AFP, published Monday 3 July 2023 at 4:16 p.m.
The night train leaves Kiev for Uzhhorod in western Ukraine. In car 5, Anastassia is calmed down. With their 7- and 10-year-old daughters, they will be in their compartment without a man.
This is a first for the Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia. In order to increase passenger safety, the first compartments for women on night trains were put into operation on Friday.
“I chose this option because it’s the first time I’m traveling alone with my two daughters,” without her husband, explains Anastassia.
“I was a little worried, but I saw that it was possible to take tickets in the compartment reserved for women, so I bought some immediately,” continues the psychologist.
For them, it’s about both safety and comfort. “You can change clothes and sleep at night. It’s a closed space and it’s not very comfortable to be around men there.”
The experiment is currently affecting four night trains, two of which depart from the capital.
The announcement followed an electronic petition which has collected more than 25,000 signatures since it was published on the government’s website in mid-May.
The text called for reserving “at least one carriage” for women on all trains with a journey time of more than six hours, noting in particular “non-isolated” cases of “harassment” and “intentional touching” to “rape in Wagons” were mentioned.
– “Very good neighbors” –
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian railways have played a crucial role in evacuating civilians and transporting troops and goods.
This network, one of the largest in Europe with more than 20,000 km of track, has always enjoyed great popularity. In the meantime, many women often travel alone through the country, while the men mostly stay at the front.
Reliable and very cheap, rail was more popular before the war than domestic air travel – which had been disrupted since the conflict began, was more expensive and had inadequate infrastructure.
Besides the road, the train is now the only way to enter or leave the country.
So far, the Russians have barely targeted Ukrainian railways, with the exception of an April 2022 attack on the Kramatorsk (East) railway station that killed 61 and wounded more than 160.
On the train to Uzhgorod, three same-sex compartments are combined in one carriage, but next to them are others where men stay. Olena Vyacheslavivna, 60, says being able to vote is a “very good thing”.
“The men are very nice, but sometimes our interests don’t align,” she says, adding that it was her daughter who took her ticket.
“From the first minute I felt that I had very good neighbors and that traveling would be a pleasure. So I’m very happy to be here,” she says.
– demarcation –
Tatiana, 26, also feels “more comfortable around women. This is even more true when I travel alone. So I’m sure that nobody will bother me. Ease, not morally either,” she explains.
Oxana, 22, thinks the experiment is positive, but would have liked a car to be exclusively for women, with a real partition rather than a few compartments in the middle to prevent men from constantly passing in front of these women.
However, she points out that a male presence can sometimes be useful in certain situations.
“I’ve seen drunk men on a rideshare enter (the compartment). Then another man in the next compartment can come up and say something,” she explains.
Depending on its success, the principle of women’s seats could be expanded, according to the company Ukrzaliznytsia, which tried to introduce the idea back in 2010 but gave up again due to lack of demand.
She also announced further measures, such as more frequent armed patrols in the trains, surveillance cameras in the carriages and the installation of emergency call buttons in the compartments and alarm systems on the doors.
The petition calling for reserved compartments has sparked heated debates on social media. Many women spoke out in favor, but some men denounced a form of “segregation” or complained about being viewed as potential aggressors by default.
On the Kiev platform, Andriï has just accompanied his mother, his wife and their daughter, who are leaving on another train.
When asked about the experiment, he rates the idea as “positive”, but advocates that there should also be compartments for men only.
“We could play chess like that,” he jokes.