This feature story is not about the hard life in Kiev suburbs and daily commuting, but rather an attempt to describe the suburban trains, their passengers and the atmosphere. Perhaps this sketch, addressing this aspect of suburban life, will scare the readers. Or perhaps quite the opposite – it will encourage them to take a trip in the future. Nevertheless, here I write about the real life and ordinary events that take place on commuter trains in the Ukrainian capital.
There are two types of commuter trains: electric and diesel. In common
parlance they are called “elektrichka” and “dizel”. The trains may vary
depending on the used technology, but the atmosphere and the audience,
as in a respectable theater, are the same… The experience described in
the article refers to the route “Kiev-Korosten”. Among the late- and
post-Soviet travelers and hitchhikers, there is a special name for
electric trains – “dogs”. “Riding dogs” means the cheapest way to travel
from one train to another. The passengers of commuter trains call them
gently “tiagi” – apparently from the verb “tianuc’” (to pull).
