At the Polish border stations of Dorohusk, Hrubieszow and Przemysl, many refugees are boarding evacuation trains, waiting to be taken on to central European cities like Warsaw and Prague. 

As of March 11, the Polish State Railways said it had provided more than 425,000 free onward journeys to Ukrainians. The majority are women, children and older people fleeing Russian bombs. 

One Ukrainian mother, Viktoria Kozlova, and her 10-month-old son Timofey took the Regiojet night train to the Czech capital, after managing to secure one of the 600 sleeping berths. Their escape from Myrhorod in central Ukraine had already taken two days.

"A military plane bombed our city, so we need to go abroad," she told CGTN "It's hard because Timofey is very small but in every city - especially in Poland - people are very kind to us."

The 29-year-old has relatives in Prague and wants to stay there for the time being. She had to leave her husband and parents behind in the war zone.

Shortly after the beginning of the conflict, the small privately-run Czech railway company Regiojet established a daily evacuation train from Przemysl to Prague, free of charge for refugees - and without any state subsidies.

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"We are helping these people so little with this train," says Peter Cekan, who is humble about his volunteer work during the 11-hour night shift on the train: "We provide them with hot meals or drinks if they want."

Born in Eastern Slovakia, he feels a strong bond with the Ukrainians. "For me it's so emotional because so many people are crying here. Because it's only mothers and their children or older people," Cekan says.

Around three million Ukrainians have already fled their country. This figure could rise up to 10 million, according to some estimates.

Central Europe's railway stations are acting as transit hubs for many of these refugees, such as Vienna's main station. 

The Austrian railways OBB are running the continent's largest night train network and currently transport around 4000 Ukrainian refugees every day via Budapest or Krakow.

"Most of the people coming from Hungary or Poland arrive in Vienna and then change to their final destination, mostly to Germany, Switzerland or Italy," OBB spokesperson Bernhard Rieder told CGTN.

In many European countries, Ukrainians currently travel by train free of charge, while accommodation and meals are also provided at many stations.