Keiv, Ukraine

[shredder1]

Hi guys

My first visit to Keiv in May and only my second visit to the country. I`m interested in any information on the local railway network, availability of day rover locally and regionally and mainly the location of locomotive depots, and freight locations.

Many thanks in advance

Nick

 

[swt class 450]

Kiev is a great city to visit. I have always really enjoyed it whenever i have been. There is plenty to keep railway enthusiasts occupied.

They still have many old RVR DMUs and EMUs (but mainly EMUs) from the USSR era in service all over Kiev and surrounding areas. The DR1/ER1/ER2/ER9 are all still in service. They are definitely worth a ride on.

There is a very large railway depot just to the East of the main Kiev railway station and another one just to the West of it. You will find plenty of locomotives and carriages and wagons in these depots. Health and Safety and Security doesn't really exist in Ukraine so you can easily walk around these depots and take photos without any problems. They don't even have any fences or walls. I think there are some other depots around Kiev as well.

This is a map of the Suburban Train network here - http://visitkyiv.com.ua/php_uploads...leImages_32_Skhema_Prym_Zalizn_Kyiv2_engl.gif - although note that it goes out much further than this. The purple lines are sort of Inner Suburban lines like London Overground while the blue lines are sort of Outer Suburban lines like C2C or London North Western Railway or South Western Railway lines. A railway map of the larger area around kiev can be downloaded here - http://www.swrailway.gov.ua/img/pzz_mapa.png - but it doesn't show all stations unfortunately.

This link will show Suburban Train times in a sort of journey planner format - http://www.swrailway.gov.ua/timetable/eltrain/ - but there doesn't seem to be any PDFs available unfortunately. You can download a copy of the times for long distance intercity and international trains here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g2Kvhon8R7TE36tblZVkMCrLjfCnRTBs/view - there is a PDF download option at the top.

There is plenty of freight trains but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any timetables for freight published anywhere so it is hard to know exactly when you can see them. I think you just rely on luck for seeing freight trains.

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Tickets:

Tickets for public transport in Kiev are extremely cheap compared to the UK.

Unfortunately there are no Day Rover tickets (or even Return tickets). You simply have to pay 8.00UAH per journey on every public transport vehicle you board. The 8.00UAH single ticket is valid on all of the following:

• Marshrutkas (Minibuses)
• Buses
• Trolleybuses
• Trams
• Metros
• Elektrichkas (Suburban Trains)

On Marshrutkas (Minibuses) / Buses / Trolleybuses / Trams your 8.00UAH ticket is valid only on that vehicle that you bought it on until the final stop. You must buy a new ticket every time you board a new vehicle. You purchase your ticket either from the driver or the conductor (depending on which route you use). Just look at what other people are doing to work out whether you need to board at the front and buy from driver or whether you can board at any door and take a seat and buy from the conductor.

Please be aware that Kiev uses the typical ex USSR country system where Marshrutkas (Minibuses) / Buses / Trolleybuses / Trams all have their own numbering systems. This means that some stops (especially in central Kiev) could be served by (as an example) a Marshrutka (Minibus) route #1 and a Bus route #1 and a Trolleybus route #1 and a Tram route #1 so make sure you take extra care to look at what type on vehicle you are boarding so you don't end up miles away from where you intended to go.

On the Metro you simply pay 8.00UAH for every entry in to the system. So once you have entered you may change trains as many times as you like and you could even spend the entire day travelling around on the Metro from just 8.00UAH (which is perfectly allowed) as long as you don't leave any station. However every time you leave the Metro system then you must pay for another 8.00UAH ticket to re enter the station again.

On the Elektrichkas (Suburban Trains) you pay 8.00UAH for every journey within Kiev up to a maximum of 30KM from the main station in Kiev (you then pay 9.00UAH for 31-50KM or 10.00UAH for 51-70KM etc etc etc). You either buy your ticket from the ticket office if boarding at a staffed station or buy your ticket from the Guard onboard if boarding at an unstaffed station.

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Airports:

There are two Airports in Kiev (Boryspil and Zhuliany). I am not sure which one you are landing at so i will include details for both. This is how to get from the Airports in to Kiev:

I assume you arriving by plane but if you are travelling there by train or car then just ignore all this.

