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Building Baikal-Amur Mainline required the mobilization of vast resources throughout the country. Even before the completion of the highway, many declared the construction pointless and unnecessary. There is still a lot of controversy around the history of the BAM construction. What is the Baikal-Amur Mainline after all? Is this the road to the future or a huge mistake of the Soviet government? Below are pretty Interesting Facts read and draw your own conclusions..

In 1888, the Russian Technical Society discussed a project to build a Pacific railway across the northern tip of Lake Baikal, after which, in July - September 1889, Colonel of the General Staff N. A. Voloshinov overcame a thousand-kilometer space from Ust-Kut to Mui with a small detachment - just along to the places where the BAM route now lies. And he came to the conclusion: "... drawing a line in this direction is certainly impossible due to some technical difficulties, not to mention other considerations." Voloshinov was not a pessimist, but he was soberly aware that at that time Russia had neither the equipment nor the means to carry out grandiose works.

In 1926, the Separate Corps of Railway Troops began topographic reconnaissance of the future BAM route. In 1932, a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR "On the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway" was issued, according to which design and survey work and construction began. By autumn, it became clear that the main problem of construction was the lack of workers. With the officially established number of employees at 25 thousand people, only 2.5 thousand people were attracted. As a result, on October 25, the second decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was issued, according to which the construction of the BAM was transferred to a special department of the OGPU. Following this, the construction of three connecting lines from the Trans-Siberian Railway to the planned BAM route continued (mainly by the prisoners of the Baikal-Amur ITL (Bamlag)) construction of three connecting lines from the Trans-Siberian Railway to the planned BAM route: Bam - Tynda, Volochaevka - Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Izvestkovaya - Urgal. In 1937, the general direction of the BAM route was determined: Taishet - Bratsk - the northern tip of Lake Baikal - Tyndinsky - Ust-Niman - Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan. In May 1938, Bamlag was disbanded and six railway labor camps were created on its basis. In 1938, construction began on the western section from Taishet to Bratsk, and in 1939 - preparatory work on the eastern section from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Sovetskaya Gavan.
The photo shows a large junction railway station in Tynda


In January 1942, by decision State Committee The defenses from the Bam-Tynda section built by that time were removed from the track links and bridge trusses for the construction of the Stalingrad-Saratov-Syzran-Ulyanovsk (Volzhskaya Rokada) railway line.

Pictured is a map of the Baikal-Amur Mainline


In June 1947, the construction of the eastern section of Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Urgal continued (mainly by the prisoners of the Amur ITL (Amurlag)) . Before the Amurlag was disbanded (in April 1953), embankments were poured over the entire section, tracks were laid, bridges were built on the Komsomolsk-2 - Berezovy (Postyshevo) section. The site was operated by the Komsomolsk United Railway Transport Enterprise, whose office and depot were located in the village of Khurmuli, Komsomolsky District. The section Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan was put into operation in 1945, and the movement of trains on the Taishet - Bratsk - Ust-Kut (Lena) line was opened in 1950. The map below shows the Baikal-Amur Mainline in green, with the Trans-Siberian Railway in the background.


In 1967, a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued, and design and research work was resumed. By the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of July 8, 1974 "On the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway" the necessary funds were allocated for the construction of the first category railway Ust-Kut (Lena) - Komsomolsk-on-Amur with a length of 3145 km, the second track Taishet - Ust-Kut (Lena) - 680 km, lines Bam - Tynda and Tynda - Berkakit - 397 km.


In April 1974, it was declared an all-Union shock Komsomol construction site, masses of young people were sent here for an internship.
In 1977, the Bam - Tynda line was put into permanent operation, and in 1979 the Tynda - Berkakit line. The main part of the road was built over 12 years - from April 5, 1972 to October 27, 1984, and on November 1, 1989, the entire new three thousand-kilometer section of the highway was put into permanent operation in the amount of launch complex. The longest Severo-Muisky tunnel in Russia (15,343 meters), the construction of which began in May 1977, was broken through to the end only in March 2001 and put into permanent operation in December 2003.


Such a large-scale construction was only possible for a great power, with its colossal economic power and resources. 60 sectors of the national economy, hundreds of supplying enterprises, design and scientific organizations in Leningrad and Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk and Rostov, Nikopol and Blagoveshchensk. BAM is rightly called the route of friendship and brotherhood. It was built by representatives of 70 nationalities of the USSR. The General Scheme of the District Planning of the BAM Influence Zone was developed, taking into account regional features routes, specific factors of economic development of the territories adjacent to it, as well as multinational features of architectural and planning solutions, building art of all the republics participating in the development of the highway. Tynda, Neryungri, Severobaikalsk - Largest cities along the highway - they were built exactly according to the general plans. As a result, each has its own look, its own special architectural "accents". However, like any new business, the Baikal-Amur Mainline aroused interest in environmental problems. The virgin nature demanded a careful attitude towards itself. After all, a delicate natural organism, balanced for thousands of years, is especially fragile in conditions of permafrost, high seismicity and low temperatures.

It was important to use the powerful equipment that the builders were armed with wisely, carefully and skillfully, so that the industrial power of the BAM was organically combined with the natural landscape, clean air, and the transparency of rivers and lakes. The extreme conditions of the track required new scientific, technical and engineering and production solutions. Here, for the first time in world practice, a fundamentally new design of foundations for bridge supports was created, a number of new ideas in tunneling were implemented, and backfilling technologies were developed. subgrade and drilling and blasting in permafrost, appeared modern methods fight against ice. The highway passed through the territory of the region in the northern areas rich in natural resources. Near it, the Svobodnenskoye brown coal deposit was explored and transferred for development. In the Zeya and Tyndinsky districts there are rich gold-bearing placers, on the basis of which dozens of powerful dredges work. Forests are spread over millions of hectares, the total operational reserves of which exceed one billion cubic meters. Mastering all natural resources and serves Baikal-Amur Mainline. Where only a nomadic Evenk hunter on his reindeer used to get to, where only occasionally geologists flew by helicopters, the taiga was awakened by the whistle of a diesel locomotive. residential settlements. Previously, the southern regions of the Amur Region connected with the North highway AYAM (Amur-Yakutsk Mainline), going from the Big Never on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Chulman. And this thin transport brook was replaced by a "full-flowing river" named BAM


The Baikal-Amur Mainline is one of the largest railway lines in the world. The construction of the main part of the railway, which took place in difficult geological and climatic conditions, took more than 12 years, and one of the most difficult sections - the Severo-Muisky tunnel - was put into permanent operation only in 2003

The Severomuysky ridge was one of the most difficult sections of the BAM. Prior to the opening of the Severomuysky tunnel, trains followed a bypass railway line laid across the ridge. The first version of the bypass, 24.6 km long, was built in 1982-1983; during its construction, slopes of up to 40 thousandths were allowed (that is, up to 40 meters of elevation per kilometer of distance). Because of this, only freight trains with several wagons could go through this line; the movement of passenger trains was prohibited (people were transported through the pass by buses)


In 1985 - 1989, a new bypass line 54 km long was built, consisting of numerous steep serpentines, high viaducts and two loop tunnels (the old bypass was subsequently dismantled). The "Devil's Bridge" became famous - a viaduct in a sharp turn on a slope across the valley of the Itykyt River, standing on two-tier supports. The train was forced to maneuver between the hills, moving at a maximum speed of 20 km / h and risking falling under an avalanche. On the rises, it became necessary to push the trains with auxiliary locomotives. The site required large expenses for the maintenance of the track and ensuring traffic safety. Pictured is Devil's Bridge


It took more than 25 years to build a tunnel through the ridge. The first train passed through the tunnel on December 21, 2001, but the tunnel was put into permanent operation only on December 5, 2003. The total length of the mine workings of the tunnel is 45 km; along the entire length of the tunnel there is a working of a smaller diameter used for pumping water, placing engineering systems and transporting technical personnel. Ventilation is provided by three vertical shafts. The safety of trains passing through the tunnel is provided, among other things, by seismic and radiation monitoring systems. To maintain the microclimate in the tunnel, special gates are installed on both of its portals, which are opened only for the passage of the train. Engineering systems tunnels are managed by a special automated system, developed at the Design and Technological Institute of Computer Engineering of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences


Along with the tunnel, the Severomuysky bypass is also maintained in working order - it is expected that it can be used in the event of an increase in freight traffic along the BAM.


There are many trains running along the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Below is the BAM train schedule

In 2007, the government approved a plan, according to which it is planned to build "capillary" branches to mineral deposits. Also, earlier it was decided to build a crossing in the form of a Sakhalin tunnel or bridge.


In 2009, the reconstruction of the section Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan (Far Eastern Railway) began with the construction of a new Kuznetsovsky tunnel, it is planned to be completed in 2016. The total cost of the project is 59.8 billion rubles. These works will increase the speed of trains, which will lead to an increase in throughput and carrying capacity, and will also make it possible to increase the weight rate of trains on the section from 3600 to 5600 tons.


According to the "Strategy-2030", the volume of investments in BAM will be about 400 billion rubles. 13 new railway lines with a total length of about 7,000 kilometers will be built. First of all, these are such cargo generating lines as Lena - Nepa - Lensk, Khani - Olekminsk, Novaya Chara - Apsatskaya, Novaya Chara - China, Shimanovskaya - Gar - Fevralsk, Ulak - Elginskoye field. The construction of the last branch is already in full swing by private investors


All these plans for the future and strategies do not allow BAM to be called a road without a future, and it is no coincidence that the construction of the North-Muisky tunnel was not curtailed even in the most difficult times for the Russian economy. Despite everything, the history of the Baikal-Amur Mainline continues... BAM lives and stands on a par with such construction sites of the century as the Belomorkanal and DneproGES

Baikal-Amur Mainline- passing in Eastern Siberia and the Far East, one of the largest railway lines in the world, the northern understudy of the Trans-Siberian Railway. The main route of the Baikal-Amur Mainline - Taishet - Bratsk - Lena - Severobaikalsk - Tynda - Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan. The length of the main route Taishet - Sovetskaya Gavan is 4287 km.

