-owned enterprise Chernobylservis. As of 2022, it is officially active, but there is no passenger service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capture of Chernobyl</span> Part of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was captured on 24 February, the first day of the invasion, by the Russian Armed Forces, who entered Ukrainian territory from neighbouring Belarus and seized the entire area of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant by the end of that day. On 7 March, it was reported that around 300 people were trapped and had been unable to leave the power plant since its capture. On 31 March, it was reported that most of the Russian troops occupying the area had withdrawn, as the Russian military abandoned the Kyiv offensive to focus on operations in Eastern Ukraine.

References

  1. ↑ in english: Island
  2. ↑ in english: Town
  3. ↑ in english: Transfer Point
  4. 1 2 3 ""All Aboard for Chernihiv"". Radioactive Railroad. Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  5. ↑ (in Russian)Юго-Западная железная дорога. Вчера. Сегодня. Завтра ("Southwestern Railways: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"). 244 pp., Kyiv, «Transport of Ukraine» 1995. ISBN   5-7707-7927-6
  6. ↑ "Railway map of Ukraine and Moldova showing rail traction". www.bueker.net. Archived from the original on 2018-04-06. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  7. ↑ (in Russian) "Island" electrified lines in the countries of the former Soviet Union infojd.ru Archived 2012-07-23 at archive.today
  8. ↑ ""Reborn in Slavutych"". Radioactive Railroad. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  9. 1 2 (in Ukrainian) Southwestern Railway timetable for Chernihiv-Iolcha service Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine
  10. 1 2 "The Pripyat Railway Bridge" (Lost Places)
  11. 1 2 ""Trains in the Exclusion Zone"". Radioactive Railroad. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  12. 1 2 3 "Ovruch-Chernihiv line scheme". Radioactive Railroad. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  13. 1 2 ""Permanently Contaminated: The Railroad Graveyard"". Radioactive Railroad. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  14. ↑ ""Railway station Yaniv"". Lost Places. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  15. ↑ ""Yaniv Train Station - Pripyat"". UrbanX. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  16. ↑ ""Chernobyl Rescue Operation: The Vehicle Graveyard"". Urban Ghosts. Archived from the original on 2015-11-26. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  17. ↑ "Securing the Chornobyl exclusion zone against illegal movement of radioactive materials" irpa.net Archived 2015-11-25 at the Wayback Machine (IRPA)
  18. ↑ ""Abandoned: The Radioactive Railroad"". Radioactive Railroad. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  19. ↑ ""On "diesel engine" on the Zone"". Lost Places. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  20. ↑ (in Italian) "Ovruch" primolevi.it
  21. ↑ See map on Commons
  22. ↑ La Tregua. Einaudi, Turin, 1963 - ISBN   0-349-10013-6

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.