The Crimea Railway (; ; ) is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

located in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, providing passenger and

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

services to

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

and the

Republic of Crimea Crimea, or the Crimean Peninsula, historically also known as the ''Tauric Chersonese'' (Tauric Peninsula, Tauric, Taurica, or Tauris), is a major peninsula in the north of the Black Sea. Crimea may also refer to: Places Crimean Peninsula Republic ...

. Crimea Railway is a

unitary enterprise A unitary enterprise () is a government-owned corporation in Russia and some other post-Soviet states. Unitary enterprises are business entities that have no ownership rights to the assets that they use in their operations. This form is possibl ...

company independent of

Russian Railways Russian Railways or RZD () is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both managing infrastructure and operating freight and passenger train services and has a near-monopoly on long-distance train travel in Russia. ...

, and headquartered in

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

. It was founded in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea from units of the Crimean Directorate of the Ukrainian Cisdnieper Railways.

Basic information

The Crimea Railway has three locomotive depots at

Dzhankoy Dzhankoi or Jankoy is a city of regional significance in the northern part of Crimea, internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, but since 2014 occupied by Russia. It also serves as administrative centre of Dzhankoi Raion although it is not a ...

, and

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

; a carriage depot in

; two carriage depots with facilities for repairs; and one rail car depot in

. The Crimea Railway does not possess its own railway track machine for laying down new tracks. The

passenger service travels to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

and

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

on an inter-modal scheme via a combination of train and ferry.Будет мост – будет жизнь
/ref> In November 2014, a railroad cargo ferry across the

Kerch Strait The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is to wide and up ...

reopened with three

train ferries A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to t ...

in operation: two for the route Caucasus-Crimea and one for Caucasus–Kerch.

History

The building of the Crimean Railway in Simferopol

The territorial predecessor of Crimea Railway was the Crimean Directorate of Cisdnieper Railways, the regional operator

Ukrainian Railways The Public JSC Ukrainian Railways or PAT 'Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ)' () is a state-owned joint-stock company administering railway infrastructure and rail transport in Ukraine; a monopoly that controls the vast majority of the railroad transporta ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetro ...

, Zaporizhya Oblast,

Kharkiv Oblast Kharkiv Oblast (, ), also referred to as Kharkivshchyna (), is an oblast (province) in eastern Ukraine. Kharkiv borders Luhansk Oblast to the east, Donetsk Oblast to the southeast, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to the southwest, Poltava Oblast to the w ...

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast (, ; ), also known as Khersonshchyna (, ), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in southern Ukraine. It is located just north of Crimea. Its administrative center is Kherson, on the northern or right bank ...

and the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,2014 Russian annexation of Crimea In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russo-Ukrain ...

, the Crimean authorities of the new

established Crimea Railway as a publicly owned company (a

in Russia) and the city of

. In Spring 2014, railway equipment was exported from Crimea to mainland Ukraine, including passenger

locomotives A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight train ...

, track machines and new

cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

. The parts of the Crimean Directorate in the Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhya Oblast of Ukraine were transferred to the Zaporizhia Directorate of Cisdnieper Railways.Ukraine had "stolen" new Crimean trains
/ref> The seized trains of the reassigned railway were painted over, with the emblem of Ukraine and the logo of Ukrainian Railways replaced by the emblem of the Republic of Crimea and the abbreviation "CR", but the blue and yellow colors were preserved. On passenger cars, the code of registry was amended from 045,046 to 085. In October 2014, inspectors conducted a survey of Crimea and concluded that the structures of rail tracks and turnouts were in poor condition. As a result, the maximum speed was reduced to 40 km/h, 25 km/h, and occasionally 10 km/h.

Stations

* Feodosia railway station * Armyansk railway station * Dzhankoy railway station * Vladislavovka railway station * Kerch railway station * Port Krym railway station *

Simferopol railway station Simferopol-Pasazhirsky (, ,) is a railway station in Simferopol, Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine, but ''de facto'' occupied by Russia. The station building, designed by a Soviet-Russian architect Al ...

* Yevpatoria railway station

References

External links

* {{authority control Transport in Crimea Railway companies established in 2014 2014 establishments in Russia Federal State Unitary Enterprises of Russia Companies based in Crimea Railway companies of Russia