BAM runs north of the Trans-Siberian Railway, branching off from it in the city of Taishet, Irkutsk Region, on its way crosses the Angara in Bratsk, Lena in Ust-Kut, and then passes through Severobaikalsk, skirting Baikal from the north. Further, BAM goes through the remote mountainous territories of Buryatia, Chita and Amur regions through Tynda, crossing the Vitim, Olekma and Zeya reservoirs. The further path of the BAM passes through the territory Khabarovsk Territory, where the highway crosses the Amur at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The BAM ends on the Pacific coast in Sovetskaya Gavan.

BAM has several branches - to Ust-Ilimsk (215 km); on a number of mineral deposits; in three places, the BAM is connected to the Trans-Siberian by connecting branches (Tynda - Bamovskaya, Novy Urgal - Izvestkovaya, Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Volochaevka (Khabarovsk)), from the Tynda station of the Baikal-Amur Mainline it branches to the north Amur-Yakutsk highway(which should reach the banks of the Lena very soon), connecting the territory of Yakutia with the country's railway network; depart from Vanino station rail ferries to Sakhalin.

The construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline began before the war: in 1938, construction works in the section from Taishet to Bratsk, in 1939 - in the eastern section from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Sovetskaya Gavan. Work at that time was carried out mainly by the forces of prisoners. During the difficult years of the war, construction was suspended for some time, but soon construction was continued - in 1947 the Komsomolsk - Sovetskaya Gavan section was commissioned, in 1958 the Taishet - Bratsk - Ust-Kut section was put into permanent operation: the road went to the banks of the upper reaches of the Lena , work continued on sections west of Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

In 1967, the Council of Ministers issued a resolution on the resumption of the construction of the BAM and the organization of a category I through railway between Taishet and Komsomolsk-on-Amur, after which active design and survey work began again on the BAM route. The active construction of the highway resumed in 1974 - BAM was declared an all-Union shock Komsomol construction site, to which thousands of young people from all over the country went.

The central, main part of the BAM was built in 12 years, from 1972 to 1984, and on November 1, 1989, the entire new three thousand-kilometer section of the highway (with the exception of the Severomuysky tunnel, which was built until 2003) was put into permanent operation in the volume of the launch complex .

The route of the Baikal-Amur Mainline runs mainly in mountainous terrain, cutting through seven mountain ranges. The highest point of the route is the Mururinsky Pass (1323 meters above sea level); when entering which steep slopes require the use of double traction and limiting the maximum weight of trains from 5600 to 4200 tons.

Ten tunnels were built on the BAM highway, among them the longest in Russia Severomuysky tunnel, having a length of 15343 meters. From the point of view of tunneling and construction, this tunnel, passing through the North Muya Range, is one of the most difficult in the world. It was built intermittently for 28 years - from 1975 to 2003. In order not to delay the start of transit traffic along the BAM, in 1982-1983 and 1985-1989, two bypasses of this tunnel were built with a length of 25 and 54 kilometers, which are the most complex railway serpentine with extreme curves and slopes. After the opening of through traffic through the Severomuysky Tunnel, the throughput capacity of the BAM increased significantly, the bypass became a reserve route, but it is maintained, and some trains also pass through it.

The route of the Baikal-Amur Mainline crosses 11 large rivers, in total 2230 large and small bridges have been built on it. The highway passes through more than 200 railway stations and sidings, more than 60 cities and towns. Passing through remote mountainous regions, BAM has become an excellent school for many engineers and builders - here, for the first time in domestic and world practice, dozens of new unique engineering solutions were applied, which were then applied and are actively used in many other construction projects in our country.

From Taishet to Ust-Kut (Osetrovo, Lena station) the Baikal-Amur Mainline is double-track and electrified on alternating current, from Ust-Kut to Taksimo station the road is single-track and electrified on alternating current, to the east single-track traffic is carried out on diesel traction.

The peak of cargo transportation along the BAM fell on 1990. Then, in the period from 1991 to 1997, the freight traffic along the highway almost halved. Like a lot of things built in our country, BAM at that time, in the mouths of many, suddenly became “the unnecessary construction site of the century.” Indeed, the Baikal-Amur Mainline was designed largely as an integral part of a comprehensive project to develop the significant natural resources of the regions through which the road ran - the development of the regions ceased, many of the planned projects of territorial-industrial complexes were never implemented. Naturally, without the development and development of the surrounding territories, the profitability of such a colossal and costly highway as the BAM is impossible.

At the same time, in the period from 1997 to 2010 (and especially after 2003, after the opening of through traffic through the Severomuysky tunnel), the traffic through the BAM increased again, at the moment it is 12 million tons per year and continues to increase, gradually approaching the design load . An increasing flow from the overloaded Trans-Siberian Railway is redirected to the BAM (oil, coal, timber, and a number of other goods are transported along the highway), the construction of the Amur-Yakutsk Mainline (AYAM) continues from the BAM, which in the foreseeable future, I want to believe (and especially - to participate! ) will cross the Lena along the colossal bridge; work continues on the modernization of existing sections of the highway. I would like to believe that over time, the development and development of the colossal territories lying in the gravity zone of the BAM and AYAM will continue.

But even now, life on this second long thread, which arose several decades ago and runs from west to east of our vast country several hundred kilometers north of the Trans-Siberian Railway, is quite active, which I was convinced of during my stay in Severobaikalsk.

We drive along the BAM along the coast of Northern Baikal.

In some sections, the railway dives under the cover of galleries, in others it passes in cape tunnels.

Monument to the builders of BAM:

Portal of the third Cape tunnel BAM:

Severobaikalsk Station On the Baikal-Amur Mainline - there are many trains on dozens of tracks, passenger trains at the platform, locomotive horns are heard every minute, the dispatcher's voice does not stop from the loudspeakers.

On the electrified section of the BAM, modern domestic electric locomotives "Ermak" operate, and the train Tynda - Moscow departs from the platform.

On the outskirts of Severobaikalsk, I again go out to the BAM. Here it leaves Severobaikalsk and the coast of Lake Baikal, and goes up into the mountains along the Tyya river valley, so that, after overcoming the mountain range through the 6-kilometer Baikal tunnel, 343 kilometers from here, go to the shore of the upper reaches of the Lena in Osetrovo, where the famous Lena station is located, one of the key points for BAM, Yakutia and the Irkutsk region.

So, the BAM line goes from Baikal to the mountains. Lena station is 343 kilometers away.

And again the station - a steam locomotive on a pedestal and a complex of buildings of the East Siberian Railway.

Monument to the people of Leningrad - the builders of Severobaikalsk.

Schedule of passenger trains to the west and east:

Electric locomotive "Ermak" at the station Severobaikalsk:

Tomorrow I am leaving these places, so in the end I once again walked around the station, “breathed” with the life of BAM. Passenger train Severobaikalsk - Novaya Chara is preparing for departure.

Echelon with dump trucks.

Cargo and special equipment:

I went into Severobaikalsky City Museum of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The museum is quite small and contains interesting materials related to the construction of the famous railway and Severobaikalsk, as well as photographs of those years.

Watching the life of the BAM... A passenger train goes along the BAM from east to west and approaches Severobaikalsk:

The passenger train is followed in the same direction by a long freight train driven by the Ermak electric locomotive:

Having missed two oncoming trains, a long loaded train set off from Severobaikalsk to the east along the BAM - the same train with a fire engine that I photographed at the station.

Tomorrow early in the morning I leave these places, at 8 am setting off for a long 12-hour 600-kilometer transition on the "Comet" along the route Severobaikalsk - Irkutsk, across the entire Baikal from north to south. But having already packed my things in the evening, I decided to take a walk to the station for the night again - to say goodbye to BAM, or rather not to say goodbye, but to say “Goodbye”, since the idea of ​​​​traveling along this railway from Taishet to Sakhalin.

Well, BAM lives its usual life - the night station brightly lit by spotlights looks bewitching in the night, the horns of locomotives mysteriously sound in the silence of the night, the voice of the dispatcher echoes multiple times, the sound of wheels and the clang of interlocking cars preparing to go on a long journey across, perhaps the most complex and unique railway line in the world…

The Baikal-Amur Mainline (abbreviation BAM) is a railway in and in the Far East.One of the largest railway lines in the world. The main route - Sovetskaya Gavan was built with long interruptions from 1938 to 1984. The construction of the central part of the railway, which took place in difficult geological and climatic conditions, took more than 12 years, and one of the most difficult sections - the Severo-Muisky tunnel - was put into permanent operation only in 2003.

railway line

Project estimates

Economist Yegor Gaidar expressed his opinion about BAM in the early 2000s: [ 9]

"The project for the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline is a typical example of the socialist "construction of the century." The project is expensive, large-scale, romantic - beautiful places, Siberia. Supported by all the power of Soviet propaganda, it is absolutely meaningless economically. They knew how to build roads - this is not producing competitive products or good goods consumer goods".

At the same time, opinions were expressed that, despite its unprofitability, the Baikal-Amur Mainline gave impetus to the development of a number of industries, and also plays a significant geopolitical role, stitching together “our vast spaces with steel stitches” .

