European Railroad Discussion > May 2013 European Trip - Part 2b - Donetsk + more Kiev

About halfway through my stay in Kiev, from May 25th through the 27th, I traveled to the city of Donetsk in the southeast to visit one of my cousins (who moved there a couple of years ago). While I was trying to do the trip overnight one way and daytime the other, the more convenient overnight train was sold out, thus, I wound up going dayitme both ways utilizing the new Intercity Plus service, covering the approx 750 km (450 mile) distance in about six hours (the distance via sleeper is longer as it takes a different route). The train maxes out at 160 km/h (100 mph), and actually maintains that speed for long distances.

Leaving Kiev at around 3:30 pm, the train reaches Donetsk around 10:30 pm. The travel across Ukraine in May is quiet pleasant, unfortunately, my seat was the only one on the (very full) train that was next to a window with a severely cracked external pane. $%^&!!!

This leg was also significant for one other thing......this marked my first time on ex-Soviet rails since early December of 1989......

The next day, myself, my cousin, and my 2-year old niece went into the city (my cousin lives in the satellite town of Makeyevka). It was perfect May weather, and I wound up really enjoying Donetsk. Halfway through the day, my cousin and niece went home, and I was left to my own devices (with instructions which bus/trolleybus to take to get home). It was during this time that I was able to take many pictures, and wound up taking a Route 2 trolleybus to the main station to do some railfanning from the platforms.

Got back home on the later side of the evening, and the next day it was an early morning wake-up to catch a 6:30 am InterCity Plus service back to the capital. As I mentioned, Ukraine in May is VERY pleasant, and, despite the overall poorness of the country, the countryside looks very “European”. The reasons for this (and the drastic differences from the Russian countryside) are very cultural, and getting into them involves going off on a complete tangent.....

Another interesting thing......UZ transformed a secondary mostly-unelectrified line into a high-speed electrified (but mostly single-track) raceway to create a more direct route between Kiev and the industrial Donbass.

A railway-related note – Donetsk is in the region of Ukraine electrified with DC, thus it's a different collection of motive power.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/14 07:34 by chs7-321.

1) Type K1 tram #3014 with a Route 1 service at the intersection of Chelyuskintsev and Bogdana Khmelnitskogo streets.

2) Heavy passenger electric ChS7-295 stabled north of the Donetsk main station. This series was built by Skoda of Czechoslovakia exclusively for the SZD in the 1980s and early 90s. A total of 321 locomotives were built (hence my TO name), with 286 of those supplied prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. The remaining 35 were stored at the Skoda factory. Thirty of those (287-316) were finally acquired by the UZ in 1996-97. The final five (317-321) were acquired by the RZD a year or so later, and assigned to the Yekaterinburg/Chelyabinsk area.

3) Walking towards the end of one of the island platforms in the direction of the yard yielded a surprise....an ancient VL8M-842 was coming to a halt with a freight train.

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4) The ancient electric uncoupled and proceeded to the passenger platform area for a purpose I was never able to clearly identify. It eventually reversed back to the freight yard.

5) Another view of ChS7-295. This time from the end of the main platform (the locomotive hasn't moved).

6) Returning back to the city, and as the dusk was setting in, I snapped another Route 1 tram (K1-3025) at the intersection of Chelyuskintsev and Teatral'naya streets.

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7) Bright and early the next morning....Hyundai-Rotem HRSC2-008 is getting ready to take me (and several hundred others) back to Kiev.

8) Along the way, between the stations of Lozovaya and Krasnograd, I was able to snap some UZ MOW stock from the window of my train.

Arrival back in Kiev was about 1:40 pm.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/14 07:35 by chs7-321.

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The next day, during a city sightseeing outing, I had time to do some more railfanning.

My first stop was the station of Darnitsa. This is Kiev's equivalent to Frankfurt-Sud, New York 125th Street, or North Philadelphia....a second long-distance (and major regional) stop in the city limits. This was primarily a stop for suburban trains in the Soviet days, but UZ and the city of Kiev have begun to upgrade this station in recent years to become more of an intercity stop to help to alleviate overcrowding at Kiev-Passazhirskiy.

9) ER9M-501 suburban EMU rests in between runs. This is one of the later products of RVZ (Riga).

10) Walking a little north from the station (about a block), I reached the closest major street on that side, and a tram line that services the Darnitsa Railway Maintenance Facility (DVRZ) and the surrounding industrial area. Here, the ubiquitous Tatra T3SU #5488 passes with a Route 33 service.

11) T3SU-5960 approaches from the same direction with a Route 23 run.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/14 07:37 by chs7-321.

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I then proceeded to take a recently-launched “City Train” (a service that runs on a circular route Datnitsa - Main Station – Borschagovka – Petrovka – Troyeschina – Darnitsa clockwise and counterclockwise) to the Main Station where I got some more pictures in.

12) ChS8-008 about to depart with long-distance service. The first car behind the locomotive is baggage/mail.

13) ChS8-074 with another long-distance domestic train. Unfortunately, I didn't bother taking down the train numbers/destinations.....

14) I then left the station through the Southern Terminal, and walked over to take a picture of this “stuffed and mounted” IS-578 (it can also be seen from the southern ends of the platforms of the Main Station)......this is the last remaining steam locomotive of this series in existence

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After, I walked back to the main station, and went for some food in a fairly decent pizza restaurant located on the Station Square (Privokzal'naya Ploschad') next to the main station building. Afterwards, I went back for the last few pics as the sun was already setting down, and I wanted to catch one train in particular.

15) And it was already sitting on Track 1......this is the first car of the daily Train #1, Stolichniy Express (Capital Express), Kiev – Moscow. Since the Soviet days, this has always been the premier train on the route, and was called “Ukraina” pre-2006. It currently (well, as of 2013 at least) operates with two trainsets – one Ukrainian and one Russian. This day's departure was on the Russian set.

16) Shortly after, the assigned locomotive backed up to the consist. This was the RZD EP10-006, a dual-voltage series that was a joint venture between Siemens and the Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Factory (NEVZ). Back in the day, all trains between Kiev and Moscow had to go a locomotive change as the electrification changed from 25 kV AC to 3000V DC on approaches to the Moscow region. The use of dual-voltage locomotives, combined with track improvements, has allowed the schedules of Trains 1 and 2 to be cut from close to 12 hours (best in the Soviet days....lately, it's been longer) to just over 8 hours, with customs being done on the platform prior to departure.

By the way, the standard allowed time for loco changes (between AC and DC, or between electric and diesel) on the RZD and the UZ is about 20 minutes.

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Great pictures and the story was very good. Donetsk looks interesting and I'm planning to pass through there in July.I've heard from people I know in Ukraine and Transnistria my destination, that things are about as normal as they ever are. Really enjoying these pictures, Russia, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, all very interesting and an interesting part of the world.

Left out a few pics.

All three were taken as my return train from Donetsk to Kiev approached Kiev's main station.

The first two were taken through the tinted windows of the Hyundai EMU, thus the strange colors and the noise (you can only do so much in Photoshop).

16) DS3-016 at a storage siding.
17) A ChS8 (could not make out the number) just "north" (geographical south) of the station platforms
18) HRSC2-008 after arrival with our Train 151D, Donetsk-Kiev.

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