Solutions from Ukraine: additional trains to feature women’s-only compartments

Women's compartments will appear in four more trains in Ukraine from August 1. Tickets will be available from July 13.

Ukrzaliznytsia [Ukrainian Railways – ed.] reports that.

What is the problem?

Ukrainian Railways, known as Ukrzaliznytsia, has recently announced the introduction of special compartments for women following extensive public deliberation and a corresponding petition. The issue of harassment towards women on trains has been a hot topic on social media for several weeks. These designated compartments are open to women, transwomen, and mothers with children under six years old of any gender.

Ukzaliznytsia decided to launch such compartments on long-distance routes, which are among the leaders in terms of the number of registered conflict cases since the beginning of the year.

According to the company, these compartments are typically filled to about 93%. Starting October 27th, one can purchase tickets for these women's compartments through the Ukrzaliznytsia app. Tickets can be bought up to 20 days in advance, and, as before, the available seats will be indicated in the app.

Earlier, Ukrzaliznytsia's chairman of the board, Yevhen Liashchenko, announced that passenger satisfaction in the women's compartments had reached a historic high of 88%. 

What is the solution?

"So we made the necessary program revisions to expand the number of train flights with women's compartments to 12. At the peak of the summer transportation season, we chose four more destinations with long travel times, which are popular especially for vacationing mothers with the youngest children," Liashchenko announced.

Therefore, from August 1, women's compartments will appear in four more trains in Ukraine. Tickets will be available from July 13.

The carrier claims that, in terms of cost, women's compartments will in no way differ from other compartments of a similar type on a particular flight but will guarantee a certain privacy and a sense of security during the journey.

How does it work?

So, from August 1, Ukrzaliznytsia will add women's compartments on the following four long-distance flights:

• No. 1/2 Kharkiv – Ivano-Frankivsk.
• No. 5/6 Zaporizhzhia – Yasinia;
• No. 43/44 Cherkasy – Ivano-Frankivsk;
• No. 95/96 Kyiv – Rakhiv.

Tickets for women's compartments on the specified trains will be available in the Ukrzaliznytsia application from July 13. Boarding in the corresponding carriages is available to women and children under 6 years of age.

For reference:

In May 2023, a petition appeared on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers [Ukraine's government—ed.] about introducing separate carriages for women in the Ukrzaliznytsia trains. Later, the head of the "Servant of the People" party, Olena Shuliak, sent a proposal to the Ukrzaliznytsia regarding a new pilot project to introduce a compartment for women.

Already in June last year, it was reported that Ukrzaliznytsia launched the first women's compartments in four directions: Kyiv—Uzhhorod, Dnipro—Truskavets, Kyiv—Kryvyi Rih, and Kharkiv—Yasinia.

In total, from August 1, Ukraine will have 12 trains with women's compartments.

Rubryka analyzed how the "car debate" arose and how the service of providing individual seats on trains based on gender abroad works.

Read more about it in the article: "Women's compartments: foreign experience, silencing violence and a solution that will not become a panacea."