The Baikal–Amur Mainline (, , , ) is a broad-gauge railway line in Russia. Traversing Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the -long BAM runs about north of and parallel to the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The Soviet Union built the BAM as a strategic alternative route to the Trans–Siberian Railway, seen as vulnerable especially along the sections close to the border with China. The BAM cost $14 billion, and it was built with special, durable tracks since much of it ran over permafrost. Due to the severe terrain, weather, length and cost, Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev described BAM in 1974 as "the construction project of the century".

If the permafrost layer that supports the BAM railway line were to melt, the railway would collapse and sink into peat bog layers that cannot bear its weight. In 2016 and 2018 there were reports about climate change and damage to buildings and infrastructure as a result of thawing permafrost.

Route

thumb|<div style="text-align:left">Map of major railways in Russia, with [[Trans-Siberian Railway shown in red, the Baikal-Amur Mainline in green and the Amur–Yakutsk Mainline (including "Little BAM") shown in orange</div>|300px|left]]

The BAM departs from the Trans-Siberian railway at Tayshet, then crosses the Angara River at Bratsk and the Lena River at Ust-Kut, proceeds past Severobaikalsk at the northern tip of Lake Baikal, past Tynda and Khani, crosses the Amur River at Komsomolsk-on-Amur and finally reaches the Pacific Ocean at Sovetskaya Gavan. There are 21 tunnels along the line, with a total length of . There are also more than 4,200 bridges, with a total length of over .

Of the whole route, only the western Tayshet-Taksimo sector of is electrified. The route is largely single-track, although the reservation is wide enough for double-tracking for its full length, in the case of eventual duplication. The unusual thing about the railway is that it is electrified with a 27.5 kV, 50&nbsp;Hz catenary minimum height at above top of the rails to suit double-stacking under the overhead wires on the Russian gauge tracks, which requires electric locomotives to be modified for service on the railway.

At Tynda the route is crossed by the Amur–Yakutsk Mainline, which runs north to Neryungri and Tommot, with an extension to Nizhny Bestyakh opened in 2019. The original section of the AYaM connecting the Trans-Siberian at Bamovskaya with the BAM at Tynda is also referred to as the "Little BAM".

During the winter the passenger trains go from Moscow past Tayshet and Tynda to Neryungri and Tommot and there are also a daily trains from Tynda to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific Ocean via Vanino ("Vladivostok-Sovetskaya Gavan" train No.351Э). Travel time from Tayshet to Tynda is 48 hours. Travel time from Tynda to Komsomolsk-on-Amur is 36 hours.

  • Baikalsky tunnel
  • Severomuysky Tunnel
  • Kodar Tunnell
  • Dusse Alin Tunnel
  • Korshunovsky tunnel

These are among the longest tunnels in Russia.

In addition, the route crosses 11 full-flowing rivers (including the Lena, Amur, Zeya, Vitim, Olyokma, Selemdzha and Bureya).

1945 saw the finalisation of plans for upgrading the BAM for diesel or electric instead of steam traction, and for the heavier axle-loads of eight-axle oil tankers to carry new-found oil from Western Siberia. The upgrading required 25 years and 3,000 surveyors and designers, although much of the redesign work (particularly as regards the central section) took place between 1967 and 1974.

The BAM was again declared complete in 1991. By then, the total cost to build the line was US$14 billion (RU₽106 trillion).

Crisis

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the BAM project attracted increasing criticism for having been poorly planned. Infrastructure and basic services like running water were often not in place when workers arrived. At least 60 boomtowns developed along the route, but today many of these places are deserted ghost towns and unemployment in the area is high. The building of the BAM has also been criticised for its complete lack of environmental protection.

When the Soviet Union was dissolved, numerous mining and industrial projects in the region were cancelled and the BAM was greatly underutilized until the late 1990s, running at a large operational deficit.

In 1996, the BAM as a single operational body was dissolved, with the western section from Tayshet to Khani becoming the East Siberian Railway and the rest transferred to the management of the Far Eastern Railway.

During the Russo-Ukrainian War, on November 30, 2023, an explosion occurred in the Severomuysky Tunnel. A second explosion happened soon thereafter on the bypass used as backup for the tunnel. The Security Service of Ukraine claimed responsibility for the explosions.

Current situation and future prospects

A major improvement was the opening of the Severomuysky Tunnel on 5 December 2003. It is up to 1.5&nbsp;kilometres (nearly 1 mile) deep. Construction took 27 years to complete. Prior to this, the corresponding route segment was long, with heavy slopes necessitating the use of auxiliary bank engine locomotives.

