Simferopol railway station

Simferopol-Passazirsky
View of the station from Platform 1.
Location	Disputed:  Ukraine (de jure)  Russia (de facto) Simferopol
Owned by	Disputed: Ukrainian Railways (Near-Dnipro Railways) (Ukraine, de jure) Crimea Railway (Russia, de facto)
Platforms	4 (3 island platforms)
Tracks	8
Construction
Parking	yes
Other information
Station code	473908
Fare zone	0
History
Opened	1874
Electrified	1970 (Moscow—Sevastopol Main line)

Simferopol-Passazirsky (Russian: Станция Симферополь-Пассажирский, Ukrainian: Станція Сімферополь-Пасажирський) is a railway station in Simferopol, Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine, but de facto under control and administration of Russia. The station building, designed by the famous Soviet architect Alexey Dushkin in 1951 and renovated in 2000, is one of the main architectural attractions of Simferopol.

The lack of a railway in Crimea greatly complicated the Crimean War. After the war, it hampered trade and the development of the economy of Crimea and neighbouring regions.

In the summer of 1871, construction began on the 615-kilometre Lozova–Sevastopol railway. Low-paid jobs in the severe conditions of winter and summer provoked a struggle for basic rights. Some workers went on strike; the largest strike occurred in May 1873 on the Simferopol–Sevastopol segment of the railway.

Construction near Simferopol started in 1872. The original route for the Lozova–Sevastopol railway would have passed about 32 kilometres west of Simferopol. But industrialists and merchants there, aware of the benefits a railway would bring to the city, pushed successfully for the route to be revised. Officials and landowners in Simferopol provided free land for the station and locomotive depot.

The first section of the railway — Lozova–Aleksandrovsk, with a branch in Ekaterinoslav — was commissioned on 15 November 1873. The second, Aleksandrovsk–Melitopol, opened on 23 July 1874. On 1 June 1874, the first freight train arrived at the Simferopol station. And on 14 October 1874, the 367-kilometre Melitopol–Simferopol segment opened, and the first passenger train arrived at the station. The 116-kilometre Simferopol–Sevastopol segment was built in 1875. On 5 January, the full Lozova–Simferopol line began operations.