Taganrog line was extended to Horlivka. Also in Austria, the railroad was extended from Lviv towards the Austria-Russia border near Brody and in 1870 it was extended to Ternopil (Tarnopol). In 1870 Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Zhmerynka were connected with the Odessa–Balta railway. In 1871 the first Austria-Russia border rail crossing was built when Ternopil was connected with Zhmerynka over the Zbruch River near Volochysk and Pidvolochysk located on opposite banks of the river. In 1871 Poltava was connected with Kharkiv providing with an alternative to reach the city of Odessa and its port with the Russian central provinces through Kharkiv. In 1872-73 a major expansion of the railway network started in Russian Volhynia branching out from the Kyiv-Odessa line near Koziatyn west pass Brest-Litovsk and connecting cities such as Kovel, Rivne, Zdolbuniv, Shepetivka and Berdychiv. In 1873 a branch line from Zdolbuniv was extended to Brody becoming another railway border crossing. Some railway network expansion took place in the Donbas area as well. In 1873 from Znamianka in Central Ukraine located on the Poltava-Balta road another branch was stretched south towards the port of Mykolaiv on the Black Sea making it the second seaport in Ukraine connected to the railway network. At about that time the railway system expanded further towards the Drohobych-Boryslav oil fields and greater Sambor areas in the Ukrainian Carpathians and another branch line was extended along the Tisza River in Hungary. In 1873-75 the line from Lozova was expanded towards the Crimean peninsula connecting Sevastopol with Kharkiv via the Chonhar peninsula. For more information, see: Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways Hungarian State Railways (For Zakarpattia region) History of rail transport in Russia History of rail transport in Poland Rail transport in the Soviet Union List of populated places established with railroads 20ty richia Zhovtnia (Zaliznychne) Haichur (Ternuvate) Irpin Koziatyn Zhuliany (Vyshneve) Znamianka Independent Ukraine On 24 September 1991, following the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) on separation from the Soviet Union, all railroad administration was temporarily passed to the South-Western Railways. According to the resolution, all assets located within the borders of the former Ukrainian SSR became property of Ukraine. To improve efficiency a special centralized administration was created. On 14 December 1991 the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued declaration No. 356 "In creation of the State Administration of Railroad Transportation in Ukraine" which proclaimed Ukrzaliznytsia a government body in administration railroad transportation