Editor’s Note :

Europeans have redefined the train station. Last year, I was in Zurich and discovered that the Zürich Hauptbahnhof is a people magnet. The underground shopping center, ShopVille, has over 200 shops. On Sundays, it bustles, while the city is quiet due to Swiss labor laws. The ground level Haupthalle, dating back to 1871, is regularly used for open-air movies, vegetable markets and Christmas fairs. Contrast that to Kyiv Central Passenger station, a dank place where travelers drag their suitcases up steep stairs, pray the one escalator is working, and then flee the building as fast as possible. Congratulations to Ivan Yuryk and his UZ colleagues for taking concrete steps to bring Ukraine’s rail stations into the modern era. With Best Regards, Jim Brooke