Baikal-Amur Mainline: major transport hubs. Construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The Baikal-Amur Mainline 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 industrial enterprises, the emergence of new cities, and provided jobs for thousands of residents of the country.

Design

The Russian government decided on the need to build the Baikal-Amur Mainline at the end of the 19th century. The road running through the north of Baikal would be a breakthrough in the development of the eastern territories. After the end of the war with the Japanese, it was necessary to solve the problems of supplying hard-to-reach eastern regions. The First World War, the revolutions and their consequences forced to postpone this issue - in the USSR then there was neither technology nor the ability to implement a large-scale project.

It was only taken up again in 1930. At a government meeting, special organizations were instructed to start work on a railway project that would duplicateTrans-Siberian Railway, but located to the north and provided access to the Pacific coast. At the same time, the new routes were given a name - the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Large transport hubs approach the Irkutsk, Amur regions, Khabarovsk Territory, run through the Republic of Buryatia and the hard-to-reach lands of Yakutia. Already in 1933, the first area of the railway track was installed.

Construction

Full-scale construction of the BAM, which connected Taishet and Sovetskaya Gavan, a city on 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 Mainline dragged on 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 the 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. The builders were provided with housing and all the necessary conditions. With the construction of the road, the cities of Siberia also developed.

During the period from 1942 to 1947, work was suspended due to the war. The next stop was in 1953. The expensive project required large capital investments and human resources.

Construction resumed only after almost 20 years - in 1974. The "construction of the century" began again at an accelerated pace, several projects were developed and mastered at once.directions. It took another 12 years to connect all the sections. During this time, about 2 million builders worked in different areas in several regions of the country. In 1989, the BAM fully appeared on the map of Russia. Then she was officially put into operation.

Baikal-Amur Mainline: major transport hubs

BAM starts at the Taishet station of the Trans-Siberian Railway and then goes to the East. It is here that the starting point of the road is located, connecting the two most ambitious transport projects in the country. When the Baikal-Amur Mainline was laid, large transport hubs began to actively "grow" with the population due to builders from all over the country who came here to work and then remained permanently.

The key stations of the road were: Taishet, Tynda, Neryungri, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Sovetskaya Gavan. BAM was the first railway on the territory of Yakutia, which, due to the most difficult natural conditions, remained cut off from the country for a long time, and communication was carried out exclusively by air travel.

Development of territories around BAM

Designers, connecting the Trans-Siberian Railway with the Pacific coast, have chosen a path for the future road, covering the largest mineral deposits. Thus, it was planned to increase the efficiency of transportation. Railroad tracks were supposed to bring tangible profits and facilitate the process of transporting fossils.

The most explored on the BAM route are the following coal deposits: Ogodzhinskoye and Elginskoye, copper Udokanskoye, oil and gas deposits in Talakansky, Verkhnechonsky, Yarakta and other areas. There are also significant deposits of iron ores, copper, polymetals, apatites and gas in other sections of the route. In order to increase the performance and efficiency of work at these facilities, it is necessary to establish a transport infrastructure in the region and ensure the delivery of fossils directly to the place of loading into the car.

Largest stations along the road

Thanks to the construction of the roads received the status of the cities of Ust-Kut, Tynda (the latter became known as the "heart of BAM"). Taishet is a strategically important station, the point where the Baikal-Amur Mainline begins. 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 final station is the city of Sovetskaya Gavan, located on the banks of the Tatar Strait. He is known for another long-term construction - an underwater tunnel that was supposed to connect Sakhalin and the mainland. So far, this project has not been implemented. There are 3 stations in Sovetskaya Gavan, but passenger trains stop in another, neighboring area. Also, in order to travel by passenger train to the West of the country, it is necessary to go through Vladivostok, which can be reached with trailer cars.

Other railwayregion paths

The Baikal-Amur Mainline is subordinate to the Eastern Railway on the Siberian section of the route, and the Far Eastern Railway - on the territory of the Amur Region and the Khabarovsk Territory. BAM repeats the Trans-Siberian Railway, running along the southern border of Russia (similarly - through the Siberian and Far Eastern territories).

BAM development plans

The main problem of this railway is that, despite more than 15 years of operation, it is still unprofitable. Railroad tracks have a huge potential, which was concealed in itself by this road when the designers created it, but it has not yet been realized.

The main difficulties are that the main deposits of minerals and ores have not been laid communication lines. After the construction was completed, it was decided to continue developing the direction, but 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 postponed. In 2011, Vladimir Putin raised this topic again. It is planned to increase the speed of trains, throughput and carrying capacity.

General characteristics of the Baikal-Amur Mainline

The total length of the road is 4300 kilometers, mostly it consists of one track. The two-track railway was built only from Taishet to Lena and has a length of about 700 kilometers.

The construction of BAM was complicated by the most difficult natural conditions. In many areashad to be built on permafrost lands, in earthquake-prone areas. 11 bridges were built across full-flowing rivers, more than 30 kilometers of the road runs through tunnels in rocks. The mountainous terrain also significantly complicated the process of building the railway.