Locale Ukraine Length 3,275 km (2,030 mi) Headquarters Lyman, Ukraine Parent organization Ukrainian Railways | Dates of operation 15 May 1953– Website Click here Founded 1953 | |
 | ||
Predecessor North Donetsk Railways
South Donetsk Railways Track gauge 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ⁄32 in) | ||
Donetsk Railway (Ukrainian: Донецька залізниця) is a railways operator in eastern Ukraine, particularly Donbas area. Belongs to Ukrainian Railways and is under partial control of Ukrainian government, because of Russian military intervention in Ukraine which led to the de facto war in Donbass.
Contents
Due to war conditions, only portions of Donetsk Railway are operational such as Krasny Lyman Directorate. Based on the directorate, in December 2014 there was created a regional branch of Ukrzaliznytsia Donetsk Railway. The headquarters were moved from Donetsk to Lyman.
General information
The railway serves the most important for the country's industrial heartland of Donbas-Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as partially Zaporizhia, Kharkov and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts (Ukrainian regions), thus combining in a single transport conveyor Donbas and the Dnipro, the Central regions of the Russia and Ukraine, the Volga region and the Caucasus. The railway has two border transfer stations on the Russia-Ukraine border over which it does not have a control due to war conditions. Those are Krasna Mohyla (Chervonopartyzansk), Kvashyne, Ilovaisk, and Lantrativka, Troitske Raion.
At the south Donetsk Railways has access to Azov sea through the commercial port of Mariupol, as well as access to the largest industrial center of Ukraine — Mariupol. Donetsk Railway's length is 13% of Ukrainian railway network total length. At the same time its part, account for 47% of loading and 36% of discharge from all Ukrainian railways. The railway is located on the area of 57,000 km2.
Donetsk Railway is the main mode of transport, serving passengers and a large amount of different industrial facilities: coal mines, metallurgical, coke-chemical and pipe mills, machine-building and machine-building plants, chemical, light, food and other industries.
In December 2014 the order of Ukraine government stated the territory of Donetsk Railway and its affiliated companies, located in the state-controlled Ukrainian territory, were transferred to the temporary administration of Southern and Near-Dnipro Railways.
Structure
Administrative division consists of four railway transportation directorates:
Previously there also existed:
The main railway hubs of Donetsk railway: Yasynuvata, Donetsk, Mariupol, Debaltseve, Ilovaysk, Lugansk, Popasna, Kondrashevska-Nova, Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk, Kostiantynivka, Mykytivka, the Red estuary, Red Grave.
Russian invasion of Ukraine (2014-ongoing)
Due to Russian occupation of Ukraine, the rest of railways and stations were given under temporal administration of Near-Dnipro and Southern Railways.
Currently, southern branches are under the Near Dnipro Railways administration, while the northern are still being operated by the Krasny Lyman Directorate. In 2016 there was renewed operations on a separate branch in Luhansk, which became separated due to the war.
On 28 May 2016, railway servicemen in Yasynuvata protested against government that did not pay them for their service towards the Donetsk People's Republic. On 28 July an information appeared that protests were fair and there is indebtedness of government, but that is due to the process of restructuring and difficult situation in a region and that government continues to work to resolve the issue. The spokesperson confirmed that all personnel still works a the Donetsk Railway of Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) and the government of Ukraine does not acknowledge their employment anywhere but for the Donetsk Railway.