Ukrainian resourcefulness...

[AndrewE]

From today's Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...e-railways-keeps-people-and-presidents-moving

Rail Force One’: how Ukraine railways got Joe Biden safely to Kyiv​

finishes by saying

In a grim coda, 353 railway workers have also died because the conflict.

Although the trains travel more slowly than in pre-war times – to allow drivers to respond to threats – a clever system has kept the network operating even in the midst of the large scale power outages caused by Russian attacks on the energy infrastructure.

That has relied on older diesel locomotives, distributed strategically around the railway system and held on standby for when the power is knocked out, which are then moved quickly to pick up electric powered trains and their carriages from where they are stuck.

“We have solution when when they shell energy infrastructure. When the electricity goes out and a train is stuck in the middle of nowhere we have a diesel team ready to go and pick it up.

“It’s about being efficient and putting the trains in the right places.

“We have never cancelled a single long-haul train,” Kamyshin adds. “Even if people are delayed they people know they will get to their destination.”

Hats off to them.

 

[squizzler]

That has relied on older diesel locomotives, distributed strategically around the railway system and held on standby for when the power is knocked out, which are then moved quickly to pick up electric powered trains and their carriages from where they are stuck.

“We have solution when when they shell energy infrastructure. When the electricity goes out and a train is stuck in the middle of nowhere we have a diesel team ready to go and pick it up.

Those rescue locomotives and their crews must truly earn the "Thunderbirds" sobriquet!

 

[yorksrob]

Strategic diesel reserve.

Well done Ukraine !

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Totally and utterly commendable.

World War 2 in the UK had impressive performance under fire , one is told that no train or signal box etc , was ever abandoned in service. A lot has been written up , probably more undocumented.

 

[AndrewE]

I particularly liked

“We have never cancelled a single long-haul train,” Kamyshin adds. “Even if people are delayed they people know they will get to their destination.”

Anyway, heads-up: he is to be interviewed on BBC R4 on Sunday in the programme at 9am - if I heard it right.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

What's not clear (and probably secret) is how much of Ukraine's electrified rail network is operational after Russia's attacks on the power network.
The power authorities must have difficult decisions to make about rolling power outages, and whether to supply the rail network versus the other demands.
Ironically, most of the diesel stock will have been manufactured in Voroshilovgrad/Luhansk, an abandoned ex-Soviet plant now in the Russian occupation zone.

It looks like two more border crossings into south-western Poland have now been reactivated.
These were originally Austrian (Galician) and then Polish lines, severed by the post WW2 Soviet border.

Two Ukraine – Poland cross-border links reopen

UKRAINE: National railway Ukrzaliznytsia reopened two lines to the Polish border on February 17 after modernisation work. UKRAINE: National railway Ukrzaliznytsia reopened two lines to the Polish border on February 17 after modernisation work. A total of 68·3 route-km of line has been rebuilt...

www.railwaygazette.com

National railway Ukrzaliznytsia reopened two lines to the Polish border on February 17 after modernisation work.
A total of 68·3 route-km of line has been rebuilt. Two routes have reopened to link Khyriv with the border stations at Starzhava to the southwest and Nyzhankovychi to the north, passenger traffic through the Starzhava border crossing having ceased in 2010. The railway from Sambir west of Lviv to Khyriv has also been renovated.

Ukrzaliznytsia has also commenced a re-signing of the railway to distance itself from the Soviet era.
Distances will be from a zero in Kyiv rather than Moscow, and the railway regions will be renamed.
In remote areas, stations are often identified by distance (eg "Km23") so it will be a challenge to coordinate the changes.

 

[superalbs]

What's not clear (and probably secret) is how much of Ukraine's electrified rail network is operational after Russia's attacks on the power network.
The power authorities must have difficult decisions to make about rolling power outages, and whether to supply the rail network versus the other demands.
Ironically, most of the diesel stock will have been manufactured in Voroshilovgrad/Luhansk, an abandoned ex-Soviet plant now in the Russian occupation zone.

It looks like two more border crossings into south-western Poland have now been reactivated.
These were originally Austrian (Galician) and then Polish lines, severed by the post WW2 Soviet border.

