Crossing the bridge is prohibited! Ukrzaliznytsia reports on funds spent on the renovation of the Kyiv Children’s Railway

On June 1, The International Children’s day, after more than six months in 2019 of reconstruction, the Kyiv Children’s Railway resumed its work. However, not all of its facilities are now available for visiting. After the publication of the “Active Citizens” article, the railway administration restricted traffic through the railway bridge, now the passage can be used exclusively by trains – pedestrian traffic is prohibited.

Back in early May, when the major works at the facility were completed, “Active Citizens” wrote about the obvious shortcomings of the children’s railway infrastructure restoration. Particular attention was paid to the railway bridge, which has not been significantly repaired not once since its construction in 1954 (read also: “The restoration of the Children’s Railway in Kyiv for 10 million UAH: the broken barrier was propped up, the rusty bridge was not even painted).

To inform the public, as well as to draw the attention of the management of PTC “Ukrzaliznytsia” to the identified problems, we then submitted relevant requests addressed to the management of the state monopolist of railway transportation.

However, according to the heads of the state railway station, there are no obvious shortcomings in the functioning of the extremely rusty railway bridge, over which first trains with children started to operate today today.

From the response to the information query, it follows that on February 19, 2019 specialists of the Department of Diagnostics of Artificial Structures of the Kyiv Diagnostic Center conducted a survey of the bridge. In their conclusion, the experts note that: “There are no significant shortcomings regarding the bridge structures that would threaten the safety of railway transport.”

After analyzing the data provided to us by PTC “Ukrzaliznytsia” regarding the expenditures of 7.2 million UAH of State budget for the the Children’s Railway renovation (and this is only as for 2019, the total project estimate is 10 million UAH). On the day of the official opening of the facility, “Active Citizens” decided to examine exactly those railway facilities, on which, according to PTC “Ukrzaliznytsia”, the main part of the reconstruction funds was spent.

In the report of works performed at the facility, first of all the State enterprise notes the partial replacement of the railway surface. In particular, the replacement of wooden beams of the tracks: “Defective wooden ties were replaced on the approaches to the bridge.” However, this information could not be confirmed once on the spot. Just after passing the children’s locomotive, behind its steel wheels could be seen the same wooden “defective” beams (“ties”) that were here during our previous visit in May.

Next on the list and on our walking route – the bridge itself. For the sake of its re-examination, we even had to, at our own risk, violate the ban of Ukrzaliznytsia on movement on the pedestrian part of the bridge. According to the railway workers, they “cleaned and painted all the metal parts of the bridge superstructure.” Indeed, all rusted metal with traces of deep corrosion as of June 1 was thoroughly cleaned and painted, and metal fragments were carefully removed from the slopes of the ravine. However, it is not clear the effectiveness of painting rust, besides, the paint, as it can be seen in the pictures, was applied for the external “facade” sides of the bridge supports only. On the back side the actual condition of the metal of the bridge support structures still can be seen.

Things are no better on the bridge itself. Despite the assurances of repairmen, however, that: “Defective boards were replaced on the sidewalks of the bridge.” In fact, the boards were only painted, even without applying varnish, which may possibly lead them to an active rot in the fall.

The next point in the list is the installation of the retaining walls of the bridge: “Retaining walls were arranged on the approaches to the bridge”. This point is not as crystal clear as it may seem at first glance. Indeed, the retaining walls are there and they are visually in a fairly good condition. However, these walls have existed here since its foundation — before the renovation works of the railway. During this latest repairing the PTC “Ukrzaliznytsia” workers simply “patched up” the old structures and covered everything with fresh paint, appropriating, in fact, the laurels of pioneers in this business.

Finally, in its response, “Ukrzaliznytsia” informed “Active Citizens” about “planned asphalt paving works on the approaches to the viaduct.” However, such huge plans, obviously, have not been destined to become reality yet. As of the first day of operation of the Children’s Railway, the approaches to the bridge remain to be simple sandy paths trodden by pedestrians themselves.

There is also a doubt whether the appropriate paths will ever be created at all, since the passage of pedestrians across the bridge is now completely prohibited. It is likely that from now on, residents of the capital’s Rudansky, Ukrainska and Novoukrainska streets, will literally bypass the park with its railway tenth road, since the only convenient route from the metro station and public transport stops to their homes  was across the bridge and there is simply no other alternative road across the cliff in the park.

Dmitry Perov , founder of the NGO “Green Minute”