As a result of the loose web of the net of railroads, and the destination of all the railroad lines in the Ukraine to foreign centers, there are almost no important railway centers in the Ukraine. The only center of European proportions is Lemberg, where nine main and local lines meet. Striy, Stanislaviv, Kolomia and Ternopil are smaller junctions, with five converging lines. In the Russian Ukraine, only Berestia and Kharkiv deserve the name of railway junction, in the strict sense of being a point of intersection of at least two main lines; the same is true of Poltava and Rostiv. The dependence of the Ukrainian railway lines upon foreign centers is the cause of the fact that frequently very important crossings lie beyond large towns, near to some miserable little village, as for example, Sarni, Bakhmach, Kosiatin, Zmerinka, etc. The only concentrated district of the Ukrainian railroad system with numerous local junctions, lies in the Donetz Plateau.
We shall now enumerate several railroads of the Ukraine which are most important for the traffic of the country. The Ukraine is connected with the Black Sea by means of seven main lines: Lemberg-Odessa, Znamenka-Mikolaiv, [[301]]Kharkiv-Sevastopol (with a branch to Kerch), Katerinoslav-Berdiansk, Donetz Plateau-Mariupol, Donetz Plateau-Tahanroh, Katerinodar-Novorossysk. Direct railroad connections with Roumania exist via Tiraspol to Yassy, and from Lemberg by way of Czernowitz to Bukarest. The following lines lead into Hungary: Stanislaviv-Sihot, Lemberg-Mukachiv, Lemberg-Uzhorod-Peremishl-Uihely. The connection with Austrian-Poland (Western Galicia) is formed by the Lemberg-Cracow and Stanislaviv-New-Sandetz lines, the connection with Russian-Poland by the lines of Kovel-Lublin-Warsaw and Berestia-Sidletz-Warsaw. The lines of Berestye-Bilostok, Rivne-Vilna, and Romen-Minsk-Libau lead north to White Russia, Lithuania and the Baltic. The Ukraine is connected with the north and northeast (Great Russia) by the lines of Kiev-Kursk, Kharkiv-Moscow, Kupiansk-Penza-Samara, and Donetz Plateau-Voroniz. Eastward, the railroad lines run from the Donetz region and Katerinodar to the bend of the Volga, and from Rostiv along the Caucasus to Baku.
In the Ukraine itself, the main lines of the railroads should run in a direction west and northwest to east and southeast. Hence, the main paths of traffic should be the following lines: Czernowitz-Odessa, Berestye-Rivne-Berdichiv-Uman, Kovel-Kiev-Poltava-Donetz region-Rostiv, Fastiv-Katerinoslav, Novosibkiv-Sumi-Kharkiv-Donetz Plateau, etc. As a result of the railroad policy of the Russian Government, the north and south lines, which lead directly or indirectly to the Muscovite centers, are held to be more important, as for instance, the following: Berestye-Minsk-Moscow, Lemberg-Rivne-Vilna, Novoselitza-Kiev-Kursk, Vapniarka-Cherkassi-Piriatin, Mikolaiv-Kreminchuk-Romni, Balta-Kreminchuk-Kharkiv-Kursk, etc. Of greatest importance are, also, the industrial railroads which connect the iron mines of Krivi Rih with the coal-fields of the Donetz region, via Katerinoslav. [[302]]
The waterways of the Ukraine were at one time the main roads of trade and commerce. The great cultural mission of the Ukrainian waterways is familiar from history; thru the course of long centuries they were the only convenient thorofares thru the difficult forest regions and the pathless steppes of the Ukraine. Traffic on the Ukrainian waterways was, in former times, much more important than at present, not only because of the lack of other convenient pathways, but also because of their former greater length and capacity. Deforestation has decreased the normal level of the rivers; mill-dams have cut off the once navigable stretches of water.
The Ukraine possesses almost no artificial waterways. The only ones in existence—the Orginski Canal (Yassiolda-Vihonivske ozero-Shchara, 54 kilometers of canal, 124 kilometers of connected watercourses) and the Dnieper-Buh Canal (Pina-Mokhavez, 81 kilometers of canal, 134 kilometers of connected watercourses)—were built back in the days of Polish rule. They are antiquated, shallow and neglected, so they can serve only occasionally, and then only for log-floating.
The total length of Ukrainian waterways exceeds 7000 kilometers, which is just as much as the length of the waterways of Austria or of England, but only one-tenth that of European Russia. In this figure, sections of rivers are included which are navigable only for smaller river vessels.
The statement of the navigability of individual rivers of the Ukraine is contained in the section which deals with the rivers of the Ukraine (v. p. 70 ff.).
The most important waterway of the Ukraine is the Dnieper system. The main river is navigable in its entire Ukrainian section by the largest river vessels. In the entire Russian river system the Dnieper system constitutes 11% of the length, 10% of the total navigable length, 16% of [[303]]the length navigable by steamship-lines. The rapids section, however, as a result of the incomprehensible negligence of the Russian Government, is, to this day, accessible only to the smaller ships and rafts, and then only for sailing downstream. The canals built by the Government in the Porohi (1843–1856) are so badly placed that navigation, to this day, must still keep largely to the natural ancient “Cossack paths.” In the years 1893–1895, investigating engineering commissions determined that it was possible, without great cost, to make the Porohi section completely navigable. But the thing never went any further than that. At the beginning of the 20th Century, English engineers worked out a plan for the complete regulation of the Pohori section and the construction of a waterway, accessible even to sea-going ships, which should connect the Baltic with the Black Sea by means of the Dvina and the Dnieper. The realization of this plan, which would be of the very greatest importance to the Ukraine, is still distant, and there is no hope that the Russian Government will attack it very soon.
Thus, the rapids hinder Dnieper navigation to this day, and not least for the reason that the insurance companies will not insure vessels for the rapids section. For this reason, the river fleet of the Dnieper is separated into two parts. Above the rapids (in 1900) 208 steamboats and 1002 other ships, below the rapids (together with the inlets of the Boh) 148 steamboats and 1203 other ships were plying. The number of steamboats increased threefold above the rapids and doubled below the rapids during the last sixteen years of the last century. The total horse power in 1900 was over 16,000. In 1906 the number of steamers of the Dnieper region was 382, the number of other ships 2218.
The Dnieper ships, propelled by sails and oars, which carry lumber, grain, fruit and other goods, are of various [[304]]types. The largest are called “honchaki,” and have a tonnage of up to 1400; then come the “barzi” and “barki” (900–1300 tons), “berlini” (800–1140 tons), which are the most useful, “baidaki” (650 tons), “trembaki,” “laibi,” “dubi” (130–160 tons), “lodki” (80 tons), “galari” (50 tons), and “chaiki” (30 tons). The tonnage of the river fleet of the Dnieper (not counting steamers), in 1900, was approximately 500,000 tons, hence not much less than the tonnage of the present Austro-Hungarian merchant-marine.