Kiev Passenger Railway Station

Kyiv-Pasazhyrs’kyi Ukrainian: Залізнична станція "Київ-Пасажирський" Russian: Железнодорожная станция "Киев-Пассажирский" Railway station
Long-distance terminal building at Kiev Passenger Railway Station.
Station statistics
Address	1 Pryvokzalna Sq., Kiev, Ukraine
Coordinates	50°26′26″N 30°29′22″E
Connections	tram, Metro (Vokzalna station, Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line)
Structure	at-grade
Tracks	14
Parking	yes
Other information
Opened	1870
Rebuilt	1932, 2001
Electrified	1950
Owned by	Ukrzaliznytsia
Services
Preceding station   Southwestern Railways   Following station

The current main railway station, showing how it fits into the landscape

The former two-platform brick station building of Old English Gothic style in 19th century.

Kiev Passenger Railway Station (Ukrainian: "Київ-Пасажирський", Kyiv-Pasazhyrs’kyi) is a complex of Kiev's Central Station and adjoining "Southern Station," plus the adjacent Suburban Station, together serving more than 170,000 passengers per day (as of 2005). "Southern Station" is a misnomer in virtually universal usage in Kiev, referring to an entrance on the other side of the tracks from Central Station. The station complex thus provides long-distance and international services, and short-distance service (elektrichka) for suburbs (including dacha areas), minor city stations, and nearby regions. The Kiev Metro station Vokzalna is adjoining the complex, constituting the station's main intersection with city transport. The Kiev tram terminal Starovokzal'na (Ukrainian: "Старовокзальна") (the terminal for Kiev's High-Speed Tram line) is also adjacent via a passageway.

History and architecture

The old Kiev railroad station was constructed during 1868-1870, as a part of Kiev-Balta and Kiev-Kursk railroad constructions, which were also completed in 1870. The station was located in a valley of Lybid’ river, replacing soldiers' and gendarmes' settlements. The two-floor brick station building of Old English Gothic style was by the architect М. V. Vyshnevetskyi.

The current Central Station building was constructed in 1927-1932 and designed by O. Verbytskyi. It was built in the style of Ukrainian Baroque with some elements of Constructivism.

In 2001, the building was restored to roughly its original state. In the same year, the new modern "Southern Station" building was erected at the opposite side of Central Station's sixteen tracks, being in reality not a separate station but merely another large entranceway to the Central Station, with new ticket windows and linked by a hallway above the track accesses. The renovation project also included two large underground parking structures, one of which remains uncompleted to the date.

Name disambiguation

Officially, Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi Railway Station is regarded as the whole huge complex of passenger terminals, railways, depots etc. with respective personnel. Practically, such installations in post-Soviet countries are widely known as railroad vokzals, which means the building(s) and services immediately serving passengers for various types of transport. The official name Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi is not used colloquially, appearing only in tickets, schedules etc. By the same token, the locally popular terms "Central Station" and "Southern Station" do not appear in such technical literature, as for internal purposes they are treated as the same location.

Development plans

Currently the station is severely overloaded with suburban traffic, intercity traffic (especially during the height of winter and summer holidays), and also subway traffic (in daily rush hours). Relief plans include:

• Upgrading Darnytsia station to make it a second long-distance passenger station, serving the Left-Bank of the city (including new sleeping car maintenance facility.)
• Construction of a second surface entrance for the Vokzalna metro station, which is currently the most overloaded station of the metro system [1].
• Extension of the Podilsko-Vyhurivska Metro Line, which is now under construction on the banks of Dineper river, to the Vokzalna metro station.

See also

• Ukrzaliznytsia - the national railway company of Ukraine

External links

• South-Western railway of Ukraine - Official website (Ukrainian)/(English)/(Russian)
• [2] Ukraine Train Tickets - Online Sales