With the resources boom of recent years and improving economic conditions in Russia, use of the line is increasing. Plans exist for the development of mining areas such as Udokanskoye and Chineyskoye near Novaya Chara, as well as one of Eurasia's largest coal deposits at Elginskoye (Elga) in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia). In connection with this, a number of branch lines have been built or are under construction.

In January 2012 the Russian mining company Mechel completed the construction of the 320-kilometre-long branch line to Elginskoye, branching from the BAM station Ulak, west of the Zeya River crossing in northwestern Amur Oblast. The branch line connects the Elginskoye coal mine to the Russian railroad network.

Currently under discussion is the construction of a bridge or tunnel under the Strait of Tartary to Sakhalin Island, with the possibility of the further construction of a bridge or tunnel from Sakhalin to Japan. A tunnel from the mainland to Sakhalin was previously begun under Joseph Stalin, but was abandoned after his death. A second attempt in 2003 was also postponed during construction. Current economic conditions make the short-term completion of the tunnel doubtful, although Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced in November 2008 his support for a revival of this project.

The BAM now also attracts the interest of Western railway enthusiasts, with some tourist activity on the line. It was opened in December 2012. The old tunnel had difficult gradients; building the new tunnel relieved a bottleneck on the BAM. The 59.8 bn roubles (about $1.93 bn) project included of new track. In 2010, Yakunin had said, the stretch between Komsomolsk and Sovetskaya Gavan was the weakest link on the BAM, which, he said, could be carrying 100 million tons of freight a year in 2050.

Branches

  • 575: Khrebtovaya to Ust-Ilimsk, : opened in 1970, it runs northeast to serve the Ust-Ilimsk Dam.
  • 1,257: Novy Uoyan: possible start of line south on east side to Lake Baikal.
  • 2,364: Tynda to the Trans-Siberian at Bamovskaya, (the 'Little BAM'): this branch was built by prisoners in 1933–37, torn up in 1942 and its rails shipped to the front and rebuilt in 1972–75.
  • 2,364: Tynda to Yakutsk: see Amur–Yakutsk Mainline.
  • 3,315: Novy Urgal to the Trans-Siberian at Izvestovskaya, : in the Bureya River basin, it was built mostly by Japanese POWs. There is a branch north from Novy Urgal to the Chegdomyn coal fields.
  • 3,837: Komsomolsk south to Khabarovsk, ; on east side (flood plain) of the Amur. south: Lake Bolon.
  • 51 (line km restart at Komsomolsk): Selikhin to Cherny Mys, : north along the Amur. Built 1950–53, it was planned to extend this to a tunnel to Sakhalin Island. There is talk of restarting it.

The BAM road

Running approximately alongside the railway track is the BAM road, a railway service track. It is said to be in a very poor state, with collapsed bridges, dangerous river crossings, severe potholes and "unrelenting energy-sapping bogs". The narrow, dilapidated Vitim River Bridge (aka Kuandinsky Bridge<!--coordinate 56.22333613711658, 115.73561901760866-->) that crosses the Vitim river has attracted attention since its first appearance on social media in 2009. The passage of the bridge is forbidden since 2016 but remains a common road for individuals to reach the town of Koanda<!--coordinates 56.32571999966607, 116.0804303340659-->.

The road is passable only by the most extreme off-road vehicles and adventure motorcycles. In 2009, a group of three experienced motorcycle riders took a whole month to travel from Komsomolsk (in the east) to Lake Baikal.

Honors

Main belt asteroid 2031 BAM, discovered in 1969 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh, is named in honor of the builders of the BAM.

<gallery>

File:Tynda rail.jpg|Railway station at Tynda

File:Vikhorevka.jpg|Railway station at Vikhorevka

File:Fevralsk_train_station,_Amur_region,_Russia.jpg|Railway station at Fevralsk

File:Tayshet_old.jpg|Old station building at Tayshet

File:Railway troops on the construction of BAM-2. July 2022.png|Railway troops on the construction of BAM-2. July 2022

</gallery>

References

  • Construction history of the BAM
  • Private homepage about the BAM (section in English)
  • BAM: Soviet construction project of a century
  • BAM Guide on Trailblazer Publications website
  • NYTimes 2012 travel feature
  • The Baikal Amur Mainline is a popular adventure motorcycle travel route