In Jelgava, Prokhorov Street will be renamed to Sesavas Street. This decision was made today by the Jelgava City Council.
According to information published on the local government's website, Sesavas iela (Sesava Street) was established in 1931 when the city began to develop the territories transferred to it after the agrarian reform of 1920. The name comes from the locality of Sesava — a village and historical parish in Zemgale, near Jelgava.
The street named Sesavas existed for 36 years.
In 1967, the street was renamed in honor of the locomotive driver of the Jelgava railway hub, Alexey Prokhorov.
Alexey Prokhorov was born in 1927, worked as a stoker, then as a fireman, and in 1962 became a locomotive driver. He was characterized as an experienced and disciplined worker, repeatedly recognized on the depot's honor board.
On March 2, 1966, Prokhorov was driving a freight train from Jelgava. Due to an error at the Daugava station (near Krustpils), the train was directed onto a dead-end track. When the driver realized that an accident was inevitable, he applied emergency braking and ordered his assistant Ivan Razgulyaev to jump from the locomotive. Prokhorov managed to significantly reduce the speed of the train, which mitigated the consequences of the disaster, but he himself perished. His assistant survived.
After the accident, Alexey Prokhorov was posthumously awarded honors, and the street near the 'Jelgava-2' depot was renamed in his honor.
The street bore the name for almost 60 years and will now be renamed again.
