IRON PEOPLE
Iron People is a long-term multimedia project by Jelle Krings in collaboration with numerous large international news organizations and magazines such as CNN, The Guardian, National Geographic, and De Volkskrant. The project follows the plight of Ukraine’s railway workers and shows how their work contributes to the country's ability to withstand the Russian invasion. It has produced numerous extensive multimedia publications which have been awarded by reputable organizations such as PoYi (Pictures of the Year international). A short film will be released in 2024 and a traveling exhibition and a photo book are currently in production. Publications of subsequent chapters are expected by The Guardian (April 2024), De Volkskrant (May 2024) and many others.
In the two years of war that followed Russia's invasion, Ukraine's 15,000-mile railway network and the workers responsible for operating it have played a vital role in Ukraine's effort to withstand the invasion. Around 230,000 railway people work for the Ukrainian railways. This includes train drivers, repair workers, train attendants and conductors, factory-, depot- and station workers and many more. Over the course of the war over 1,100 railway workers were wounded and over 450 were killed.
Despite Russian strikes continuously targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure, the railway network has stayed largely operational. This has given millions of Ukrainians a chance to escape the violence of the war: an estimated 6,5 million people were brought to safety by train. As the war drags on, the importance of the Ukraine's railway network is only expected to increase, as will the cost for the railway workers and their families. Iron people shows their struggle in the hope that it does not go unnoticed.
