Vorozhba railway station

Vorozhba (Ukrainian: Ворожба) is a railway station in Vorozhba, Ukraine. It is a major passenger and freight station at the junction of the Khutir-Mikhailovskyi-Konotop, Vorozhba-Konotop, Vorozhba-Volfyne, and Bilopillya-Vorozhba lines of Southwestern Railways.

History
The station was founded in 1868.

In 1894, the Vorozhba-Seredyna-Buda (now Zernove station) narrow-gauge railway was put into operation, and in 1915 it was rebuilt on a wide track. The Moscow-Kyiv-Voronezh Railway Joint-Stock Company built locomotive and wagon workshops at Vorozhba Junction in the early 1890s. The economic importance of the node grew. Mainly bread was exported, and coal materials, salt, etc. were delivered.

At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, the following stations were built on the Vorozhba-Kyiv line: Putivl, Gruzke, Konotop, Bakhmach, Plysky, Kruty, Nizhyn, Nosivka, Kobyzhchi, Bobrovytsia, and Bobryk. And along the Kursk line Volfyne, Hlushkovo, Kornevo, Kolontaivka, Artakovo, Lgov-Kievskiy, Lukashovka, Dyakonovo and Kursk.

The importance of the Vorozhba railway station, which after a while became a hub, grew. The formation and development of the Vorozhba station made significant changes in the development of the region's economy. Prior to the Kursk-Kyiv railway, Bilopillya served as a place to gather flour and oats. Rye flour from nearby cities was distributed partly in Sumy and Lebedyn raions to local distilleries and sent to the city of Hlukhiv, Chernigov Guberniya. They were followed by the Desna River and Russia. Wheat flour and oats were also sent to the northwest - to Chernihiv and Vitebsk Oblasts. Part of the oats was sold in Kremenchuk, and rye was sold on the Don River.

After the construction of the Kursk-Kyiv railway, the nature and volume of trade in the city of Bilopillya changed. If earlier trade went with Hlukhiv, and from there to the Desna River and further, now from Bilopillya production went on the Kursk-Kyiv railway. The bulk of grain was exported abroad to Prussia.

Intensive railway construction led to significant changes in the railway junction at Vorozhba. A railway settlement grew around the station. In 1887 there were 557 people.

On November 26, 1888, train traffic was opened on the Vorozhba-Kursk section of the Kursk-Kyiv railway. Passenger traffic increased incomparably. The question of building a new station arose urgently. At the end of the 19th century its construction began, and in the summer of 1898 the new station of the Vorozhba station was consecrated and solemnly opened.

After the liquidation of the Ukrainian People's Republic, restoration work began at the Vorozhba railway junction. They were held in difficult conditions. But, despite this, at the end of the recovery period, the railway junction was working at full capacity. More cargo was accepted and sent here than in 1913. Thus, during 1925-1926, 18.4 thousand tons of cargo arrived at the station, and 41.4 thousand tons were sent.

Vorozhba station is classified as a class three station in terms of the volume of work performed, and in terms of the process of passenger traffic formation it is a major transit station. From the station you can depart in both Kyiv and Kharkiv directions. An average of 450 passengers leave the station per day during the year.

Vorozhba station is a precinct station, classified as class one in terms of the amount of work performed, and is an interstate transmission station to the Moscow Railway.

At the end of 2009, active work on electrification of the Konotop-Vorozhba section began.

On June 17, 2010, the electrified route was inaugurated together with the reconstructed Vorozhba station, built in 1888. A temporary mobile traction substation was put into operation at the station, and a stationary one is planned to be built in the future.

Infrastructure
In 1898, at the expense of the Kharkiv-Mykolaiv and Kursk-Kyiv railways, a new building of the Vorozhba station was built, designed by Kyiv architect Mykola Jurgens. The station building has two facades facing east and west. There was a waiting room in one wing of the station, and a restaurant in the other. In the extreme right part of the eastern facade there is a technical department and a customs post. In the extreme left part of the western facade there are offices of the station chief, the deputy chief of the station, the station duty officer, the accounting department and the hall for scheduled briefings. In the central part of the station there are ticket offices and a branch of "ExpressBank". It is obvious that the author of the project, architect Jurgens, tried to create a building with a perspective for the future, which was convenient and comfortable not only for the then but also for the next generation. Now this magnificent architectural work is a decoration of the city and occupies a prominent place in the stations of Ukraine.

The last current renovation of the station building was carried out in 1998.

Passenger service
At Vorozhba station all long-distance passenger trains and suburban trains stop, including the "Capital Express" (Kharkiv-Kyiv and Sumy-Kyiv).

National trains:
 * Lysychansk - Uzhhorod;
 * Kyiv - Kostiantynivka;
 * Kharkiv - Uzhhorod;
 * Zernove - Sumy;
 * Shostka - Sumy;
 * Kyiv - Kharkiv;
 * Kyiv - Sumy;
 * Vorozhba - Fastiv

International trains:
 * Minsk - Zaporizhzhya (in summer the train route is extended to Novooleksiivka station);
 * Kharkiv - St. Petersburg;

From June 2010 the electric train of increased comfort No. 818/817 Kyiv - Vorozhba runs. Thanks to electric traction, the travel time of trains from Vorozhba to Kyiv was reduced by about half an hour.

Until 2013-2014, passenger trains ran through Vorozhba station in the following directions:
 * Luhansk - Kyiv
 * Moscow - Sumy
 * Yevpatoria - Minsk
 * St. Petersburg - Mariupol
 * Bryansk - Kharkiv
 * Kyiv - Voronezh