Two Ukraine – Poland cross-border links reopen

UKRAINE: National railway Ukrzaliznytsia reopened two lines to the Polish border on February 17 after modernisation work. UKRAINE: National railway Ukrzaliznytsia reopened two lines to the Polish border on February 17 after modernisation work. A total of 68·3 route-km of line has been rebuilt...

www.railwaygazette.com

Ukrzaliznytsia has also commenced a re-signing of the railway to distance itself from the Soviet era.
Distances will be from a zero in Kyiv rather than Moscow, and the railway regions will be renamed.
In remote areas, stations are often identified by distance (eg "Km23") so it will be a challenge to coordinate the changes.

I believe there has been a redeployment of modern TE33A diesel locos to assist with railways during power failure.

I'm not 100% sure, but I recall seeing a set of photos some time last year.

 

[Giugiaro]

In remote areas, stations are often identified by distance (eg "Km23") so it will be a challenge to coordinate the changes.

There will always be a way to name a station, even if it's the number of the station along the line, like Nr. 6 or Nr. 23.

It worked for us in Portugal. The British called the ninth station from Porto of the Minho Line "Nine", and the name stuck as the local town's name.

 

[43096]

The Twitter account of Ukrainian Railways' CEO is worth a view: https://twitter.com/akamyshin?lang=en

Too much to quote, but the call outs to the likes of Amtrak and ScotRail are both amusing and a reminder of what Ukraine is dealing with.

 

[Cloud Strife]

It looks like two more border crossings into south-western Poland have now been reactivated.

The interesting question here is whether they will be used for passenger trains. The line from Khyriv towards Zagórz was marred by industrial levels of smuggling until 2010, and the trains themselves had a lengthy wait at the border station in Krościenko as border controls were carried out in a special building on the platform rather than onboard. It's hard to believe that this will suddenly change now, especially given that the area around Khyriv is very, very poor.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

A longer article from CNN.

The extraordinary train lifeline behind Ukraine’s Rail Force One

It was “Rail Force One” – the overnight train that took US President Biden on a diplomatic odyssey from Przemyśl Główny in Poland to Kyiv for his historic visit to Ukraine, just before the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country.

The 10-hour overnight journey was a top secret, high security challenge for Ukrzaliznytsia, or Ukrainian Railways – the state-owned operator of Ukraine’s rail network. But it was hardly their first.

With commercial air links into Ukraine canceled, and the skies too dangerous to fly politicians in and out of the country, Ukraine’s rail network has become the country’s diplomatic highway. Over 200 foreign diplomatic missions have arrived in the country by train so far.

World leaders including Canada’s Justin Trudeau, the UK’s Rishi Sunak, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni have all taken the train to Kyiv. In fact, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is the only G7 leader yet to visit the country by train.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is a regular user of the railway network on his diplomatic missions abroad.

But there’s more to the railways than “Rail Force One,” as Biden’s train was dubbed.

The US president’s high profile journey has shone a spotlight on Ukraine’s vast rail network which, at nearly 15,000 miles, is the 12th largest in the world.

 

[Russel]

Can Alexander Kamyshin run the UK rail network too, please?

It's embarrassing, when you think about it, the UK network falls apart every time it rains, or it's windy, or the sun comes out...

 

[duncanp]

The Twitter account of Ukrainian Railways' CEO is worth a view: https://twitter.com/akamyshin?lang=en

Too much to quote, but the call outs to the likes of Amtrak and ScotRail are both amusing and a reminder of what Ukraine is dealing with.

I like the quote where he apologised for ONLY 90% of trains arriving on time, because some of them had to be delayed to make way for the train carrying President Biden to Kyiv.

Are you listening Avanti?

I also want to apologize for breaking our OTP (On Time Performance) yesterday. We had to delay some of our trains to give a way to #RailForceOne. It was painful for me and my team, but I had to do that. So only 90% of our trains arrived on time yesterday. I apologize.

 

[duesselmartin]

how are Ukrainian timetables calculated? In Germany a train that is 0:05:59 late is still statistically on time.