CENTRAL HOSTEL - the best design hostel in Kharkov: https://hostel.kharkiv.ua/ / @centralhostel9113 / central.hostel.kh Sound, Preview - Taras Petrenko / taraseq_petrenko Video editing - Oleg Cherny / siriusblack_13 Our instagram- / life_in._.kharkiv Our telegram - https://t.me/life_in_kharkiv The history of the Kharkov railways begins in 1866, when Emperor Alexander II signed a decree on the construction of the Kursk-Kharkov-Azov railway. This railway was to become a continuation of the Moscow-Kursk railway and connect Kursk and Kharkov via Belgorod and Kharkov, and Taganrog via Rostov-on-Don. Construction of the railway began in 1868 simultaneously on all sections and was carried out in the shortest possible time. May 22, 1869 at 11:30 The first train arrives at the Kharkov railway station, this is one of the most important events in the history of our city. The railway will change Kharkov forever, it will give it prosperity and industrial growth, and during the war years, the heaviest battles and severe destruction. In the 1860s, Kharkov considered a possible site for the construction of a future railway. It was decided to lay the railway along a ravine that was on the outskirts of the city near Kholodnaya Gora. Of course, there were difficulties, the ravine was very swampy, and on its territory there was a popular Karpovsky Garden at that time, which had to be partially destroyed. It was decided to locate the railway station on the site of the bishop's paddock. These were huge meadows that were flooded with water in the spring, tall grass grew here and when this area dried out in the summer, cows were driven here to graze. During the construction of the station, a whole system of work was carried out to drain this area. A pipe system worth 13,000 rubles was laid. Simultaneously with the construction of the railway, the first city station was built according to the design of Andrey Ton. Every year the number of trains increases. Infrastructure begins to appear around the station. In early 1881, representatives of the Belgian Society approached the Kharkov City Duma with a proposal to build a horse-drawn railway or a horse-drawn tram in the city. The horse-drawn tram will be opened in Kharkov on September 24, 1882. The turning circle will be located on Nikolaevskaya Square, today's Constitution Square, the rails will be laid along Ekaterininskaya Street to today's Poltavsky Shlyakh, and the second turning circle will be made on Privokzalnaya Square. In 1895, the station platform will be illuminated for the first time with electronic lamps, as they said then with artificial light. A year later, it will become obvious that the station cannot cope with such a large number of trains and passengers, and the reconstruction of the station begins. The reconstruction project was started by architects Iliodor Zagorsky and completed by architect Yuliya Tsaune. The reconstruction of the station was completed in 1901. The new station consisted of 7 platforms and 2 halls for departing and arriving passengers united by a large dome. The renovated station was considered one of the largest and most beautiful in the Russian Empire. In 1907, the Kursk Kharkov Azov Railway was united with the Kharkov Nikolaevskaya into the Southern Railway. The total length of this railway was slightly more than 4,200 km each year. It transported more than 200 million tons of cargo. Every day, goods worth 62 million tsarist rubles were transferred. The main administration of the Southern Railway was located in Kharkov. It consisted of many departments that were responsible for the repair of rolling stock, logistics, track repair, and many other issues. All of these departments were located in 20 rooms in different buildings in the city. All of this disrupted the interaction between them. Moreover, it was unseemly for such a large enterprise not to have its own representative office.