The Baikal-Amur Railway is one of the largest railways in the world. Its construction played a strategic role in the development of the Siberian region, became a catalyst for the formation of production enterprises, the emergence of new cities, and provided jobs for thousands of people in the country.
Design
The Russian government decided on the need to build the Baikal-Amur Railway back in the late 19th century. The road that ran through the north of Lake Baikal would be a breakthrough in the development of the eastern territories. After the war with the Japanese, it was necessary to solve the problems of supplying the inaccessible eastern regions. The First World War, revolutions and their consequences forced to postpone this issue - in the USSR at that time there was neither technology nor the ability to implement a large-scale project.
Again they took up it only in 1930. At a government meeting, special organizations were instructed to begin work on a railway project that would duplicate the Trans-Siberian Railway, but located to the north and provided access to the Pacific coast. Then the new ways were given the name Baikal-Amur Railway. Large transport hubs approach Irkutsk, Amur Oblasts, Khabarovsk Territory, run through the Republic of Buryatia and the inaccessible lands of Yakutia. Already in 1933 the first area of the railway was installed.
Construction
Full-scale work on the construction of BAM, connecting Taishet and Sovetskaya Gavan, a city off the coast of the ocean, started in 1937. BAM immediately received an unofficial name - "construction of the century." And this is not surprising. The construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway was delayed for many years, stopped for several years due to the war, then due to lack of funding. To this day, BAM is one of the most expensive projects implemented in the 20th century.
Thousands of prisoners were involved in construction from all prisons and camps in the country. The authorities agitated the population to take part in the construction of the road, which was to become the future of the state. Builders were provided with housing and all the necessary conditions. With the construction of the road, the cities of Siberia also developed .
In the period from 1942 to 1947, work was suspended due to war. The next stop occurred in 1953. An expensive project required large investments and human resources.
Construction resumed only after almost 20 years - in 1974. "Construction of the Century" again began at an accelerated pace, several directions developed and mastered at once. Another 12 years were needed in order to connect all the sites. During this time, a total of about 2 million builders worked at different sites in several regions of the country. In 1989, BAM fully appeared on the map of Russia. Then it was officially accepted into operation.
Baikal-Amur Railway: large transport hubs
BAM begins at the Tayshet station of the Trans-Siberian Railway and then leaves for the East. This is where the starting point of the road is located, connecting the two most ambitious transport projects of the country. When the Baikal-Amur Railway was laid, large transport hubs began to actively "grow" in the population at the expense of builders from all over the country who came here to work and then remained for permanent residence.
The key stations of the road were: Taishet, Tynda, Neryungri, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Sovetskaya Gavan. BAM was the first railway in the territory of Yakutia, which, due to harsh environmental conditions, remained for a long time cut off from the country, and communication was carried out exclusively by air travel.
Development of territories around BAM
Designers, connecting the Trans-Siberian Railway with the Pacific coast, chose the path for the future road, covering the largest mineral deposits. Thus, it was planned to increase the efficiency of transportation. The railways were supposed to bring tangible profits and facilitate the transportation of minerals.
The most studied on the BAM route are the following coal deposits: Ogodzhinskoye and Elginskoye, copper Udokanskoye, oil and gas deposits in Talakanskoye, Verkhnechonskoye, Yaraktinsky and other areas. There are also significant deposits of iron ore, copper, polymetals, apatites and gas at other sections of the route. To increase the performance and efficiency of work at these facilities, it is necessary to establish transport infrastructure in the region and ensure the delivery of minerals directly to the place of loading into the wagon.
The largest stations along the road
Thanks to the construction of the road, they received the status of the cities of Ust-Kut and Tynda (the latter became known as the “heart of BAM”). Tayshet is a strategically important station, the point where the Baikal-Amur Railway originates. Large transport hubs also pass through Tynda, from which 2 branches follow: to the North (to Neryungri) and to the South (to Skovorodino), thus connecting with the Trans-Siberian Railway.
The terminal station is the city of Sovetskaya Gavan, located on the banks of the Tatar Strait. It is known for another long-term construction - an underwater tunnel that was supposed to connect Sakhalin and the mainland. This project has not yet been implemented. There are 3 stations in Sovetskaya Gavan, but passenger trains stop in another, neighboring area. Also, in order to travel to the West of the country on a passenger train, you must follow through Vladivostok, which can be reached with trailed wagons.
Other railways in the region
The Baikal-Amur Railway is subordinate to the Eastern Railway on the Siberian route, and the Far Eastern Railway - on the territory of the Amur Region and Khabarovsk Territory. BAM repeats the Trans-Siberian Railway passing along the southern border of Russia (similarly through Siberian and Far Eastern territories).
BAM development plans
The main problem of this railway remains that, despite its more than 15 years of operation, it is still unprofitable. Railway tracks have enormous potential, which this road was fraught with when the designers created it, but it has not yet been realized.
The main difficulties are that no communication lines have been laid to the main deposits of minerals and ores. After the completion of construction, it was decided to continue to develop the direction, however, first due to the collapse of the USSR, then due to the unstable economic situation in the 90s and the global economic crisis in the early 2000s, plans were repeatedly delayed. In 2011, Vladimir Putin again raised this topic. It is planned to increase the speed of trains, throughput and carrying capacity.
General characteristics of the Baikal-Amur Railway
The total length of the road is 4300 kilometers, mainly it consists of one path. The two-track railway was built only from Taishet to the Lena and has a length of about 700 kilometers.
The construction of the BAM was complicated by severe environmental conditions. In many areas, it was necessary to build permafrost in earthquake-prone areas. 11 bridges were built across full-flowing rivers, more than 30 kilometers of the road runs through tunnels in the rocks. The mountainous terrain also significantly complicated the construction of the railway.