The construction project of the Crimean Bridge provides that its automobile component will go into operation in December 2018. The launch of traffic on the railway part of the bridge is scheduled for December 2019.
The start of the bridge's operation should open a new page in the life of the Crimean Railway, which is currently undergoing a period of large-scale modernization.
Kyiv left Crimea, taking wagons and locomotives
The railway came to Crimea in 1874, when train traffic from Melitopol to Simferopol was opened.
All the main branches connecting the peninsula with other regions of the country went through Ukraine. This most logical option turned into a problem after the Crimean spring and the return of the peninsula to Russia, when official Kyiv headed for a transport blockade of Crimea.
To begin with, the Ukrainian authorities tried to remove all movable property. Analysts at the Kyiv Center for Transport Strategies reported in March 2014 that the new Ukrainian authorities tried to remove everything newer, including ChS7 passenger locomotives, track machines and new series of cars.
The Gudok newspaper, citing its sources, reported that former head of the Simferopol locomotive depot Viktor Mandyk Even on the eve of the referendum, he drove the newest locomotives 2TE116 and ChS7 to Melitopol, quit his job and left for Dnepropetrovsk. As a result, in the spring of 2014, Crimean railway workers had to use ChS2 locomotives produced in the early 1960s to provide passenger traffic.
The difficult legacy of the Ukrainian period
In Ukraine, for more than three years they have been fond of talking about “colossal losses incurred as a result of the annexation of Crimea.” In fact, the situation is the opposite - throughout the entire period of independent Ukraine, the infrastructure of the peninsula, created during the Soviet period, was destroyed with the complete indifference of the Kyiv authorities.
The Crimean Railway is no exception. Russian specialists received the farm in a terrible state.
In October 2014, specialists from Russian Railways and Goszheldornadzor, who assessed the Crimean railway, concluded that the KZD infrastructure, namely the superstructure of the tracks and turnouts, was in an unsuitable condition. On many sections of the railway, experts from the supervisory agency recommended reducing the speed of trains to 40, 25 and even 10 kilometers per hour. Only at this speed limit was it possible to ensure safe movement.
It was necessary to almost completely change the rolling stock, modernize existing lines and build new ones.
Transport blockade
From that moment on, messages “There is no more railway in Crimea!” began to appear regularly in the Ukrainian media. or “The transport blockade made the Crimean train stations empty.”
The cessation of the movement of passenger and freight trains through Ukraine, of course, had a negative impact on the life of the Crimean railways.
But, on the other hand, every cloud has a silver lining. The reduction in traffic made it possible to prepare in freer conditions for a new stage in the life of the Crimean Railway. A stage that will begin in December 2019.
Back in 2014, the Moscow-Simferopol passenger train was launched, which went to the peninsula via a ferry crossing. This practice is not new - some trains from the eastern regions of the RSFSR in the Soviet years moved to Crimea through the ferry crossing. However, now, after several months of working according to this scheme, it was decided to abandon this practice. Transporting tourists with a single ticket on buses from the railway stations of Anapa and Krasnodar turned out to be faster and easier than using a ferry to transport passenger trains.
Large construction site
Therefore, the restoration of the movement of freight and passenger trains to Crimea will occur after the launch of the Crimean railway bridge.
In addition to the work being carried out in Crimea, as well as the construction of the bridge itself, no less significant tasks are being solved by railway builders in Taman.
From Vyshesteblievskaya station, construction is underway on a 42-kilometer section that will lead directly to the bridge. The Kerch section from Bagerovo station to the bridge will be 17.8 km.
The construction of the section on the Taman Peninsula was envisaged during the construction of the Taman port and included the construction of a new Portovaya station 8 km from the transport crossing. A Taman-passenger station is planned near the village of Taman. On the Kerch section, passing through Cementnaya Slobodka, a branch to the Kerch-Yuzhnaya station and the creation of a new park are provided. Also on this site it is planned to build four overpasses, two bridges and a tunnel.
