The railway serves Ukraine's largest industrial heartland of Donbas-Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as partially the regions of Zaporizhia, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovskoblasts, thus combining in a single transport corridor the cities of Donbas and Dnipro, the central regions of Ukraine, and is connected to the Russian regions of Volga and the Caucasus. The railway has two border transfer stations on the Russia-Ukraine border over which it does not have a control due to war conditions. Those are Krasna Mohyla, Kvashyne, Ilovaisk, and Lantrativka, Troitske Raion. At its southern extreme, Donetsk Railways has access to the Azov sea through the commercial port of Mariupol, as well as access to the largest industrial center of Ukraine — Mariupol. The railway comprises 13% of all track kilometres in Ukraine, but accounts for 47% of all traffic and 36% of the revenue of Ukrainian Railways. Its network covers around. The railway is a key route, serving passengers and several industries, including coal mines, metallurgical, coke-chemical and pipe mills, machine-building and machine-building plants, chemical, light, and food. In December 2014, the Ukrainian govenment claimed ownership of the Donetsk Railway and the land its serves. All its affiliated companies under the control of the Ukraininian government were transferred to the temporary administration of either Southern Ukrainian Railways or Cisdnieper Railways.
Structure
The Donetsk Railway administrative division consists of three railway transportation directorates all located in Lyman:
Because of the Russian occupation of Ukraine, authority over certain railways and stations was granted to Cisdnieper Railways and Ukrainian Southern Railways. Currently, southern branches are under Cisdnieper Railways' administration, while the northern branches are still operated by the Krasny-Lyman Directorate. In 2016, trains recommenced operation on a separate branch in Luhansk, which had become separated due to the conflict. On 28 May 2016, rail employees of the Donetsk People's Republic in Yasynuvata demonstrated against not being paid by the Government of Ukraine. On 28 July 2016, it was admitted that the protests were legitimate and the government owed the workers back pay. This involved a process of restructuring, an issue that the Ukrainian government is still trying to resolve. A spokesperson stated that all personnel are still considered by the Government of Ukraine to be employees of Ukrzaliznytsia and has not recognised any other employer.
