This paper examines how Ukraine’s railway system (Ukrzaliznytsia) has evolved beyond critical infrastructure to become a powerful source of ontological security following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since 2022. While existing literature on ontological security in International Relations has not substantively engaged with the role of critical infrastructure, this study demonstrates how technical systems generate the security of being through the interplay between material practices and the narratives that emerge around them. Using multimodal narrative analysis of published sources – media productions (including the 2024 “Train to Life” documentary), Ukrzaliznytsia’s official communications, station art installations, and public social media discourse about railways – I trace how railway narratives unfold across visual, textual, spatial, and material dimensions. This method reveals how physical railway operations and their symbolic meanings mutually reinforce each other in generating both material stability and existential certainty during wartime. Through this analysis, I identify four key mechanisms through which Ukrainian Railways generates ontological security: civilian protection narratives exemplified by the evacuation of 4 million civilians and the designation of railway workers as “Iron People”; material manifestation of European integration through the "Iron Diplomacy" programme facilitating over 200 diplomatic missions; demonstrated systemic resilience maintaining 90% operational efficiency despite widespread infrastructure damage; and transformation into a symbol of homecoming, captured in commemorative works like the “We Bring You Back Home” sculpture depicting reuniting families. The research makes three contributions: it shows how critical infrastructure simultaneously provides physical and ontological security; captures technical systems’ evolution into symbols of national unity within the local context; and conceptualizes mobility maintenance as crucial for shared identity continuity and evolution in response to existential threats. The findings suggest that material systems become vital sites for ontological security during crises, offering new insights into the relationship between critical infrastructure and the security of self under extreme conditions.
