Train No. 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta. The Nadvirna-Mykulychyn Section

Passenger train No. 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta links the centre and the west of Ukraine, an industrial and academic region with the Carpathian land. Residents of the Poltava and Kyiv regions travel by train to Lviv, to Ivano-Frankivsk and to a place of active recreation — the mountain resorts of the Nadvirna area.

 

Since 24 February 2022 the train has switched to a wartime footing and carries passengers to less dangerous regions. The rolling-stock crew of Kremenchuk railway station has been working in evacuation-train mode for almost two years now. 

 

Train No. 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta

The train departs from its starting station at 17:03 and arrives at its final destination at 11:50, covering a distance of 1,129 kilometres in 18 hours 47 minutes and making 21 stops.

 

Train No. 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta

Passenger carriages for the Soviet Union were manufactured by factories in Germany. Open-plan (platskart) carriages appeared in the Soviet period in order to make travel cheaper and increase passenger traffic. The sliding doors were removed and two more berths were installed. Platskart carriages are less comfortable, and their berths cost almost half as much as places in compartment (kupe) carriages. The carriage is heated by a water system with a coal-fired boiler. Warm blankets are folded on the berths just in case.

A convenient timetable has been drawn up for passengers. At the stations of the Poltava region the train stops in the evening, after the working day. Kyiv residents board at 22:59. It reaches Lviv at 06:30, when public transport is already running and you can get to any district of the city or region. It passes through Ivano-Frankivsk at 09:10, by which time all institutions and shopping centres are open. In Romodan, train No. 149 Poltava-Chernivtsi is coupled to the Kremenchuk train, and together they race towards Ivano-Frankivsk; there No. 149 turns off for Kolomyia and Chernivtsi, while No. 130 has 2 hours 20 minutes left to the skiing Eldorado, as lovers of alpine skiing and tourists call Vorokhta. This is the most interesting stretch of the route, built in 1895, with station buildings and water towers from the Austrian period. The steel line cuts through the mountain system, and the train passes through tunnels, over truss bridges above the turbulent streams of mountain rivers, and along arc-shaped tracks. Wooden churches and guest houses, where travellers are always awaited, drift past the window. Everyone will be met, organised, wrapped up, fed with Hutsul delicacies, steamed in wooden tubs, prepared for hikes, kitted out with ski gear and delivered to the ski jumps.

Train No. 130 Kremenchuk-Vorokhta

It is worth noting that train No. 130 departs on even-numbered dates, arrives in Vorokhta on odd-numbered ones, and that same day, 3 hours later, at 14:47, sets off back to Kremenchuk.