Two railway corps of the railway troops took part in the construction of the eastern section armed forces THE USSR.

One of the tasks solved by the construction of the BAM was to ensure reliable communication with the Far Eastern regions of the country in the event of a possible capture of the eastern section of the Trans-Siberian Railway, located almost at the very border, in the event of a military conflict with China.

The asteroid (2031) BAM, discovered in the Main Asteroid Belt on October 8, 1969 by Lyudmila Chernykh from the Crimean Observatory, is named after BAM.

Although in the phrase Baikal-Amur Mainline the word highway is feminine, the abbreviation BAM is very often used in the masculine gender.

For the construction of BAM in Germany, about 10,000 dump trucks and flatbed trucks of the Magirus-Deutz brand with an air-cooled diesel engine were ordered. In the USSR, such diesel engines for civilian vehicles were not produced. Deliveries were made in 1975-1976. Some of these machines are still operating in the regions of Siberia and Far East. It was considered prestigious to work on these machines, and they differed in quality and comfort from domestic ones, so they were mainly employed by excellent production workers. In addition, along with the domestic equipment, other imported equipment produced by Western countries and the CMEA countries was also used in the construction of the BAM.

BAM stations

Plans for reconstruction

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Russian government to prepare a detailed schedule for the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway. Funds will be used to solve the problem federal budget and the National Welfare Fund.

Until 2018, it is planned to allocate 560 billion rubles in stages, of which 300 billion as part of the Russian Railways investment program, 110 billion in the form of direct budget investments, and another 150 billion on a return basis from the fund. It is assumed that the modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway will increase the capacity of the line from 110 to 165 million tons of cargo per year.

Priority measures to develop the infrastructure of the western part of the BAM are estimated at 177 billion rubles. It is planned to build about 430 km of additional main tracks and double-track inserts, 27 sidings, develop Taishet, (Irkutsk Region) and Novaya Chara (Trans-Baikal Territory) stations.

In 2013, about 20 million tons of various cargoes are transported through the BAM section within the boundaries of the East Siberian Railway per year. The development of transport infrastructure will make it possible to intensify the development of new deposits, which will entail an increase in transportation. According to forecasts, by 2020 the growth of traffic on the northern part of the road can reach 60 million tons. Therefore, it is necessary not only to increase the capacity of the highway, but also to develop the infrastructure as a whole. Thus, according to the investment program of the Eastern Railway, the construction of multi-apartment residential buildings at the BAM stations is envisaged in the next three years.

In 2014, a decree of the government of the Russian Federation, which allows the use of funds from the National Welfare Fund for the modernization of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian Railways, was signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

BAM anniversary celebration

Forty years ago, the All-Union Komsomol construction began - they began to build the Baikal-Amur Mainline. To celebrate the anniversary, remember everything and prove that there is still life at BAM, a festive train with number 905 set off on a journey along the great railway, which has never been before and, most likely, will no longer be on the schedule. He traveled along the route Irkutsk-Tynda.

Read in Wikipedia:

Literature

1. Korobov S.A. Miniature chronicle of BAM // Otprint - Irkutsk, 2004.
2. Polunina N.M., Korobov S.A., Sutton J.M., Korobova G.W. Her Majesty - Queen of Siberia // Korobov Publishing House - Irkutsk, 2008.
3. Under the editorship of prof. Cantor I.I. Construction and railway business in Russia of the XX century // UMK MPS - Moscow, 2001.
4. Shestak I. BAM: miles of epoch // Tyndinsky printing house- Tynda, 2009.
5. The truth about BAM // Young Guard - M., 2004.
6. Towards the time // Soviet Russia - M., 1986.
7. Vasiliev M. Yu., Gromov V. V. Tourist routes of the Western BAM. - M .: Physical culture and sport, 1984. - 208 p. - (In native spaces). - 26,000 copies.
8. Ulybin. YU. Modernization of BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway Issue "Special Issue Regional" # 117 (1138) October 18, 2013

Notes

1. Great Russian Encyclopedia: In 30 volumes / Chairman of the scientific-ed. Council Yu. S. Osipov. Rep. ed. S. L. Kravets. T. 2. Ankylosis - Bank. - M.: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 2005. - 766 p.: ill.: maps.
2. Gennady Alekseev: "It is necessary to speed up the approval of the Strategic Program for the Development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline // Official web server of the authorities of Yakutia. - March 24, 2010

Baikal-Amur Mainline

Railways for the gigantic land expanses of our Motherland, with different climatic and natural conditions, uneven distribution of resources and population, are a mass, universal form of transport with great advantages. All-weather and year-round operation, combined with high traffic speeds, creates a huge daily and annual carrying capacity, which, combined with almost unlimited reserves of its rapid and relatively uncomplicated gradual increase at low cost, labor and time, promises efficiency in the future. With the low cost of rail transportation and the lowest unit cost of energy resources, this is the safest and most environmentally friendly mode of transport.

On the background general development railway transport in Russia (according to the results of 1999, the growth in many respects is quite significant), there are structures that have been undeservedly left without due attention. This, of course, is about the "construction of the century" - the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

The ideology of construction, the history of the issue

The territories that today are included in the BAM zone began to be developed by the Russians after the campaigns of Yermak (1581-85) and the defeat of the Siberian Khanate. In an exceptionally short period of time - a little more than half a century - almost all of Siberia was annexed to the Russian state, the Russians reached the shores of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk and the Pacific Ocean, and somewhat later reached North America.

The development of vast areas beyond the Urals, of course, cannot be explained only by an attempt by the most active part of the Russian peasantry and Cossacks to get away from serfdom and church-state control. Such a spontaneous, intuitive impulse to the East turned out to be not only the historical and religious response of the Russian Orthodox world to the colonial expansion of Catholic and Protestant Europe - it also created a global alternative to the "Eurocentric" policy of the Russian state.

This alternative began to be realized only at the end of the 19th century, when the rapid development of Japan, and especially the United States, became a harbinger of the inevitable collapse of the old European metropolises. The entry of Russian goods into the markets of China and Central Asia, as well as ensuring the security of the eastern borders of the Russian Empire, brought to life the grandiose project of the Trans-Siberian Railway, brilliantly implemented in an incredibly short time. And if the loss of Alaska did not cause any political reaction, then the defeat in the war with Japan in 1904-1907, the loss of the Kuril Islands, South Sakhalin and influence in Manchuria - put on the agenda a more balanced policy, made it necessary to seriously develop the economic development of the regions of Siberia and the Far East. East, for which there was a catastrophic lack of population and transport routes. It is no coincidence that the plans for railway construction along the “northern route” in the current BAM zone with access to the regions of Yakutsk and Magadan and further to the Bering Strait date back to this time.

The well-known "land reform", undertaken on the initiative of P.A. Stolypin, in addition to solving the problem of agrarian overpopulation in central Russia, also had these goals in mind, echelons of immigrants stretched to the east, the Russian agricultural population of Siberia and the Far East increased significantly. However, it was not possible to achieve the necessary results by purely economic methods. In addition, the resource base of these regions remained insufficiently explored.

Scientific expeditions began to study the regions of Eastern Siberia only in the second half of the 17th century. The most important were the travels of I.G. Gmelin from Irkutsk to the upper reaches of the river. Lena and along it to Yakutsk (1733-43); studies of academicians E.G. Laxman in Transbaikalia (1764-74); P.I. Pallas (1770-73) and I.G. Gregory (1770-74) in the Baikal region. In 1851, the Siberian (later East Siberian) branch of the Russian Geographical Society was organized in Irkutsk. In the Trans-Baikal part of BAM in the 60-70s of the last century, famous geographers and geologists I.A. Lopatin, P.A. Kropotkin, A.L. Chekanovsky, I.D. Chersky, and from the late 80s - V.A. Obruchev. In 1889-92. he studied the Baikal region, the upper reaches of the Lena and the Olekma-Vitim mountainous country, Special attention focusing on the gold-bearing placers of the Lena Basin.

However, the results of these works, which laid the foundation for further study of the geology of the region, still did not give c. systemic picture of its mineral resource base, and even more so could not be in demand by the then Russian economy. The case was limited to "skimming the cream" from the unique deposits of gold, mica, precious and ornamental stones.

In 1889, when the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway from Chelyabinsk to the Pacific Ocean was on the line, the expedition led by Colonel of the General Staff of the Russian Army N.A. Voloshinov, passed along the proposed route from Ust-Kut in the upper reaches of the Lena River to the northern shore of Lake Baikal and further through the Severo-Muisky Range to the Muya River Valley, and the expedition of the railway engineer Prokhasko - from the Muya River to the Cherny Uryum River (in the Mogocha region) . They established the significant difficulty of the conditions for the construction of the future Trans-Siberian Railway according to the northern version. It was decided to build a railway in the area east of Taishet, according to the southern version, through Irkutsk.

Comparing the northern version with the southern one from Taishet to Irkutsk and further around Lake Baikal to Verkhneudinsk (Ulan-Ude) and Chita, Voloshinov reasonably spoke in favor of the southern route, which at that time did not have and could not have an alternative.

The idea of ​​building a second latitudinal railway across the northern tip of Lake Baikal in the pre-revolutionary period and until the 1930s did not receive practical permission. The country was not economically and technically ready for the construction of the BAM.

BAM - this is a short word, as a signal to attack, for the first time sounded from the pages of newspapers, in government and other documents in the 30s of the XX century. Since then, the Baikal-Amur Railway attracted the attention of many specialists for many years, required significant capital investments necessary for the construction of a giant natural and technical railway complex, stretching for thousands of kilometers.

