Dniprodzerzhynsk is a city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of Ukraine, and a port on the Dnieper River. First written evidence of settlement on the territory of Dniprodzerzhynsk appeared in 1750. At that time Romankovo and Kamianske (Russian: "Kamenskoe") villages, which make the modern city, were a part of Nova (New) Sich of Zaporizhian cossacks. The city was known as Kamianske until 1936 when it was renamed in honor of Felix Dzerzhynsky, the founder of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka. According to the latest data, its population is 273,700.
A Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev was born and raised in Dniprodzerzhynsk.
On 2 July 1996 a notorious traffic accident happened in Dniprodzerzhynsk. An overcrowded tram that was moving along a steep hill on Chapaeva Street began to rapidly slide downhill (because of the brakes failure), eventually derailing and running into a school. A total of some 30 people died and more than a 100 were injured as a result of that accident. Following a government inquiry into the causes of the accident, the then mayor, Sergiy Shershnev and his deputy Ihor Laktionov resigned. That accident has had a significant effect on the worldwide discussion regarding use of trams in the hilly localities.
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