Baikal-Amur Mainline
From Wikitravel
This article is an itinerary.
Baikal-Amur Mainline, BAM (Russian: Байкало-Амурская Магистраль, БАМ) [1] is a railway line that crosses Russia, running parallel to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
[edit] Understand
The BAM splits from Trans-Siberian Railway at Taishet, some 700 km West of Baikal lake, and passes the Baikal from the North at Severobaikalsk. It then goes parallel to Trans-Siberian Railway all the way to Pacific Ocean. You can expect great landscapes, admirable views of Baikal lake and a lot of high bridges and tunnels.
The railway was built between 1930 and 1984 and on most of its length is single track. It is also not fully electrified. BAM was a huge Soviet project, and workers from all parts of Soviet Union were brought to construct it. While travelling on the train pay attention to station buildings. Often they symbolize (in their architecture) the region where workers that built the section came from. Many of these workers married and stayed there, so you can find settlers from distant parts of the former Soviet Union along the line. A number of years ago, there where rumors about construction of second track and another wave of workers came seeking work, and remained. Construction didn't start.
Sometimes trains stop at turnouts in remote locations to let trains from the other direction pass. There are a few passenger trains going from Moscow all the way to Pacific; however, there are many local trains, with the main "traffic" being wood transports from the Siberian forests.
[edit] Prepare
[edit] Get in
While Taishet is the official starting point of the BAM, most travellers coming from Western Russia start their journey at Irkutsk, the nearest large city. Irkutsk is on the Trans-Siberian and has trains and, in the summer high season, ferries across Lake Baikal to Severobaikalsk.
The BAM terminates at Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific Ocean, but most visitors opt to stop at Komsomolsk and head from there to Khabarovsk in order to rejoin the Trans-Siberian to Vladivostok.
[edit] Go
[edit] Stay safe
[edit] Get out
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