The region, in which a huge amount of work had to be done, developed for many decades on the basis of state support due to the prevailing natural, geographical and economic conditions. In the 30s - 50s due to public funds 2075 km of railways were built (mainly according to lighter standards) on the approaches to the BAM and on the end sections.

In 1967, by decision of the Government, the design work at BAM.

By the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of July 8, 1974 "On the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway" the necessary funds were allocated for the construction of the core of the transport infrastructure - the railway of the first category with a length of 3100 km, the second track Taishet - Lena - 740 km, the Bamovskaya lines - Tynda and Tynda - Berkakit -400 km.

Over the course of half a century, the accents changed, but the dominants remained unchanged: the importance of the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway for the economic development of Siberia and the Far East was never denied, its economic feasibility was implied, and its military-strategic necessity was emphasized.

The large BAM, the construction of which began in July 1974, was impossible without the preliminary implementation of approaches to it and connecting branches, invaluable experience in surveys, design and construction, accumulated since the early 30s. The main direction of the route Ust-Kut - Nizhneangarsk - Chara - Tynda - Urgal - Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan, finally chosen in 1942 as a result of many years of study, turned out to be optimal.

In 1974, construction work began on the BAM: a total of 4,200 km were to be built. During 1979 - 1989. the main line was gradually put into permanent operation at the start-up complex, and a number of lines - in full design. The construction of the western section of the BAM, the second track Taishet - Lena and the lines Bamovskaya - Tynda - Berkakit was carried out by organizations of the Ministry of Transport Construction (since 1992 - Corporation "Transstroy"), and the eastern one - by the railway troops. The Ministry of Railways acted as the customer of the entire BAM complex Russian Federation.

On January 4, 1992, a resolution of the Government of Russia "On measures to complete the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) and the construction of the railway line Berkakit - Tommot - Yakutsk" was adopted

Since 1994, in essence, work on the construction and arrangement of the BAM route itself has ceased, and even more so, work on the development of the territory adjacent to the route.

In 1997 (June 16), the Decree of the Government of Russia (No. 728) “On priority measures to stimulate economic development zone of the Baikal-Amur Railway, which supports the adoption necessary measures to accelerate the growth of industrial production and social development in the BAM zone. The resolution noted the need and possibility of creating economically favorable conditions in the BAM zone, including attracting investments, for the development of new industries for the extraction and use of gold, titanium, copper, rare earth metals, oil, apatite, coal, as well as the development of traditional industries : mining metallurgy, coal industry, shipbuilding, timber processing.

In 1999, the State Duma of Russia adopted The federal law“On Special Economic Zones of the Baikal-Amur Railway”, which is aimed at creating favorable conditions for the socio-economic development of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, on whose territories the BAM special economic zones are located and aims to preserve and develop productive forces, develop natural resources, develop transport and other infrastructures of the territory adjacent to BAM.

In general, the BAM complex is designed to solve five important tasks on a national scale, which are grandiose and at the same time clear and understandable:

open access to the natural resources of a vast region;

ensure transit transportation over the shortest distance (reduce the overrun of goods by an average of 500 km);

to create the shortest East-West intercontinental railway route, running for 10,000 km along Russian railways;

fend off possible failures and interruptions in the movement of trains on the Trans-Siberian;

to become the backbone of the economic development of a vast territory (about 1,500,000 sq. km), rich in valuable reserves of mineral raw materials, fuel and energy, and forest resources.

In the territories adjacent to the BAM route, mineral resources were explored and prepared for industrial development, the development of which can significantly increase economic potential our country, to promote the settlement of vast territories of Siberia and the Far East; to create here a highly efficient national economic complex with an almost self-sufficient resource and food base, a developed social, scientific and technological sphere, to form a new springboard for the further advancement of Russian civilization to the north.

It was planned to create several territorial-industrial complexes (TPK). The best among them in many parameters is Yuzhno-Yakutsky, whose economy was to be based on ferrous metallurgy based on a unique combination of iron ore deposits in the Yuzhno-Aldan region (explored reserves - 1.6 billion tons) and coking coals of the Aldan-Chulmakan region (Neryungri, Chulmaken, Denisovskoye with reserves of about 2.9 billion tons), located less than 100 km from each other.

Nowhere else in the world is there such favorable conditions for the development of ferrous metallurgy. The famous connection between the Rhine coal basin and the Lorraine iron ore region, which largely determined the course of the history of the 20th century (the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, partly the First and Second World Wars), is not comparable with South Yakutia either in terms of reserves or in terms of the quality of raw materials.

In addition to the aforementioned Yuzhno-Aldanskoye deposit, which gives the main concentrates, the richest Charo-Tokkinskoye iron ore deposit (1.3 billion tons), which produces acidic concentrates, is also located here. This allows, when used together by appropriate blending, to drastically reduce the consumption of fluxes and increase the iron content in the charge, which will give Yuzhno-Yakutsk steel considerable competitive advantages in foreign markets. In addition, easily enriched ores of the Charo-Tokiskoye deposit are suitable for use in blast-furnace, and in the refining of concentrates and in powder metallurgy. In general, on the basis of the South Yakutsk TIC, it is possible to achieve an annual production of 23 million tons of coal, 42.5 million tons of iron ore, and produce 14 million tons of iron ore concentrate. For comparison: in 1990 the USSR produced 446 million tons of coal, 107.9 million tons of iron ore.

The production of phosphate fertilizers on the basis of the largest Seligdar apatite deposit, suitable for obtaining concentrates with a phosphorus oxide content of 36.5-37.5%, was to become another important direction in the development of the South Yakutsk TIC. In addition, non-ferrous metallurgy (gold in the Aldan region), mica industry (phlogopite in the Aldan region) and the extraction of colored stones (the Yakutsk charoite deposit) had good development prospects. In parallel, the issues of providing the TPK with the necessary building materials and water resources were resolved.

According to the same principles of integrated economic development of the territories and in accordance with their administrative division, six more TPKs comparable to the South Yakut one could be created.

Thus, the Verkhne-Lena TPK, initially using the forest resources of the Irkutsk region and its hydropower, in the short term could rely on the explored oil fields (in particular, Verkhne-Chonskoye) of the Nepa arch, capable of meeting the demand of the BAM zone in hydrocarbon raw materials for the prospect of 20-25 years old. Importance for development Agriculture Siberia and the Far East has put into operation the Nepsko-Gazhinskoye potash deposit. Its sylvinite ores are the best in quality in the country. They are characterized by a high content of potassium oxide and a low content of harmful impurities: insoluble residue and potassium chloride, which, given the close hydrocarbon feedstock, can contribute to the development of large-scale chemical production.

The Lensky gold-bearing region, for many years associated with the extraction of precious metals, could be transformed into the Mamsko-Chuysky TPK due to the development of the mica industry and the commissioning of the Lilac stone (charoite) deposit.

With the collapse of the USSR, the importance for the Russian economy of the deposits of the Udokan TPK, where the largest deposits of copper ores (26% of Russian reserves) have been discovered, has sharply increased. There are also reserves of rare earth and uranium ores ready for development (Katuginskoye deposit), as well as a smaller scale than in the South Yakutsk TIC, but a very promising combination of iron ores of the Charskoye deposit with coking and thermal coals of the Absat basin. In terms of total economic power, the Udokan TPK, along with the Yuzhno-Yakutsk one, is capable of becoming a kind of industrial heart of the BAM.

Non-ferrous metallurgy - the production of zinc and lead on the basis of Kholodninskoye, molybdenum - on the basis of the Orekitkanskoye deposits, and also - in the future, after the creation of acceptable processing schemes - the production of alumina at the expense of nephelines and synnyrites, should become the backbone for the development of the Severo-Bayalsky TPK. Due to the fact that the developed aluminum industry of Russia is experiencing an acute shortage of raw materials (about 2 million tons of alumina and 4 million tons of bauxite are purchased annually from abroad in the amount of more than $ 1 billion), this program is put forward as a priority. In addition, during the processing of synnyrites into a separate production, potassium compounds can be isolated. A significant role in the potential of the North-Baikal TPK will be played by the use of Molodezhnoye, a deposit that can fully saturate the domestic market with scarce textile varieties of chrysotile-asbestos, as well as supply them for export.

Zeya-Selemzhinsky TPK, in addition to the traditional timber and wood processing industries, has good prospects for the development of energy based on existing hydro resources, coal, Tyndinsky and other deposits, as well as energy-intensive non-ferrous metallurgy.

Finally, Urgalo-Komsomolsky, the easternmost of the TICs of the BAM zone, already today has a developed machine and shipbuilding, non-ferrous metallurgy based on tin ores of the Komsomolsky region, petrochemistry, coal industry, energy and a system of sea ports. To this complex, which will undoubtedly undergo significant quantitative and qualitative changes, metallurgical enterprises of the first and second stages can be added.

Already at the first stages of the implementation of this program, the population of the BAM zone can grow to 1 million people, which will sharply exacerbate food problems. Agricultural productivity in these regions is low due to the lack of potassium and phosphorus in the soil, as well as a very short growing season. But the effectiveness of the use of mineral fertilizers is quite high: each kilogram of nutrient applied per hectare pays off with an increase of 5-8 kg of grain. Currently, mineral fertilizers are not produced here, and their import from central Russia is quite expensive and represents a serious transport problem. As a result, the use of mineral fertilizers in Siberia is less than in Russia, approximately 3 times. Therefore, the need for advanced development of the relevant deposits is understandable: Nepskoye (potash salts) and Seligdar apatite, especially since the demand for phosphorus and potash fertilizers is quite high both in China and in the countries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community.

