Simferopol-Pasazhirsky (, ,) is a railway station 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 ...

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 ...

, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of

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 ...

, but ''de facto'' occupied by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The station building, designed by a Soviet-Russian architect Alexey Dushkin in 1951 and renovated in 2000, is one of the most recognizable buildings of Simferopol (Aqmescit).

History

Russian Empire

The lack of a railway in

greatly complicated the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. After the war, it hampered trade and the development of the economy of Crimea and neighbouring regions. In the summer of 1871, construction began on the 615-kilometre Lozova–

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 ...

railway. Low-paid jobs in the severe conditions of winter and summer provoked a struggle for basic rights. Some workers went on strike; the largest strike occurred in May 1873 on the Simferopol–

segment of the railway. Construction near Simferopol started in 1872. The original route for the Lozova–Sevastopol railway would have passed about 32 kilometres west of Simferopol. But industrialists and merchants there, aware of the benefits a railway would bring to the city, pushed successfully for the route to be revised. Officials and landowners in Simferopol provided free land for the station and locomotive depot. The first section of the railway — Lozova– (Zaporizhzhya) Aleksandrovsk, with a branch in (Dnipro) Ekaterinoslav — was commissioned on 15 November 1873. The second, (Zaporizhzhya) Aleksandrovsk–

Melitopol Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...

, opened on 23 July 1874. On 1 June 1874, the first freight train arrived at the Simferopol station. And on 14 October 1874, the 367-kilometre Melitopol–Simferopol segment opened, and the first passenger train arrived at the station. The 116-kilometre Simferopol–

segment was built in 1875. On 5 January, the full Lozova–Simferopol line began operations. In 1909, freight trains brought almost 11 million pounds of cargo to Simferopol. The development of industry in Crimea demanded the import of oil, coal, iron, steel, sheet metal, rail, scaffolding, and stone. Exports from Crimea consisted mainly of agricultural products: fruits, vegetables, tobacco, wine, and lime.

Occupation by the Nazis

From 1916 to 1944, the Simferopol station was operated by a group of Soviet soldiers under the leadership of Viktor Yefremov. Before the Second World War Yefremov was deputy head of the station. During the war, Nazi occupiers killed his wife. He was offered a job with the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and then the position of "Russian chief of station". Instead, Yefremov organized a clandestine group of station workers. They committed 17 acts of sabotage, including blowing up nine trains carrying ammunition and two carrying fuel. Under various pretexts, they delayed the repair of rolling stock, contaminated equipment, and passed on intelligence on the quantity and movement of goods, equipment, and troops. In early March 1944, the Nazis arrested Yefremov and other members of his team. One member, A. A. Breyer, not wanting to surrender to the Nazis, threw himself under a train. In 1972, a memorial plaque was installed at the station with

bas-reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of Yefremov and his band: Breyer, V. Lavrinenko, I. Levitsky, and N. Y. Sokolov. The monument was made by sculptors V. V. Petrenko and N. I. Petrenko.

Ukraine

In 1991, the station was part of Cisdnieper Railways a subdivision of Ukrainian Railways. Long-distance trains provide connections to every major Ukrainian city of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; ; ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin, and Stalino, is an industrial city in eastern Ukraine located on the Kalmius River in Donetsk Oblast, which is currently occupied by Russia as the capita ...

Luhansk Luhansk (, ; , ), also known as Lugansk (, ; , ), is a city in the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. As of 2022, the population was estimated to be making Luhansk the Cities in Ukraine, 12th-largest city in Ukraine. Luhansk served as the administra ...

Sumy Sumy (, , ) is a city in northeastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Sumy Oblast. The city is situated on the banks of the Psel (river), Psel River and has a population of making it the 23rd-largest in the country. The city ...

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Dnipro Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Khmelnytskyi Khmelnytskyi (, ) is a city in western Ukraine. Located on the Southern Bug, it serves as the administrative centre of Khmelnytskyi Oblast as well as Khmelnytskyi Raion within the oblast. With a population of Khmelnytskyi is the second-larges ...

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

Kryvyi Rih Kryvyi Rih ( ; , ), also known as Krivoy Rog ( ), is a city in central Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kryvyi Rih Raion and its subordinate Kryvyi Rih urban hromada in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. The city is part of the Kryvyi Rih Metropo ...

and

Odesa Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...

. They also had international connections with Russia, and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Under "''de facto''" control by Russian Federation

On 18 March 2014, after Russia annexed Crimea, Ukrainian authorities stopped all the rail connections to Mainland Ukraine, and as the result, fewer trains served the Simferopol station. The station became operated by

Crimea Railway The Crimea Railway (; ; ) is a Rail transport, railway located in Crimea, providing passenger and freight services to Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea (Russia), Republic of Crimea. Crimea Railway is a unitary enterprise company independent ...

as part of the

Russian government The Russian Government () or fully titled the Government of the Russian Federation () is the highest federal executive governmental body of the Russian Federation. It is accountable to the president of the Russian Federation and controlled by ...

. On 25 December 2019, the passenger train to Moscow was resumed via a new route, following the opening ceremony of

Crimean Bridge The Crimean Bridge (, ; ), also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in ...

. However, Cisdnieper Railway still claims to be part of it.

Destinations

Major destinations

Inter-connection to Mainland Russia

Gallery

File:Simf rail plf.jpg, Platforms of the station. File:Simferopol rws-08.jpg, Main building. File:Simferopol rws-07.jpg, Platform 1. File:Simferopol rws-06.jpg, Clock Tower. File:Simferopol rws-02.jpg, Exit to platform 1. File:Simferopol_rws-01.jpg, Italian garden. File:Simferopol - train station - Feb 2011.jpg, View of the station from Platform 1.

References

{{coord, 44.9616, N, 34.0823, E, source:wikidata, display=title Buildings and structures in Simferopol Railway stations in Crimea Railway stations in the Russian Empire opened in 1874 Cultural heritage monuments of regional significance in Crimea