To the great joy of Kyiv’s children, railway traffic between the Yablunka and Vyshenka stations of the Kyiv Children’s Railway has been restarted. This is the only railway in Eastern Europe where children are not simply paying passengers but railway personnel. This year the railway is marking its anniversary: 55 years since the children’s diesel locomotives made their maiden voyage.
During all the years of the railway’s existence the train route has never changed. It is only 2.5 km. long and crosses the beautiful Syrets Park. There are two stations, a depot, three diesel locomotives, railway cars, a system of electric signals, and radio communication between the trains and training rooms, which now boast new computerized equipment during this anniversary year.
All the work on the railway is performed by children between the ages of 10 and 15. They work as conductors, ticket collectors, mechanics, locomotive drivers, station assistants, and shift foremen: everything is like on a real railway. Before landing a job here, future railway workers take part in the activities of Young Railway Worker hobby groups that are offered in city schools and at the Children’s Railway. This year over 500 schoolchildren attended these courses.
“Since the work awaiting the kids is not for children, the studies demand great responsibility because these youngsters work on real trains carrying real passengers,” said the head of the Kyiv Children’s Railway Valerii Brazhnyk. “The technical regulations, instructions, and requests at the Children’s Railway are no different from those that exist on the main lines.”
After working on this railway, the young railway workers may go on to make this their career. They already have work experience, so all they need is a diploma, and the road to the railway will be opened to them. That’s a promise from Oleksii Kryvopishyn, the head of the South- Western Railway Line, who said that since the Children’s Railway was founded, more than 25,000 children have completed their internships and gone on to work on the “big” railways.
