Chernihiv–Ovruch railway

Chernihiv–Ovruch railway
Chernihiv station building and platforms
Overview
Native name	Ukrainian: Дільниця Чернігів–Овруч Russian: Участок Чернигов–Овруч Belarusian: Ўчастак Чарнігаў–Оўруч
Status	Partially active (84.4 km)
Owner	Ukrainian Railways (UZ)
Locale	Ukraine, Belarus
Termini	Chernihiv, Ukraine Ovruch, Ukraine
Service
Type	Commuter rail
Operator(s)	Southwestern Railways (PZZ)
History
Opened	1930 (1930)
Technical
Line length	177.5 km (110.3 mi)
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) (Russian)
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC (84,4 km)

v t e Chernihiv-Ovruch line
Legend
km Korosten Bilokorovychi 212.6 Ostriv[1] Noryn River T0619 0.0 Ovruch North to Mazyr 6.1 Selyshche[2] 12.0 Hrezlia 13.8 Husarivka Hrezlia River 22.8 Nyvky 30.5 Tychkiv 33.3 Racha Radcha River 40.5 Vilkhova Zhytomyr Oblast Exclusion Zone T1035 44.4 Vilcha 52.0 Pavlovichi 57.0 Klivini 63.0 Tovstyi Lys 71.0 Krasnytsa 76.0 Buriakivka 79.0 Shepelychi 87.0 Yaniv To Chornobyl Plant Bridge of Death To Chornobyl Plant 91.1 Semykhody Pripyat River 97.0 Zimovishche 105.0 Masheve Exclusion Zone Radioecological Reserve 109.0 Posudovo 113.0 Kolyban Brahinka River 118.1 Kaporenka Radioecological Reserve Gomel Oblast Peresadochna[3] 122.7 Yolcha Dnieper River Gomel Oblast Chernihiv Oblast 131.1 Nedanchychi Chernihiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast Slavutych (city) 135.1 Selyshche Lisove P56 139.7 Slavutych Slavutych (city) Kyiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast 145.6 Demiyka Pakulka River 150.3 Maliiky 0.0 Zhydynychi 13.2 Karkhivka 157.1 20.2 Zhukotky 160.9 Levkovichi 168.1 Bilous M01 Bilous River 173.9 Chernihiv-Pidusivka 174.6 175 km Hornostaivka 175.5 Chernihiv Nizhyn

The Chernihiv–Ovruch railway is a partially electrified^[4] and partially operational single track railway line that stretches between the town of Ovruch and the city of Chernihiv, in northern Ukraine, passing through southern Belarus and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The line is owned by Ukrzaliznytsia alone, with railway stations located in Belarus being leased from the government of Belarus. A portion of the line between railway stations Vilcha and Semykhody has not been in service since the Chernobyl disaster, on 26 April 1986.

The line's construction started in 1928, as part of a modernization and development program of Southwestern Railways (Ukrainian: Південно-Західна залізниця). It was opened for passenger traffic in 1930.^[5][6] Partially abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, it works in its eastern section, between Chernihiv and Semikhody, a terminus station near Pripyat serving the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This line section was electrified in 1988.^[7][8]

The line begins at the central station of Chernihiv, capital of the Chernihiv Oblast, located on the Minsk-Gomel-Kyiv line. After two minor stops within the city, it passes through a few small villages in Chernihiv Raion. At Zhukotky station began a now closed branch to Karkhivka and Zhydinychi. 36 km (22 mi) after Chernihiv the line reaches Slavutych, a city built in 1986 for the refugees fleeing the Chernobyl disaster. Its station replaced the pre-existing "Nerafa", demolished to build a larger station for the new city.^[9]

After the stops in Lisnyi (in Slavutych) and Nedanchychi (in Chernihiv Raion) the line enters Belarus' Oblast of Gomel, passing over the Dnieper river. The station of Iolcha is the only functioning stop working on the Belarusian part of the line. It serves the villages of Staraya Iolcha, Novaya Iolcha, Krasnoe, and the near town of Kamaryn, all in Brahin Raion. After Iolcha, the line enters in the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, created to enclose the territory of Belarus most affected by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident, through three abandoned stations. The first one, Kaporenka, was the interchange point (in Russian: Пересадочная, "Peresadochnaya")^[10] of an abandoned siding to a decontamination park.

The line then reenters Ukraine, joining Vyshhorod Raion, in Kyiv Oblast, and the Exclusion Zone. After Zymovyshche it passes over the Pripyat River and past a branch to the new Semikhody terminal station.^[11] Built in 1988, the Semikhody station is a terminus that substitutes Semykhody stop, on the main line, and is the endpoint of the electrification and passenger service. Located in front of the nuclear plant, close to the New Safe Confinement, the terminus serves workers and is the only working station in Pripyat.^[12][13]

Continuing on the main line, it passes the first industrial siding for the Chernobyl Plant and, after the so-called Bridge of Death, a second siding, just before Yaniv, the main station of Pripyat. The industrial line, which runs a loop around the nuclear plant passing between the 4 reactors and next to the cooling pond, is partially active because it allows goods and materials to be moved around the plant.^[12]

Yaniv station, located between Yaniv village and the southern suburb of Pripyat, was an important passenger hub before the nuclear accident. It is the nearest station to Chernobyl town, 18 km (11 mi) south, and nowadays is a railroad graveyard, with a high number of abandoned trains, making it one of the tourist sights in Pripyat. The station, refurbished in the 2010s, is used by workers of the society "Chornobylservis" (Ukrainian: Чорнобильсервіс)^[11] for fixing heavy machinery.^[14][15][16]

After leaving Pripyat, the line continues through a forested area, highly contaminated at several points. It is rarely used by freight trains serving the nuclear plant and passes several villages, such as Buriakivka, known for its large vehicle graveyard full of abandoned radioactive machinery.^[17] After Tovstyi Lis the line runs along the border between the "10-km" and "30-km" zones and enters Vyshhorod Raion. It passes through the ghost town of Vilcha, 17 km (11 mi) north of Poliske, today one of the checkpoints to the Exclusion Zone. This section of the line is the most decrepit, with the track invaded by vegetation and the station buildings mostly in ruins.^[13][18]

Leaving Vilcha, the line enters Narodychi Raion of the Zhytomyr Oblast and after Radcha, the line reaches Ovruch Raion. It crosses several villages and ends at Ovruch station, on the line linking Mazyr to Korosten. The Vilcha-Ovruch section, de jure operating but de facto abandoned, has had no passenger services since 1986. Vilcha station was open until 2013.^[13][19][20]

Until 1986, the entire line was served by regional and long-distance trains such as the Moscow-Khmelnytskyi express service.^[6][14] Current passenger services include the following trains:

Ovruch station was mentioned in the 1963 book The Truce (Italian: La tregua), by the Italian writer Primo Levi. It was a stop on his roundabout 1945 trip from the Auschwitz concentration camp to his home in Turin.^[21][22][23]

Yaniv station appears as an accessible location in the 2009 video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

• Yaniv railway station
• Rail transport in Ukraine

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chernihiv–Ovruch railway.

• Schematic map of the Southwestern Railway Archived 2021-10-10 at the Wayback Machine. Southwestern Railway website.
• wikimapia.org
• Radioactive Railroad
• Lost Places - Chornobyl Zone
• Chernobyl Commuter Train on Vimeo
• Поезд на ЧАЭС / Train to ChNPP on YouTube