Heat in the carriages of Ukrainian trains: what Ukrzaliznytsia says and what the situation with air conditioners is

The abnormal heat that covered Ukraine several weeks earlier has subsided. But even with lower temperatures, passengers traveling by rail complain about stuffiness in the cars. Moreover, problems arise both in reserved seat and compartment cars, where air conditioners are not provided, and in those cars that are equipped with air conditioners.  

People began to talk en masse about uncomfortable and even dangerous travel conditions on Ukrzaliznytsia trains after a man died on the Odesa – Kyiv train on the night of June 29-30. Against this backdrop, discussions about stuffiness in the cars began. And passengers on social networks began to actively share not only posts about the tragic incident but also stories about their own negative travel experiences.

UNN has looked into whether traveling by train in the summer is truly risky, whether the national carrier Ukrzaliznytsia has problems with equipping cars with air conditioners, and whether conductors know how to provide pre-medical aid to passengers who feel unwell. In addition, we have collected effective tips that will help make a train journey comfortable even in extreme heat.  

Death of a man on the Odesa – Kyiv train – how it all began 

The first mentions of the deceased man appeared on the morning of June 30 in Telegram channels. One of the primary sources was the channel "Real Kyiv," which reported only that passengers, and later medics, tried to save the man. A similar report was spread by "Blyskavka Odesa."

Later it became known that the man boarded the train on the evening of June 29 and went to sleep. In the morning, other passengers discovered that he showed no signs of life. Some publications note that fellow travelers had noticed a sharp deterioration in his condition before this.

Passengers tried to give the man first aid. The train made an unscheduled, or emergency, stop to hand the passenger over to medics. The ambulance crew continued resuscitation efforts, but they were unable to save the man. Doctors pronounced him dead.

Note that the incident occurred against the backdrop of numerous passenger complaints about high temperatures and the lack of air conditioners on Ukrainian trains. Because of this, some media outlets mentioned the man's death in articles about the heat in the cars.

However, there is currently no official confirmation that the man died from overheating or heatstroke. 

More details about the incident were learned from posts on the Threads social network by Ukrainians who were traveling on the train with the deceased man.  

"A person died on the Odesa-Kyiv train. I even lost track of time, how long passengers tried to save him, and then the ambulance. But half an hour ago, the time of death was recorded. The person boarded the train in the evening, fell asleep, and never woke up," – wrote a passenger of the train.

Another user added that the tragedy occurred in the 9th car of the train. He was also traveling on the train and heard them trying to find a medic among the passengers over the loudspeaker who could provide the necessary assistance to the passenger. 

For explanations, UNN contacted the national carrier. In response to the editorial office's inquiry, the Deputy Director for Information Policy – Head of the Strategic Communications Department, Serhiy Shchur, reported that the fatal incident indeed occurred in the 9th car of train No. 766. 

"JSC 'Ukrzaliznytsia' confirms the fact of the passenger's death. During the official investigation, it was established that the train crew responded as quickly as possible to the report from passengers in the car about the deterioration of the health of one of the passengers. Within a minute, through the locomotive crew, an ambulance was called to the nearest station along the train's route – Popilnya," Shchur replied.

The official added that two members of the train crew immediately began performing artificial respiration on the man. This is confirmed by video surveillance recordings. 

Given the above, the train crew acted professionally, promptly, and in accordance with their job descriptions. The air conditioning system in the train where the man's death was recorded was operational on June 30, 2026, and functioned according to its technical specifications.

It should be noted that this is not the first fatal incident on UZ trains. For example, several years earlier, a passenger died amid the heat on the Odesa — Pomichna electric train.

And in July 2024, a woman died in a carriage of the Zaporizhzhia — Uzhhorod train. The carriage was hot and was not equipped with air conditioning. The then head of the company's passenger division, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, responded to the fatal incident and advised passengers who tolerate high temperatures poorly and have heart and vascular problems not to travel by train during extreme heat in the summer, or to buy tickets for carriages equipped with air conditioning and ventilation. 

The official also advised contacting conductors, who can move a passenger to a carriage with air conditioning if their health deteriorates. 

Sealed windows, non-working air conditioners, and scorching carriages — Ukrainians shared their impressions of traveling with Ukrzaliznytsia in the summer.

After the story of the man who died gained publicity, Ukrainians began sharing their negative experiences of traveling on the Ukrainian railway on social media. The main complaint is the heat in the carriages, windows that cannot be opened, and air conditioners that do not work. Here is what passengers wrote on Threads: 

• “Imagine, it’s +36°C outside, windows can only be opened in the corridor, in the compartment you can steam. That draft isn’t enough to cool the air in the compartment even by a couple of degrees. Was there really no other option than to send carriages without working air conditioners and with sealed windows on routes?!”

