On 29.09.2023, a tourist train was launched from Belgorod to the village of Ponyri and back. On it, Belgorod residents and guests of the city will be able to get to the new memorial complex "Kursk Battle", and Kursk residents will be able to get to the museum complex "Prokhorov Field" and to Belgorod. Tourists will spend about two hours on the way.
The ceremonial launch of the train will take place on September 29. Its first passengers will be schoolchildren, students and veterans. At the same time, updated platforms and station buildings will be opened at Prokhorovka and Rzhava stations. The train will run regularly on Sundays starting from October 8.
The Kursk Battle Memorial Complex was opened in August 2023 in honor of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Kursk. The artists of the Glazunov Academy, sculptor Andrey Korobtsov and architect Konstantin Fomin, worked on the memorial project. The authors focused on the first stage of the battle, when in the area of the Ponyri station Soviet infantry units opposed the tank wedges of Hitler's troops – the enemy sought to close the encirclement ring. The center of the complex was the figure of a Russian warrior, who by exerting all his strength does not allow two impending walls with images of German equipment to close. This sculptural composition symbolically depicts the steadfastness and courage of the infantrymen opposing the steel armada during the Battle of Kursk.
