Train Bridge Stories: From Kiev through the forest to Prague
Thursday 9:55, Prague: Another humanitarian train reached its destination. Dozens of Ukrainian refugees have already left in Olomouc and Pardubice due to overcapacity in Prague. Even so, more than 100 people perform at the sunny Prague Central Station.
Thursday 7:31, a short distance from Pardubice: Ludmila also rides a humanitarian train from the Ukrainian-Polish border with her 72-year-old mother Raisa. They’ve been on the road for four days. The Kiev region has escaped, through the forest, by bus, by another bus, by train from Prague to Karlovy Vary to find Ludmila’s son. “It simply came to our notice then. There were bombs, “he says.
Wednesday 22:30, Przemysl: Another humanitarian train departs from Poland to the Czech Republic. According to the crew, it carries more than 300 Ukrainian refugees. Mainly mothers with children and also several seniors.
Wednesday 18:42, Korczowa: At the refugee center, volunteers are already starting to gather those who are headed to the Czech Republic. The destination will be announced with a microphone, a bus will arrive at the entrance of the center and take people to the railway station in Přemysl. The train to Prague should be waiting there.
Wednesday 16:12 Korcowa. Every approximately fifteen minutes, a bus full of mothers with children arrives at the refugee center directly from the border. At the border they have a small background with a heated tent and hot drinks. But as local volunteers told me, a few days ago, people stood at the border for hours and hours in the winter.
Wednesday 13:30, Korcowa: A center for Ukrainian refugees has grown from a huge department store. More buses bring them here directly from the border. There are sunbeds under construction, people are sleeping here, resting, waiting for connections. In the middle of the room, they use the microphone to create vacancies on buses to various destinations, to Poland, the Czech Republic, but also to France.
Wednesday 11:50, Przemysl: We leave the station in the direction of the border. The Regiojet bus runs there, today we are driven by the driver Pavel. In the afternoon he starts to tie people from the border to the train to the Czech Republic.
Wednesday 9:30, Przemysl: People get off the train, humanitarian aid is switched to Ukrainian trains. Hundreds of Ukrainians are proud at the station, especially mothers with children. They get information, food and a temporary shelter before the snowfall.
Wednesday 7:20, Tarnow: The train, through Polish cities, is rapidly approaching Przemyśl, which has been nicknamed the “gateway to Europe” since the beginning of the refugee wave. From the train window you can see the snowy forests and the small town here and there. The phone reports sub-zero temperature and snowfall all day. This is not good news for people who often flee Ukraine with only documents.
Wednesday 0:25, Olomouc: We pass Olomouc. There is an awkward silence on the train, only the RegioJet steward passes here and there. Representatives of People in Need, which handles humanitarian shipments, are also a few compartments away. They are volunteers, usually working with Roman children or in debt counseling. They offered to help outside of your specialization in difficult times.
Tuesday 21:45, Prague: The train arrives on the platform with a 40-minute delay. A couple of Ukrainians are returning to the country. But most of all, we take several wagons with humanitarian aid. The rest are mainly sleeping cars.
Tuesday 21:15, Prague: In about half an hour another train with humanitarian aid will leave for Ukraine. I am waiting at the Main Railway Station, where volunteers from the Hlavák Initiative also stand non-stop, in reflective vests such as blue-yellow signs, they catch Ukrainian refugees who have just arrived in Prague. We are going to the Polish-Ukrainian border for other people fleeing the war.
What People in Need has so far transported to Ukraine
– 261 pallets of hygiene supplies and food – 38 pallets of sleeping bags and mats – 37 pallets of power banks and hygiene – 15 pallets of medicines
– 87 pallets of baby food and baby hygiene (diapers) – 110 pallets of normal, powdered and condensed milk – 54 pallets of sunflower oil, 140 pallets of durable food (pasta, sugar, biscuits, margarine, canned meat, cereals, flour) – 8 pallets of mattresses, 6 pallets of generators – 19 pallets of toilet paper – 24 pallets and 26 sleeping bag boxes – 22 pallets of medical material and disinfectants
– 212 pallets of durable food (pasta, flakes, nuts), instant food and hygiene and baby food (diapers, baby food) – 104 pallets of coffee and caffeinated beverages – 42 pallets of milk, 21 pallets of pallet paper – 6 sleeping bag boxes – 10 pallets disinfectant wipes – 15 pallets of thermal clothing – 2 pallets of duvets and pillows
“Ukraine’s assistance was possible thanks to the generosity of 13 Czech companies, which provided material assistance directly to the order of local Ukrainian governments. The SOS Ukraine collection is still running, through which it was selected on March 7. CZK 1,293,526,000. People in Need is also trying to operate aid on the ground and distribute money through grants to local and neighboring NGOs that operate in Ukraine and provide assistance to people affected by the war, “said People in Need.
The train passes through Ostrava and Krakow to Przemyśl, Poland, every other day from Prague’s Central Station. Przemyśl lies only a few kilometers from the Ukrainian border. However, due to the track gauge there, the humanitarian cargo must be transferred to a Ukrainian train, which continues to the war zones.
The trains are run jointly by RegioJet and ČD Cargo. Humanitarian aid is provided by People in Need. In the first week of operation of this train bridge managed to get to Ukraine more than 800 tons of material aid. On the way back, the trains carried more than two thousand Ukrainian refugees.
Even after more than a week of Russian invasion of Ukraine, the fighting has not subsided. More and more help is needed, and so is the number of people fleeing the borders to the countries of the European Union.