24 hours from Moscow to Simferopol
Until recently, skeptics expressed doubts about whether the intentions of the Russian authorities are realistic? But the pace of construction of the Crimean Bridge, the successful implementation of the most complex operation of transportation and installation of railway and automobile arches, indicate: when people work and do not reason, almost everything is doable.
Summer 2017 General Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Crimean Railway" Alexey Gladilin stated that for the trains that will go to Crimea after the opening of the bridge, it is planned to purchase 800 cars, most of them are double-decker sleeping cars in a compartment design.
Speaking in Alushta at the IV Crimean Transport Forum, Gladilin said: “It is planned to purchase 15 pairs of passenger trains. Moreover, they will be distributed as follows: two trains each to Sevastopol, Evpatoria and Feodosia, the rest to Simferopol.” The approximate train travel time between Simferopol and Moscow will be from 24 to 28 hours.
In the future, it is planned to make the railway route to Crimea a high-speed one, reducing travel time from the capital to Simferopol to 18 hours.
The launch of passenger trains to Crimea is only the first stage of the new life of the peninsula’s railways. But, probably, it will make sense to talk about the future later, as plans turn into real actions.
In 2018, with the participation of the Ministry of Economic Development of Crimea, a project of a direct railway from the bridge towards Simferopol across the Kerch Strait is being created.
An interdepartmental working group has already considered a project for the development of railways on the peninsula.
The project allows for the possibility of constructing a railway in a common corridor with the Tavrida highway. 
How will the railway work in Crimea?
This option has high social significance and undeniable economic advantages. Experts believe that the railway will receive the status of the shortest route between Simferopol and Kerch. This direction will also become part of the railway communication through the Kerch Strait.
The head of project management of the Rostransmodernizatsiya Federal State Institution reported that the railway is being built without joints. Rail strands with this construction method are several times longer than a standard rail (standard length: 25 meters).
The use of long rails reduces the number of joints on the railway track. Trains will move along it without the characteristic sound of wheels, almost silently and smoothly. According to a representative of the Rostransmodernization Federal Institution, such a road is convenient to operate, and its service life is noticeably increased. Designers call this path “velvet”.
At the same time as the railway tracks, the Taman-Passenger station was constructed. Trains will move through it in the direction not only Crimea and Krasnodar Territory, but regions remote from the southern part of Russia for thousands of kilometers.
In addition, the project includes the construction of several more junction railway stations intended for freight trains. The Dzhankoy station and the section of the road from Feodosia to Simferopol will be reconstructed. It is also planned to build and reconstruct carriage and locomotive depots, which are currently located in Feodosia and Simferopol.
The Russia Crimea railway from the Taman Peninsula has two tracks. It is formed by sleeper-rail structures up to eight hundred meters long. Sleeper-rail structures are laid on a specially prepared layer of crushed stone and sand, then connected to each other. Construction and installation are carried out along the entire route simultaneously.
According to the information center, right now the construction of the roadbed and embankment is 100 percent complete, and the construction of the upper track structure is at the completion stage. 130 turnouts have already been assembled, and more than two thousand catenary poles and reinforced concrete supports have been installed. Artificial structures have different levels of current readiness - from 60 to 100 percent. About a thousand workers work at the site, and more than a hundred pieces of special equipment are used.
The concept developers estimate the first phase of railway construction at 35 billion rubles. We are talking about the Simferopol - Kerch section. The section passes through Belogorsk and its length will be 215 kilometers. Money for construction is planned to be taken from extra-budgetary sources based on the issue of bonds or sponsorship agreements.
When will the opening take place?
According to the designers, the first stage is the launch of the Kerch-Feodosia railway line. Completion of construction is scheduled for 2018-2019. The length of the road is just over 94 kilometers. Then another settlement will be added (Simferopol), and the route will increase by 27 kilometers. By 2020, it is planned to launch railway stations, transport hubs and several new stations in these settlements.
The second stage of the project is the launch of the railway line - Simferopol - Bakhchisaray - Sevastopol. Its length will be slightly more than 120 kilometers. Also, as part of the second stage of construction, two small sections will be launched:
- Simferopol - Saki - Evpatoria;
- airport - railway station (Simferopol).