To complete the overall picture, I will give some information on the Irkutsk region alone. The Irkutsk region is rich in minerals. In terms of reserves of mineral raw materials, the region is among the unique natural territories of Russia. Within its borders are the country's largest Lena gold-bearing, Mamsko-Chui mica-bearing, Angarsk iron ore and East Sayan rare-metal provinces, the Irkutsk coal-bearing basin, the world's largest East Siberian salt-bearing basin.

The main determinants industrial potential mineral resources are hydrocarbon raw materials, gold, mica-muscovite, table salt, iron, brown and hard coal. The bowels of the region are rich in deposits of non-metallic raw materials for ferrous metallurgy - magnesite, molding sands, building materials, semi-precious and facing stone. Proven promising diamond-bearing areas have been established in the region. More than 1000 diamond crystals have been recovered from the alluvium of 40 rivers. One of the promising diamond-bearing regions in the south of the Siberian platform is the Sayan area and the adjoining side of the Rybinsk depression - the Chuno-Biryusa diamond-bearing area. Diamonds and their satellites are installed in the basins of the Oka, Uda, Biryusa rivers. About 11 tons of gold are mined annually in the region. The availability of balance reserves is about 15 years.

Current state and development opportunities

The Baikal-Amur Mainline is the backbone of the infrastructure of an economically poorly developed and sparsely populated corridor 400 km wide, stretching for 4095 km in a latitudinal direction from the city of Ust-Kut in Eastern Siberia to the village of Vanino on the Pacific coast ( total area allocated zone 1.5 million km2; population 600 thousand people).

Now the profitability of BAM, defined as the ratio of the income rate to the cost price, is “-50%”; this means that annually BAM gives a loss to the Ministry of Railways (and, consequently, to the state) in the amount of 0.115 billion USD (in current prices).

The main reason for the unprofitability of BAM is its insufficient workload (2.5 times less than the design one) with a high capital intensity, which is 4.6 times higher than the average network.

Practically the only way to make the BAM profitable is to intensify economic activity in the BAM zone, relying on the unique reserves of natural resources and the existing highway. However, the systemic crisis of the domestic economy does not allow quickly and in the required volumes to concentrate investment resources in the zone in the amounts necessary for its intensive development.

At the same time, negative processes are aggravated in cities and towns in the BAM zone. Open unemployment in some regions reaches 30%, all enterprises in the zone, from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Ust-Kut, are in a difficult financial situation; about a third of them are debtors for VAT and income tax payments.

If we talk about other state costs (direct and indirect), then the amount of annual subsidies must be increased by adding to it the losses of the Ministry of Railways from the operation of the unprofitable BAM and the maintenance of a significant part of the social infrastructure of the BAM zone (0.115 billion USD / year), as well as same costs for current program resettlement from the most depressed areas of the zone (0.6 billion USD/year).

In such a situation, it would be advisable not to first pump out funds from the depressive zone and then return them there with a lag of 3 months to a year, but simply leave them in the zone. The following are considerations on how this strategy can be implemented, at least in part, within the framework of adopted law"About a special economic zone in the BAM area.

In addition, apparently, it is necessary to invest in the development of mining and processing enterprises located along the BAM. Pilot among them are: see Annexes

Considering the dynamics of the main indicators of the BAM (see Annexes), we can draw the following conclusions:

the volume of traffic along the BAM in comparison with the Trans-Siberian Railway is an order of magnitude less and one of the lowest in the network, which requires that the unfinished BAM be classified as low-traffic roads of the development type;

the level of the cost of transportation along the BAM as a whole for the period under review steadily exceeded the average network cost by 1.6 times, and the cost of transportation along the Trans-Siberian Railway by 1.85 times;

BAM's profitability indicators in the period under review were of an estimated nature and were maintained at an acceptable level by regulating the settlement price.

In such a situation, increasing the profitability of BAM can be addressed in four areas:

finding internal reserves to reduce costs;

redistribution of profits from others railways taking into account the current system of financing the objectively worse operating conditions of the BAM;

redistribution between BAM and Transsib of transportation work;

increase in the volume of transportation work by stimulating the industrial development of the BAM zone by various methods.

For various reasons, out of these four directions, real steps can be taken only in two (reduce capital intensity and increase the volume of transportation work) - see Appendix.

In general, a special program has been developed for the development of the BAM zone, some characteristics of which are given in the Appendix.

Stakeholders and real users

The constructed BAM is a ready springboard for access to huge, relatively well-explored reserves of mineral raw materials, which are in demand both on the world and domestic markets of Russia. The activation of the extraction of renewable (for example, forests) and non-renewable resources in the BAM zone will be able to generate a high and stable cargo flow and, consequently, the loading of the BAM.

A lot has already been said about the wealth of the territories located around the BAM. Let's look at the example of the Khabarovsk Territory:

Khabarovsk Krai is the leading region in Russia for the production of tin concentrate - it accounts for about 35% of Russia's tin. In addition to tin, copper is mined in the region.

Condition of deposits:

are in operation - deposits of tin-polymetallic ores of the Komsomolsk ore district: Festivalnoye, Solnechnoye, Perevalnoye (located 60-80 km west of Komsomolsk-on-Amur), deposits of tin ores of the Badzhalsky ore district (40-70 km from BAM) ;

prepared for exploitation - deposits Sobolinoye (located 80 km north-west of Komsomolsk-on-Amur), Near and Pravourmiyskoye (located in the Verkhnebureinsky district, 40-70 km from the Baikal-Amur railway line);

require additional study - deposits Lunnoye, Oktyabrskoye, Vetvistoye (located 60-80 km west of Komsomolsk-on-Amur), Boltoro, Dvoynoye, Rudnoye, Omot-Makit, Vysokoye (located in the Verkhnebureinsky district, 40-70 km from BAM) ; Udzhaki, Mopau, Tausa, Rudninskoye (located 80 km south-west of Sovetskaya Gavan), Sorukan, Bastion, Derimikan (the area named after P. Osipenko), Khairindzha (Ayano-Maisky district).

Characteristic features of all deposits:

complexity - in addition to tin, ores contain copper, zinc, lead (in industrial quantities), bismuth, silver, cadmium, gold, indium and other non-ferrous and rare metals;

high saturation of ores with useful components;

high technological properties of ores - extraction for tin is 70-90%, for copper - 75%;

Possibility of open pit and underground mining.

Ore mining in the region is carried out by:

joint-stock company "Solnechny GOK" (the state owns the "golden share"); it accounts for 98% of tin mining and 100% of copper production;

prospecting artel "Amgun" (private enterprise).

The Baikal-Amur Railway, with its multipurpose purpose in the country's economy, is a key factor in the development of a vast region, exceptionally rich in natural resources. For the industrial development of these resources, it is necessary to build short access railway tracks from the existing highway.

The Ministry of Railways of Russia, as the coordinator of activities related to the economic development of the BAM zone, purposefully takes concrete steps to develop this zone.

The first such step was the creation, at the initiative of the Ministry of Open joint-stock company"Baminvest", which was approved by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of 16.06.97. No. 728. The activity of the company is aimed at the industrial development of the BAM zone. The goals of the society can be briefly formulated as follows - the creation of life support conditions for the BAM zone for the implementation of the strategic interests of Russia, which consist of:

in economic terms, it is the creation of a modern mechanism for subsidized functioning economic space;

in social terms - the formation of business structures aimed at socially significant programs, the creation of new jobs;

in ecological terms - the creation of regulatory mechanisms that help maintain a stable balance between the economy, nature and man.

"Baminvest" prepared the "Program of economic development and development of the BAM zone for 1998 - 2005". A project has been developed and construction has begun on a 67-kilometer railway line from Chara station to China, with a branch to Udokan, to the Chiney complex deposit of titanium-magnetite and vanadium-containing iron ores and copper-platinum ores at the Udokan deposit. By the beginning of 1999, more than 230 million rubles had been disbursed at the construction site, 12 km of subgrade had been filled, 8 km of railway track had been laid, 2 bridges had been built, and 4 more were in operation. In the current year, out of the planned 923 million rubles of capital investments, more than 30 million rubles have been disbursed, or 13% of the cost of the launch complex since the start of construction.

JSC "Baminvest" was one of the initiators of the participation of the state railway - the Far East and "Baminvest" itself in the creation of JSC "Elgaugol", which will build an access railway track stretching 318 km from the Milko junction on the eastern section of the BAM to the Elga coal deposit and the development of this rich deposit (2.1 billion tons with open-pit mining).

The implementation of only these two projects will significantly increase the volume of cargo transportation along the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

In addition, work is already underway to develop the Sukhoi Log gold deposit. This deposit is one of the largest in Russia. According to the classification of reserves, it belongs to the second group with a metal content in the contours of productive ores - 2.3 grams per ton of ore. It is located in the central part of the Lensky gold mining region, 137 km from the city of Bodaibo and 357 km from the nearest railway. Taksimo station. The commissioning of the first start-up complex with a gold capacity of 8 tons must be commissioned no later than 2 sq. 2001, the design capacity (30 tons) of the quarry should be reached by 2005.

The BAM represents a huge potential for the development of the entire region in the coming years, although today, due to a decline in traffic, the line is unprofitable: instead of the planned annual transportation of 8-10 million tons of cargo, due to a reduction in industrial production, less than half is transported along the line.

The main task is to attract cargo, which will make the line profitable. One of the ways to solve this problem is the development of mineral deposits in the BAM zone. Another is an increase in transit from Europe to Asia and vice versa.

