Tag Archives: Kiev

Ghost stations of the Kiev Metro

Hidden beneath the streets of Kiev, Ukraine is something unusual – a trio of unused metro stations that see train pass through, but never stop. Львiвська Брама (Lvivska Brama) Львiвська Брама (Lvivska Brama) is the best known of the three […]

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Interchange stations on Soviet metro systems

Interchange stations on Soviet designed metro systems are a little odd for anyone accustomed to urban rail networks elsewhere in the world – the platforms for each line are treated as their own station, with their own street entrance, and […]

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Riding the Kiev Funicular

Funicular railways seem to be quite common in European cities, and the Ukranian capital is no different. The Kiev Funicular is a 238 meter long railway opened in 1905 that links the top and bottom of a hill. Here is […]

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Newsagents: then and now

Here’s a traditional newsstand on the Kiev Metro. And the modern equivalent in Moscow – a bank of newspaper vending machines. Given how the internet has decimated traditional print media, how long until even the vending machines disappear?

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Get your Crapdogs and VD in Kiev

There are plenty of foreign names that look funny to an outsider – I found a few in Kiev.

What looks like 'Crapdogs' is actually 'Stardogs' Continue reading

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Mobile coffee trucks on the streets of Kiev

Before I visited Kiev I never thought that it would be a city that takes coffee seriously, but it appears that the local residents love to drink the stuff – coffee carts fill the streets.

Another mobile coffee truck in Kiev Continue reading

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Kiev to Rostov-on-Don by train

All aboard for another look out the train window – this time the 20 hour journey south-west from Kiev, Ukraine. Our next stop was the Black Sea resort of Sochi, but due to a lack of direct services we made our way to the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, where we would change trains.

Main entrance to Київ-Пасажирський railway station off Vokzalna Ploshcha Continue reading

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Bilingual directional signage on the Kiev Metro

On my visit to Kiev, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get around the city via the metro network – the key being the well designed directional signage.

Train arriving Khreshchatyk (Хрещатик) station on Line 1 of the Kiev Metro Continue reading

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Bucharest to Kiev by train

One of the more interesting legs of our trip across Europe was the 27 hour long train ride from Bucharest in Romania to Kiev in Ukraine. We joined the train in Bucharest, where a Ca(ile Ferate Române (Romania Railways) locomotive hauled the train into the dead end station at Gara de Nord.

CFR Class 65 diesel locomotive 65-1295-8 arrives into Bucharest's Gara de Nord Continue reading

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Journey to the world’s deepest metro station

On my trip to Europe I paid a visit to the world’s deepest railway station – Arsenalna (Ukrainian: Арсенальна) on the Kiev Metro in Ukraine. At 105.5 metres below ground, the trip back to the surface takes some time! The odyssey starts at platform level, when you step off the train.

'Арсенальна' station name on the tunnel wall Continue reading

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