The second stage is planned to be completed by 2022.
The Crimean Railway company is preparing to operate the bridge from the end of 2019. The enterprise managed to prepare a train schedule for 2020, but for now it remains preliminary. Experts suggest that in the first year of railway communication between the continental part of the country and the Crimean peninsula, the road will be heavily congested. There will be 29 passages here in 24 hours. The main load on the railway tracks will come from short- and long-distance passenger trains. Commuter and freight trains will also pass through here daily.
The total capacity of the railway is 47 trains in any direction per day. We are talking about both passenger and cargo trains. This information was confirmed by one of the managers of the infrastructure projects department of the Stroygazmontazh enterprise.
As of August 19, 2018, construction work continues at full speed. What is happening today can be seen in the photo: 
P.S. As of November 23, 2018, the railway project on the approach to the bridge is changing its direction due to the discovery of the ancient Monitra estate. Read more.
The railways of Crimea and Sevastopol are serviced by the unitary enterprise KrymZhD (Crimean Railway). Thanks to communication routes, communication is maintained between cities such as Simferopol, Sevastopol, Saki, Evpatoria, Kerch, Feodosia, Dzhankoy, etc.
Development of the Crimean Railway
The state enterprise “Crimean Railway” was formed on the basis of the Crimean branch of the Dnieper Railway in March 2014. The railway network does not cover Tarkhankut and the South Coast. Passenger service occurs between Crimea and Voronezh, Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. The transportation scheme is intermodal: train – ferry – train. The Crimean Railway has 3 locomotive depots: Kerch, Dzhankoy and Simferopol.
In the spring of 2014, the Avtodor Group of Companies and Russian Railways OJSC founded the Kerch Bridge Crossing LLC, whose main task is the construction of a road-railway bridge across the Kerch Strait. The bridge will have a length of about 19 km. It was also planned to build a new railway line Simferopol - Kerch, reconstruct the Kerch - Armyansk line and create new stations.
A railway bridge across the strait is an opportunity to reduce travel time across water to a minimum and increase passenger flow and cargo turnover. Previously, Crimean Railways supported passenger transportation between the Russian capital and Kharkov, Donetsk, Simferopol and Krivoy Rog. Currently, communication between Ukraine and Russia has been stopped. You can purchase a train ticket online by visiting train.crimea.pro. Train tickets go on sale no earlier than 45 days before the departure date.
How to get to Crimea by rail
The Crimean Railway offers a route Moscow - Simferopol, which passes through Russian territory. Passengers spend 44 hours on the way. The train goes to the Kavkaz station, then passengers transfer to a bus and get to the Kavkaz port. There they cross the Kerch Strait and arrive in Kerch, where they again take their seats on the train and proceed to Simferopol.
To get to the peninsula, it is not necessary to use the Crimean railways. It is enough to turn to the services of JSC FPC (a division of Russian Railways). The route involves traveling along the Moscow – Anapa or Moscow – Krasnodar line. Then passengers transfer to buses and travel to the port of Kavkaz, where they are transported across the strait. After arriving in Kerch, they travel by bus to Yalta or Feodosia.
There are basically four ways to get to the Crimean Peninsula. The first method, the most expensive and comfortable, is air travel. A couple of hours on the plane - and you are already in Simferopol or Sevastopol. Buses, trolleybuses, minibuses or taxis will take you from these cities to your destination along direct routes - the choice is yours.
The second is railway. After spending a day on the train, solving all the crossword puzzles, your goal - sun, sea and mountains - will be achieved. The main railway stations in Crimea are Simferopol, Feodosia, Evpatoria.
The third way is to visit Crimea - by choosing a car trip. When choosing this option, you need to think through everything in advance and check the map, since some routes actually turn out to be long and extreme. For motorists, the Southern Coast of Crimea sometimes prepares adventures: the roads here are not easy, most of them are mountainous and winding.
The latest is the fourth method, the most extreme. Every year, every summer, a large number of young people hitchhike to Crimea. Everyone has their own reasons: some are hungry for adventure, others don’t have enough money. Here you need to have experience communicating with people and be careful.