According to expert estimates, today cargoes worth 580 billion tons go from Asia to Europe annually. Doll.

Transportation of goods between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region is currently carried out mainly by sea through the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea: from the ports of China and Japan to the cities of Western Europe - Naples, Barcelona and Marseille - 22 thousand kilometers with route speed movement of 1000 km per day, or 22 days. While the length of the railway route from the ports of Primorye to Berlin is 14 thousand km, and at a route speed of 1100 km per day, the transportation time will not exceed 13 days. Taking into account the delivery of goods from the ports of China and Japan to Primorye (2 days), the total delivery time from Asia to Central Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railway will not exceed 15 days, and when traveling from Skovorodino to Taishet along the BAM, it will accelerate by another 5-6 hours.

But even these terms can be reduced. On April 16, 1998, a demonstration container train with 100 containers set off on the route Nakhodka - Brest, which covered a distance of 9943 km by Russian railways and arrived at its destination in 9 days. average speed amounted to 1168 km per day, that is, it significantly exceeded the route speed of sea vessels.

BAM and Transsib

Despite the seeming competition between the two neighboring highways, each of them is designed to solve its own set of tasks. Essentially, these railways complement each other.

The Trans-Siberian Railway was originally built to deliver cargo and military equipment to the eastern part of our country, and its main task was to organize the economic space of the southern regions of Siberia and the Far East. At the same time, no emphasis was placed on transit. It acquired its role as a carrier of transit cargo between Asia and Europe relatively recently. And it can be said that the transportation of container cargo from the Far Eastern ports to the European part has never been its main activity.

So does BAM. It was built with the expectation not of specialization in international container transportation, but for the development and development of a new geospace. Therefore, when opinions are now being heard that competition between our core East-West routes is unprofitable, it is necessary to realize that container and other international transit traffic is only auxiliary work in the arrangement of storerooms in Russia.

Geopolitical situation and forecasts for the future

To identify priority areas for the development of the zone adjacent to the highway, it is necessary to change approaches - to go not only from the development of resources (which can be traced in the Government Decree), but also from studying the situation in the domestic and external (primarily the Pacific region and Southeast Asia) markets. Only in this case it is possible to convincingly prove what goods the BAM zone can bring to the markets, what industries should be developed there, what effect can be obtained.

Tourism can become one of the most important areas for boosting the economy of the BAM zone. Huge interest for international and Russian tourism represent the Baikal ring, including the Angara hydroelectric power stations, the upper Lena, the Tsarskaya Hollow, Sikhote-Alin and other places with excellent recreational conditions.

It would also be expedient to include the zone of economic development of the Amur-Yakutsk railway line under construction in the sphere of interests of the BAM zone being created, the operation of which will significantly affect the loading of the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

Transport development of the BAM zone should not be limited only by the railway. BAM will work efficiently and fully only when it is helped by sea and river ports (Vanino, Osetrovo, Komsomolsk-on-Amur), when a highway runs parallel to the route and access roads to Udokan and other mineral deposits, forests are built, when will earn dozens of local airports overhead lines and major international airports. We should talk about the development of the entire transport complex, including all types of modern transport.

The integrated development of the BAM zone also implies a second exit of the railway route to the Pacific Ocean, since the growing trade of the APEC countries with Europe opens up serious opportunities for using the BAM as the shortest and most reliable transport route between these world centers. It is also important to expand our own trade with APEC.

From these points of view, closing the BAM route at the ports of Vanino and Sovetskaya Gavan does not make any sense: the northern part of the Tatar Strait is shallow and difficult for navigation, and the southern part is connected to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk only through the Laperouse Strait. Much more promising is the continuation of the Berkakit-Yakutsk branch to the mining regions of northeastern Yakutia and the Magadan region with access to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk near Magadan. The implementation of this option is very costly, but the most profitable already in the medium term, for 10-15 years, perspective.

Also noteworthy are the plans to build a highway to the east from the town of Neryungri with access to the sea in the region of Okhotsk or a little further south. In this case, the deposits of the Tokyo coal-bearing region (20 billion tons) and the Sutam iron ore deposit (2 billion tons) of easily enriched quartzites can be involved. Access to the sea near the mouth of the river is not excluded. Uda, however, the disadvantages of this option are the poorly explored mineral deposits of the Udsko-Selemzhinsky region, and the shallow depth of the sea near the coast, and the absence of well-protected bays here.

Nevertheless, any of the variants of the Eastern Russian Route makes the BAM zone exceptionally attractive for investments, including external ones, since it gives a powerful impetus to the development of the APEC countries.

I would like to emphasize the special importance of BAM, which made a reality the urgent idea of ​​creating a transcontinental railway line with a length of 15 thousand kilometers from Ireland to Tokyo "Japan-Europe", of which over 10 thousand kilometers - through the territory of Russia, using the shortest route along the BAM from Taishet to Komsomolsk -on-Amur.

Next, it will be necessary to lay a railway to Cape Lazarev and dig a 7-kilometer tunnel under the Nevelskoy Strait to Sakhalin, reconstruct the Sakhalin narrow-gauge railway to Cape Crillon and connect Sakhalin Island with Hokkaido Island with a tunnel or bridge 40 kilometers long. The Japanese islands are already connected by tunnels. England is connected to the mainland by a tunnel under the English Channel, and Sweden and the insular part of Denmark are connected to the mainland. It is necessary to connect Ireland with England by a 56-kilometer tunnel, the decision to build which has already been made.

Recently, interest in resuming the construction of a tunnel to Sakhalin has increased significantly (March 22, 1999 in Khabarovsk, in a secret railway storage facility in the north of the Khabarovsk Territory, an archive of two special objects of the Stalinist GULAG - buildings No. 500 and 506 - survey materials, design and executive documentation construction of a railway tunnel, which was supposed to connect the mainland and Sakhalin Island).

The existing ferry service Vanino - Kholmsk is unable to handle the transportation of goods. In addition, all the islands of Japan are already interconnected by railway lines, including the island of Hokkaido, located just 19 kilometers from Sakhalin. Thus, it is technically quite realistic to create a transcontinental railway line with a length of 15,000 kilometers - Tokyo - Sakhalin - Komsomolsk - BAM - Transsib - Moscow - Minsk - Warsaw - Berlin - London.

At a press conference held on March 17, 1999, Minister of Railways Nikolai Aksenenko said that the revival of the project to build a tunnel under the Tatar Strait to Sakhalin could become very promising. The tunnel will provide a railway link between the island and the mainland. As Nikolai Aksenenko said, the railway tunnel to Sakhalin “was made by very smart people. My task as a minister is to revive this project.”

The new intercontinental rail transport line will lead to the unification of four markets: the European Union, Eastern Europe. Russia and Japan. Thus, the economic interests of these regions, including China and the entire continental part of the Asia-Pacific Region, will be connected together in reliable shortest ways. This will undoubtedly be a powerful counter to the economic, political, financial and military expansion of the United States. Opposition to the peaceful. With such an idea, Russia will enter the 21st century.

By the way, on July 6, 1999, the initiative working group "Russian Far East - West Coast of the USA" met for the fourth time in Vladivostok to discuss the concept of the East-West transport corridor. Now it has been joined by delegations from the two northeastern provinces of China and observers from South Korea, Japan and Mongolia.

It is impossible not to say about the problems that have arisen in the field of transit cargo transportation, which we will have to get acquainted with in the near future. Namely, about the clash of interests of our system of BAM - Transsib and the resurgent Great Silk Road - a complex Eurasian transcontinental bridge.

BAM has its drawbacks. This is almost the entire length of a single-track road, which also ends in the "dead end" Komsomolsk-on-Amur. Further to the ocean there is an old logging branch, not adapted for large-scale transportation. Meanwhile, enterprising Chinese neighbors began to build a road, which, according to their plan, should become a competitor to the Trans-Siberian Railway and BAM. This road, in essence, is a continuation of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which Russia built in the last century, and in 1952 handed it over to the PRC free of charge.

Its total length from the starting point of the port city of Lianyungang, which is located north of Shanghai, to the final point of Rotterdam along the shortest route is 10.9 thousand km. On Chinese territory, the highway runs along the route of the port of Lianyungang - Xi'an - Lanzhou - Urumqi - Alashankou, where it connects with the railway network of Kazakhstan, which was called the Trans-Asian (TAR), passes through the territory of Kazakhstan and crosses the border with China at the Druzhba station, which, after the collapse The USSR became the property of Kazakhstan. Today Druzhba is an integral part of the Alma-Ata railway, which has also become one of the most important sections of the TAR. According to the border agreement concluded between the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Railways of the People's Republic of China, traffic was opened through the Druzhba station from September 1991. Shortly after this, the idea of ​​creating the Trans-Asian and then the Eurasian railway lines was born. If both of these projects are brought to an end, neither the West nor the East will need the Trans-Siberian Railway and the BAM. According to the project, up to 15 million tons of cargo per day will go through the Druzhba station from China, India, Vietnam, Korea to Turkey and further to European countries.