• “I bought a ticket for a popular route in a compartment. The carriage had an air conditioner mark. My first thought — lucky me! But the conductor immediately shared that the air conditioner in this carriage had not been working for a long time.”
• “I bought a ticket for a carriage with a ‘snowflake’ (the symbol Ukrzaliznytsia uses on its website to mark carriages with air conditioners – ed.). I go in, ask, does the air conditioner definitely work? And the conductor bursts into Homeric laughter: ‘Of course! It’s just out of repair. So nothing works in it!’ In the compartment, there’s an emergency window. It doesn’t open. On the lower berth, an elderly woman is worried whether she’ll survive the night because of high blood pressure. The carriage is a sauna, the compartment is hell,” shared a woman who traveled on train 100K in carriage 14. The journey to her destination stretched to 25 hours. 
• “There are children and elderly people in the compartment. I’m not even mentioning the conductors who work in such conditions every day. Was there really no other option than to send carriages without working air conditioners and with sealed windows on routes?!”
• “On June 29, 2026, we had the opportunity to travel on train 450 ‘Uzhhorod — Kyiv.’ It was 40+°C outside the train, and in the carriage, where air conditioning is not provided, and with windows in all compartments nailed shut, it was all +60°C! Passengers (including young people, children, and the elderly) found relief near the windows in the corridor and with wet towels, but that hardly helped.” 
• “This is just a disaster, there’s nothing to breathe, my 1.4-year-old child and the neighbor’s 2-year-old overheated, were fussy due to the high temperature in the carriage, the conductor walked around and closed the windows in the corridor, how can such terrible carriages be allowed on international routes?”

However, problems arose not only with the second-class or compartment carriages running on the country's railways. The unbearable heat also plagues passengers on international routes.  

For example, one Ukrainian woman bought a ticket for the Kyiv — Warsaw — Kyiv train for 5,800 hryvnias. Despite the considerable price, the air conditioners with which the compartments were equipped did not work. The carriages were stuffy because the sun heated the carriage roofs, and there was no proper ventilation.  

The situation was no better on the train running from Kyiv to Budapest. According to its passengers, the air conditioning was also not working. During the day, the carriage heated up to +30 degrees, and overnight it cooled down by only two degrees. Elderly people and children, who became ill from the heat, were traveling on the train. 

Moreover, many Ukrainians who chose the railway for summer travel became ill directly in train carriages due to the high temperature. 

One of the passengers, traveling with a 10-month-old child, had purchased a ticket in advance for a carriage with air conditioning. However, it was not working, and it was impossible to open the windows in the compartment.

"After this trip, my daughter has a temperature of 39.5°C, convulsions, and heatstroke. Now we are in the hospital," the woman complained on one of the social networks.  

During the journey, not only children and the elderly became ill. For example, one Threads user told the story of his acquaintance, a serviceman. The defender paid 500 UAH for a place in the compartment. Instead, he was forced to travel with non-working air conditioning and windows that would not open. As a result, the man's blood pressure rose and he felt unwell throughout the entire trip. 

People even left negative reviews regarding trips on the children's railway. According to Ukrainians, the heat there was also unbearable and dangerous for the health of young passengers.  

"We bought luxury tickets for an excursion in a carriage of the children's railway. And we rode in this heat for almost 40 minutes. The child was red, hot, sweating profusely, and so were we. I felt bad afterwards until the next morning," a young mother wrote on social media. 

Carriages are equipped with air conditioners, and the rolling stock was prepared for summer - how "Ukrzaliznytsia" responded to passenger complaints

Ukrzaliznytsia disagrees with the Ukrainians' claims. In response to a request from UNN, they stated that air conditioners have been installed in 71% of carriages that currently go on trips as part of passenger and high-speed trains. Specialists check their technical condition before each trip. 

"Also, 'Ukrzaliznytsia' is installing high-capacity batteries that provide up to three additional hours of air conditioner operation during stops. This allows cooling the carriage before passenger boarding and maintaining a comfortable temperature during long stops. 59 carriages have undergone such modernization," Serhiy Shchur, Deputy Director for Information Policy – Head of the Strategic Communications Department, told journalists.  

He added that when the rolling stock was being prepared for the summer season, another 31 carriages were equipped with air conditioners.  And ventilation and air conditioning systems were repaired in 80 carriages. 