****Boryspil Airport****:

You have four options:

• Cheap Suburban Train - Take the Bus routes 2/3V/16/17 from the Airport to Boryspil (town) railway station (a 20 minute journey) which costs 4.00UAH and then take the Elektrichka (Suburban Train) from Boryspil to Kiev (a 50 minute journey) which costs 8.00UAH bringing the total cost to 12.00UAH total.

• Expensive Express Train - Take the Boryspil Airport Express train directly from the Airport to Kiev (a 50 minute journey) which costs 80.00UAH total.

• Coach then Metro - Take the Coach route 322 from the Airport to Kharkivska metro station (a 30 minute journey) which costs 60.00UAH and then take the Metro line M3 from Kharkivska to Kiev (a 20 minute journey) which costs 8.00UAH bringing the total cost to 68.00UAH total.

• Coach all the way - Take the Coach route 322 directly from the Airport to Kiev (a 60 minute journey) which costs 100.00UAH total.

****Zhuliany Airport****:

You have four options:

• Suburban Train - Walk from the Airport to Volynskiy railway station (a five minute walk) and then take the Elektrichka (Suburban Train) from Volynskiy to Kiev (a 10 minute journey) which costs 8.00UAH total.

• Trolleybus - Take the Trolleybus routes 9/22/92N from the Airport to Kiev (a 30 minute journey) which costs 8.00UAH total.

• Bus - Take the bus routes 302/368/805 from the Airport to Kiev (a 30 minute journey) which costs 8.00UAH total.

• Minibus - Take the Marshrutka (Minivan) routes 496/499/565 from the Airport to Kiev (a 30 minute journey) which costs 8.00UAH total.

Obviously which exact route you take depends on where exactly in Kiev you wish to go.

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I hope this information helps. Let me know if you have any other questions as i have been there many times. There is plenty of interesting things to do in Kiev so you should enjoy it there.

 

[paddington]

Thanks for posting that, Kyiv/Kiev is on my list of places to go, probably not this year though.

I have a non-transport question, you took great care to type the .00 after every single price, but is anything actually priced in kopiyok and are they actually used regularly?

 

[shredder1]

Wow what fantastic information, thank you so much for taking all that trouble to reply, thats amazing, I fly into Boryspil, the open depots sound great, I really cant wait, thank you very much.

 

[swt class 450]

No worries. Happy to help with information.

There are a few things priced in Kopeks but it is getting quite rare these days. Most things are just rounded off to the nearest one Hryvnia. They still have 1/2/5/10/25/50 Kopek coins but these are not that commonly seen. Although in some of the smaller towns in Ukraine you will find local buses that still use Kopeks (with fares like 2.25UAH or 3.50UAH for example). It is mainly in smaller towns or in markets where Kopeks are still used. I guess i just type the decimal point and double zero as i am so used to doing this when writing train prices for UK trains.

On another note remember that most places have two spellings (a Russian spelling and a Ukrainian spelling) which is why you have Kiev/Kyiv (and the two different spellings also happen in the Cyrllic alphabet as well). If you need any help whilst in Ukraine (asking for directions etc) try to find a younger person to ask (in their 20s) as most of them speak good English whilst most older people will only speak Russian and/or Ukrainian.

 

[gordonthemoron]

as far as I remember, the Kiev metro is a nuclear bunker, like the ones in Prague, Budapest (M2 & M3) and Erevan

 

[swt class 450]

Arsenalna metro station in Kiev (located on line M1) is well worth a visit. It holds the record as being the deepest metro station in the world.

 

[Suraggu]

Shredder,

Please be careful with 'bunking' round depots. A couple of friends tried it in the Ukraine and ended up in very unpleasant police cells.

 

[swt class 450]

Interesting to hear that. I have never had a problem wondering around depots in Ukraine and getting photos. I have visited quite a few in Kiev and other parts of Ukraine. The staff that have seen me when I've been to these depots didn't care at all. I guess it really depends what staff you come across. I suppose your friends were just unlucky to come across the wrong staff member.

 

[shredder1]

Arsenalna metro station in Kiev (located on line M1) is well worth a visit. It holds the record as being the deepest metro station in the world.

THat you very much, I`ll visit that one

 

[shredder1]

Shredder,

Please be careful with 'bunking' round depots. A couple of friends tried it in the Ukraine and ended up in very unpleasant police cells.

Thank you for the warning, yes I`ve had that experience before in both Bulgaria and Macedonia. I`ve created a letter to ask for permission, not worth the hassle really bunking and its more respectful to ask first anyway.