Already in 1996, 2005 thousand tons of cargo were delivered to China through Druzhba, including 1370 thousand tons from Kazakhstan, 516 thousand tons from Uzbekistan and only 95 thousand tons from Russia. 195 thousand tons were exported from China, including 40 thousand tons to Kazakhstan, 131 thousand tons to Uzbekistan, and the rest to Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia. At the same time, 15 forty-car block trains from South Korea to Uzbekistan were missed. In an effort to attract more cargo to the Trans-Asian and Eurasian routes, the interested CIS countries, as well as Iran and Turkey, are developing joint programs. Kazakhstan and China are the most active. Thus, the transportation of goods by railways of Kazakhstan to the PRC is carried out at the rates of international transport tariffs with a coefficient of 0.5, while a coefficient of 0.6 operates on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Recently, the railways of Kazakhstan and China, in order to increase freight turnover, decided to apply special through rates for transit traffic through Druzhba. In addition, they want to attract maximum amount passengers. Back in 1992, that is, before the opening of international passenger traffic, the station at Druzhba station was restored. The residential settlement began to expand: today about 3 thousand people live here. In fact, the Eurasian and Trans-Asian highways have already begun their life, having received the figurative name of the “new silk road”. By the way, this is also the name of the comfortable Zhibek Zholy (Silk Road) train, which has been running from the capital of Kazakhstan to the Uighur Autonomous Region of China for 5 years now. In the near future, it is planned to open international passenger traffic on the route Alma-Ata - Beijing, and in the future it is planned to transport up to 500 thousand passengers a year through Druzhba. Great hopes are pinned on the commissioning of a new railway line Tenzhen - Serakhs - Mashhad between Turkmenistan and Iran. However, it suffices to look at the diagram of the Trans-Asian railway, running from the Yellow to the Black Seas, to make its prospects clear. The connection of the Trans-Asian road with the Eurasian one will facilitate the way from the ports in the Baltic and the North Sea to the ports of the Far East.

Further, from Kazakhstan, cargo can go along the already existing main routes in several directions: 1) Kazakhstan - Russia - Belarus - Poland - Western Europe; 2) Kazakhstan - Russia - Ukraine - Romania - Southern Europe; 3) Kazakhstan - Uzbekistan - Iran - Turkey - Southern Europe.

It is likely that these circumstances prompted largest banks world to invest in the development of the Eurasian and Trans-Asian roads. Among the investors are the World Bank, the Asian and Islamic Development Banks, and the EBRD. According to Peter Kulke, Head of the European Sector of the German Railway Consulting Society, the project to develop the Trans-Asian Corridor and the new Eurasian Continental Bridge is one of the most gigantic transport projects of our century. The European Union has already determined the main directions for the development of the pan-European transport network. Thus, the second pan-European transport conference published plans for the main routes to Asia. The "Silk Road" is supposed to be "connected" through the railway corridor, which leads from Western Europe to Istanbul. Branches from the Silk Road, according to Western experts, will go to the route connecting Moscow with Western Europe, as well as to ferry crossings across the Black Sea and from there to Romania and Bulgaria.

China and the countries of Central and Central Asia receive the greatest gain.

First, China gets access to a wide expanse in the very center of Asia. From here, trade flows of Chinese goods, and industrial ones at that, can flow to the markets of all countries of the continent, including the EU countries, which are its main partners. The markets of other countries will be diligently mastered. From Europe to China will go latest machines, equipment, modern technologies etc.

Secondly, the states of Central Asia, primarily Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, are now potential for the PRC, and in a few years real suppliers of oil, gas and other raw materials, materials, without which the implementation of a promising development program may not take place in the PRC. until 2010

Thirdly, China receives a large economic gain from the transit of goods to Europe from Japan, Korea and other countries of Southeast Asia. The third part of the entire highway (4131 km) passes through the territory of China, which will allow the latter to receive large incomes from the transit of goods. (For reference: the cost of transporting one container from South Korea and Japan to Central Europe is 1550-1750 USD)

Fourthly, the PRC gets an opportunity to improve transport support for the development of the economy and foreign economic relations of its northwestern and northern regions with a population of about 300 million people. The highway passes through territories rich in various natural resources: only in the region of its gravity (a strip 200 km wide) is concentrated 63% of the national coal reserves, 40% of oil, 50% of natural gas, from 30 to 77% of aluminum, copper, gold reserves and other minerals.

Fifthly, the highway passes through 11 provinces of China, and its functioning is considered as an important factor in accelerating the economic development of the country's interior regions, their active integration into world economic relations, and the weakening of regional disproportions in development. national economy. The road should become the axis of economic development of the regions gravitating towards it. The construction along the highway of enterprises for the extraction and processing of natural resources, oil and gas pipelines, as well as modern communication lines is envisaged; development of tourism and international cultural exchanges.

According to economists from the Central Asian states, the creation of the "New Silk Road" has a beneficial effect on economic situation in this district. “The docking of the Eurasian railways,” writes the Kazakh economist U. Kasenov, “is a landmark event, marking the revival of the Great Silk Road, which has connected Europe and Asia since ancient times.” And, as a consequence of this, there is a significant increase in the role and importance of Kazakhstan as a major transit hub of Eurasian significance. With the opening of the transcontinental railway, the most important growth factor begins to gain momentum - the expansion of international trade, tourism is activated, and the chances of an influx of foreign investment. All the states of Central Asia have gained access to the seas and oceans through neighboring countries, and are expanding their trade and economic ties.

Since Kazakhstan is located on the most advantageous section of the transcontinental bridge, it hopes to receive significant foreign exchange earnings for the transit of goods and servicing tourists. China is currently one of the major trade partners of Kazakhstan.

EU countries expect to receive considerable economic and other benefits from the transcontinental bridge. First of all, they gained direct access to the markets of China from its northwestern side. After Japan, the EU countries are second in trade with China, and constantly have a significant positive balance. Secondly, the transcontinental bridge made it possible for the EU countries to develop the commodity and raw material markets of the Central Asian states, create various kinds of strategic groundwork in this region, tie tighter knots on capital, and so on.

Thus, the creation of the Second Eurasian Bridge (if the BAM-Transsib system is considered the First) has already significantly intensified and strengthened trade and economic ties in the region of Central Asia. Meanwhile, specialists of the Ministry of Railways of Russia believe that the Eurasian highway is not capable of becoming the main road between West and East.

In particular, the route, especially the southern branch of the New Silk Road, is already passing from Lianyungang to the northwestern provinces of China, in the zone of ecological disaster, dangerous water and wind erosion, acute shortage of water resources, deforestation and sand encroachment. Moving further to the west, the highway enters a zone of difficult natural conditions and international conflicts.

The Trans-Siberian Railway and the BAM, they argue, have more advantages. This is an electrified double-track (Trans-Siberian, partially - BAM), by which you can come from the Far East to any city in Europe. BAM, which is 500 km shorter than its "big brother", in their opinion, is also promising. However, the "shock therapy" of the reforms forced the railway workers to introduce high tariffs, as a result of which trips along the highway became too expensive even for foreigners. As if now the situation is changing for the better: the Ministry of Railways has found an opportunity to reduce tariffs. But there are other problems as well. Business people are afraid of the lack of infrastructure (in terms of infrastructure) of the Trans-Siberian and BAM and even consider these roads unsafe for life and property. It should be noted that in comparison with the Eurasian highway, these roads are, in fact, shorter, because they are located farther from the equator. On them, the journey from the Far East to London or Madrid takes less time.

And it is not by chance that another “project of the 21st century” appeared: the Madrid-Chicago railway corridor through the BAM, with the continuation of this highway to Yakutsk and the Bering Strait.

findings

The role of BAM in the economic development of the region is comparable to the role of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and the largest transport and communication structures in North America, Europe and Asia. BAM can and should become one of the main routes for connecting Russia to the dynamically developing Asia-Pacific region. The latter circumstance implies competition between the BAM-Transsib system and the Trans-Asian railway from Asia to Europe through the Central Asian republics, which is able to "intercept" the transit flow of goods: China, Pakistan and Iran are currently working on the project of its creation.

There are areas in the BAM corridor that, in terms of the totality of living conditions, are suitable for receiving migration flows from Russia and the CIS countries. They should be considered as part of the system of settlement of vast areas from Lake Baikal to the Pacific coast, where the average population density is one person per 1 sq. km. km of territory. Therefore, the demographic situation on the border with China, which is over 4,000 km long, resembles a membrane separating two containers. On the one hand, where the demographic giant, China, is located, the pressure is mounting; from the regions of Transbaikalia and the Far East, the vacuum increases due to the migration of the population. Creeping "sinification" has already begun: in the regions of Siberia and the Far East, where hundreds of thousands of citizens of the PRC now live. And this process will develop: in the northeastern Chinese provinces bordering Russia, the population of which is more than 100 million people, which is more than 3 times the entire population of the Asian part of Russia.

Consequently, the long-term interests of Russia require the settlement of the BAM zone, and the existing highway will be one of critical factors facilitating the activation of this process. In addition, BAM retains its military-strategic significance as a railroad along the border.

A serious mistake made during the construction of the BAM, today is seen only as an emphasis on the actual laying of the route to the detriment of the development of industrial infrastructure. Driving the crutches became an end in itself and was not sufficiently backed up by the exploitation of the mineral deposits made available by the construction of the railroad. Thus, the construction costs did not pay off, and their economic return was transferred “for later”.

Achieving an acceptable profitability of the BAM by 2005 (at the level of 17%) is possible only if large investments are made in the development of the resource potential of the BAM zone as part of the program for the economic development of the BAM zone, which will lead to an increase in the need for transportation work. Under the most probable scenario, the volume of shipments via the BAM will be about 40 million tons per year. An increase in transit cargo flows before 2005 is unlikely for the BAM, however, after 2005, when the BAM zone program enters the stage of focal development, these flows will increase. However, in any case, the BAM should be completed by 2005 to the full extent. Any other options for increasing the profitability of the BAM, not related to the program for the economic development of the BAM zone, are ineffective.