Furthermore, during 2025, 51 new passenger carriages were received and put into operation, and since the beginning of 2026, another 18. All of them are equipped with air conditioners regardless of the carriage type — third-class sleeper, compartment, or luxury. It is planned to receive another 42 new carriages by the end of the year

However, former railway workers do not share the optimism of the former management. One driver, in a comment under a social media post discussing the condition of the carriages, wrote that drivers suffer from the heat just as much as passengers. 

"As a former employee of 'UZ',  I want to draw attention to the fact that the air temperature in the driver's cabin reaches +60 degrees, there is no water, no air conditioner, and, by the way, no toilet either," the man wrote about the working conditions.

His words were confirmed by another Ukrainian who worked for a long time as an assistant electric locomotive driver. 

"I'll say this as a former worker of 'Ukrzaliznytsia'. The fact that the temperature in the carriage is so high (high – ed.) is just the beginning. In our control cabin, the temperature was +65/75 degrees. These are real thermometer readings, and we had to work like that for 12 hours. Twice during the summer I got sunstroke, I thought we'd kick the bucket before we delivered the train," the former railway worker shared his story.  

"There wasn't even a first aid kit" - will travelers receive medical assistance on the train when they feel unwell 

A separate issue that Ukrainians spoke out loud about after the fatal incident on the "Odesa — Kyiv" train is the lack of first aid kits in train carriages.  

"We were traveling by train, and a woman felt unwell: low blood pressure. Unfortunately, there wasn't even a first aid kit to help the person in any way. It's good that people had both a tonometer and medicine," wrote a woman who witnessed a similar incident.  

Another train passenger said that in a second-class carriage, where the air temperature reached +40 degrees, she felt unwell. Passengers called the conductor for help, but he could not help: he himself did not know how to provide first aid, and there was no first aid kit in the carriage. 

"I consider this unacceptable, especially in the conditions of a full-scale war. Just like the lack of a basic first aid kit in every carriage," the woman was outraged. 

About first aid kits on trains and the skills of conductors in providing necessary medical assistance UNN learned from the Deputy Director for Information Policy – Head of the Brand Development Department, Yelyzaveta Kravets.  

The representative of "UZ" assured that all passenger carriages are equipped with first aid kits for providing first aid. Members of train crews undergo training in providing first medical aid.

Members of train crews undergo training in providing first medical aid, take courses in pre-medical care, evacuation of people from carriages, training on actions during shelling with various types of munitions, firefighting, and have basic skills in providing first pre-medical aid. Also, conductors, stewards, and train chiefs are instructed on providing assistance to people with limited mobility

How the train crew acts when a passenger feels unwell in the carriage

In the event that one of the passengers feels unwell, the conductor must provide that person with pre-medical aid. In addition, he has the right to involve other passengers who have a medical education, or paramedics who have completed relevant courses and training, in rescuing the person. For this purpose, a built-in loudspeaker is used.

Simultaneously with this, the locomotive crew arranges for a doctor or an ambulance to be called to the nearest station along the train's route. 

After this, the senior steward or train chief is obliged to draw up a report on the incident that occurred. In the document, he indicates the date and time of the accident, its circumstances, and information about who provided the passenger with pre-medical (medical) aid. 

If the person who felt unwell is hospitalized at the station, the train chief needs to draw up an additional document in two copies about the transfer of the sick passenger to the station's medical staff.

How to travel safely by train in summer - Ukrainians given advice

The national railway carrier, in connection with recent events, has developed and published a guide for its passengers on how to travel safely by train in summer. 

People are advised to take a sufficient supply of drinking water on the road. If necessary, it can also be purchased from the conductor. 

You should wear light clothing made of light fabrics. In addition, it is worth taking a portable fan or a hand fan on the trip.

When choosing food, passengers are recommended to choose light snacks and try to drink water regularly in small portions. 

If a person has cardiovascular diseases, arterial hypertension, diabetes, chronic lung diseases, or does not tolerate heat well, they are advised to consult with a family doctor before the trip.

He will help adjust medication intake during the hot period, recommend an optimal drinking regimen, and suggest what you should have with you on the road.

If during the trip you or someone nearby feels severe weakness, dizziness, nausea, loss of consciousness, or other signs of overheating, immediately inform the conductor or train chief.

Also, passengers are reminded: if a window does not open in the carriage, you must inform the conductor or the train chief. If the malfunction can be fixed en route, it will be done. Additionally, passengers may be moved to a compartment with air conditioning if there are available seats.  

Reminder

Earlier, UNN wrote about how to protect yourself from sunstroke.