Adygea, Crimea. Mountains, waterfalls, herbs of alpine meadows, healing mountain air, absolute silence, snowfields in the middle of summer, the murmur of mountain streams and rivers, stunning landscapes, songs around the fires, the spirit of romance and adventure, the wind of freedom are waiting for you! And at the end of the route, the gentle waves of the Black Sea.

The Baikal-Amur Mainline Expansion Project is one of the latest infrastructure initiatives of the Russian government and the management of the Russian Railways, aimed at increasing Russia's transport connectivity with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region and improving conditions for industrial development in the Russian Far East.

40 years

July 8, 2014 marked forty years since the adoption of the resolution "On the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway". During the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of BAM, during a teleconference with the President of Russia, a “silver link” was laid, which marked the beginning of the BAM-2 project.

The legendary construction of communism over these forty years has passed both the stage of Komsomol enthusiasm and constant attention of the press, and the decline of the 1990s. In the post-Soviet period, the construction of the BAM was often mentioned as a sign of the inferiority of the Soviet economy and an example of the inefficiency of large infrastructure projects in general.

According to the original project, the BAM was supposed to transport up to 35 million tons of cargo per year, however, by the time of the collapse of the USSR, the capacity of the road was only 10 million tons. actively used, but moreover - extremely overloaded.

The Baikal-Amur Mainline passes through the territory of the Irkutsk region, Trans-Baikal Territory, Amur Region, Buryatia and Yakutia and Khabarovsk Territory.

Key stations of BAM:

• Taishet
• Taksimo
• Tynda
• Neryungi
• New Urgal
• Komsomolsk-on-Amur
• Vanino
• Sovetskaya Gavan

The total length of the BAM from the city of Taishet to the port of Sovetskaya Gavan is 4300 km.

BAM is connected to the Trans-Siberian Railway by three lines: Bamovskaya–Tynda, Izvestkovaya– Novy Urgal, and Volochaevka–Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

At present, an electrified double-track railway has been built from Taishet to Lena station (704 km). Single-track electrified road - from Lena station to Taksimo station (725 km). The remaining eastern section of the BAM is a single-track railway with diesel traction.

In 2013, 33% more cargo was transported along the BAM than in the best Soviet year of the highway - 1988. According to the estimates of the management of the Russian Railways, if the company had not worked to gradually expand the “bottlenecks” and had not opened the Kuznetsovsky Tunnel in 2012, the line would have long faced large-scale congestion. According to expert estimates, by 2015 the length of sections of the Baikal-Amur Mainline with a capacity deficit will increase by more than 3,000 kilometers. The busiest areas will be the Novaya Chara-Taksimo and Kirenga-Lena Vostochnaya sections.

A separate incentive for the development of the Siberian railways is the “Asian turn” in Russian policy that emerged in 2014, increasing the importance of trade relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and especially with China.

The main mineral deposits located near the BAM

Industrially developed deposits:

• Neryungri and Urgal coal fields
• Korshunovskoye and Rudnogorskoye iron ore<

Well-studied fields where an economic evaluation of the development efficiency was carried out:

• Apsatskoye, Ogodzhinsky and Elga coal mines
• Chineyskoe, Taiga and Garinskoe iron ore
• Udokan copper
• Kuranakhskoye and Katuginskoye polymetallic
• Evgenevskoe apatite
• Kovykta gas
• Talakanskoye, Verkhnechonskoye, Chayandinskoye, Srednebotuobinskoye

Deposits requiring the development of transport infrastructure:

• Yarakta, Dulisminskoe, Ayanskoe and Adnikanskoe oil and gas

Promising deposits:

• Neryundinskoe, Kapaevskoe, Polivskoe iron ore
• Khlodnenskoye and Shamanskoye polymetallic
• Golevskoe-synnyrites
• Ukdusk and Seligdar apatites
• Nepa potash basin

natural conditions

The Baikal-Amur Mainline runs through territories whose natural conditions are extremely diverse and complex. The western section of the BAM route is characterized by mountainous terrain. The eastern section of the route is characterized by the presence of mares - swamps on permafrost.
Almost all areas of the passage of the Baikal-Amur Mainline are characterized by the extreme severity of the climate, which determines the presence of permafrost, the depth of which reaches from one to hundreds of meters.

Average annual air temperatures along the entire route of the BAM are negative and vary from minus 3.2 °С (indicator of Nizhneangarsk) to minus 7.8 °С (indicator of Chara). The absolute minimum air temperature on the track was minus 60 °C, the absolute maximum was plus 40 °C.

The route of the highway runs through zones of high seismicity (up to 9 points on the Richter scale).
BAM crosses eleven full-flowing rivers, including Lena, Amur, Zeya, Vitim, Olekma, Selemdzha and Bureya. In total, the BAM crosses more than 3,500 watercourses. The highway passes through 7 large mountain ranges, including Baikal, Severo-Muysky, Udokansky, Kodarsky, Olekminsky Stanovik, Turansky and Dusse-Alinsky.

Numerous active physical and geological processes are noted along the entire length of the highway. In the mountainous regions of the passage of the highway, mainly from Kirenga to Tynda and from Urgal to Berezovka, mudflows are a frequent natural disaster. The sections of the highway passing through the Baikalsky and Severo-Muysky ridges are most exposed to the risk of snow avalanches. In total, 294 avalanche complexes were identified in the BAM area.

Despite taking into account the avalanche risk when laying the BAM route, avalanches periodically converge on the way

So, in 2011, an avalanche derailed a train en route from Severobaikalsk to Kirenga. To protect against the risks of landslides and rockfalls, which are quite high on all mountainous sections of the route, the construction of galleries was often used during the construction of the BAM. The geological risks of the highway significantly complicate both new construction and current operation.

BAM-2 project

According to expert estimates, the volume of export of minerals from the deposits of the east of Russia will double by 2020 and reach 113.2 million tons per year.

Increasing the production of raw materials, building new industrial facilities along the BAM route, as well as increasing the capacity of the ports of Vanino and Sovetskaya Gavan Gavan - the main gateway for Russian exports to the Asia-Pacific countries - will lead to the emergence of "bottlenecks" almost along the entire length of the BAM. The largest capacity deficit is expected in the Vysokogornaya–Vanino section.

The project for the expansion of the Baikal-Amur Mainline provides for the construction of a second branch of the main line along most of the route, the electrification of individual sections and the replacement of rolling stock. The need for transportation along the BAM by 2025 will be about 100 million tons of cargo.
According to Evgeny Solntsev, head of the Irkutsk group of the directorate for the reconstruction and construction of railway transport facilities of JSC Russian Railways: “... the volume of upcoming design and construction work is huge and comparable to the volume of construction of the BAM in Soviet times, and the construction time is much shorter. Already by 2017, it is necessary to double the capacity of BAM - from 16 to 32 pairs of trains per day, for which it is necessary to reconstruct more than 500 kilometers of second tracks, 90 stations, 85 bridges and build a new Baikal tunnel.

According to the statement made by the head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin in his blog, after the reconstruction of the BAM is completed, most of the cargo will be redirected to the highway - the transit of coal and minerals will increase at least twice, which will allow Russia to further increase international trade, in particular with China.

Project financing

Expert estimates of the total amount of funding required vary, but the approximate amount of investment required for the development of the BAM along its entire length for the period up to 2020 is about 400 billion rubles.

According to the passport of the investment project "Modernization of the railway infrastructure of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian Railways with the development of throughput and carrying capacity", which is currently awaiting approval by the Government of the Russian Federation, the total investment in the project is envisaged in the amount of 562.4 billion rubles, of which 300 billion rubles it will be necessary to provide Russian Railways, 150 billion rubles. - funds from the National Wealth Fund (NWF), 110 billion rubles - subsidies from the budget. In 2014, it is planned to perform work for 61.4 billion rubles, the total volume of contracts concluded in 2014 is estimated by Russian Railways at 90 billion rubles. 50 billion rubles will be attracted from the National Welfare Fund, the rest will be the money of the monopoly.

Mining of the second Baikal tunnel is expected to start this year.

Currently, near the western portal of the operating tunnel, located on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia, a shift camp for 300 workers is being built from scratch.

“The new tunnel, which is planned to be commissioned in 2017, will significantly increase the throughput of this “bottleneck” of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, and the speed will increase,” said Viktor Khlyupin, head of the North Baikal Tunnel Distance of the East Siberian Infrastructure Directorate, in an interview with the Gudok newspaper. .

Now preparations are underway to start construction of the second corridor inside the Baikal Range. The new corridor of the Baikal tunnel will be laid parallel to the existing one. In 2014, more than 2.1 billion rubles will be allocated for the construction of the tunnel.

Perspectives and engineering protection

The scale of the Baikal-Amur Mainline expansion project is comparable to the volume of construction of the mainline during the Soviet era. At the same time, builders will be forced to work under much tighter deadlines. To ensure the growth of exports from new fields and industrial enterprises, by 2017 it is necessary to double the throughput capacity of the highway.

The complexity of the terrain on the BAM route, high seismicity and avalanche risks make it necessary to introduce new and unique solutions in the field of engineering protection of transport routes

In this direction, as well as in general issues of the development of the project, the builders will be greatly assisted by the experience gained during the implementation of the Sochi project. Russian construction organizations have gained experience in construction in a short time, in difficult mountainous conditions and with high landslide, mudflow and avalanche risks. At one time, the Sochi Olympiad for the red word was called the "Second BAM". Now Russia has the opportunity to implement a real BAM-2 and balance its transport structures between West and East.