Interesting facts about the Russian railway. ​50 interesting facts about railways

For all of humanity, trains have already become more than a common form of transport. However, the world of carriages and railway tracks is anything but simple. In this article we will tell you about some interesting facts related to this vehicle: from historical to funny.

• The railway connects cities, countries, and sometimes entire parts of the world! Such a road is the Trans-Siberian Railway. Its length is about 9300 km.
• In the collection of Faberge eggs there is also an example depicting the Trans-Siberian Railway. The egg contains a clockwork model of an imperial train made of gold and platinum.

• Just like in Bologoye, where, according to legend, the St. Petersburg curb turns into the Moscow curb, the Trans-Siberian Railway has its own middle - this is the “Polovina” station. Historically Trans-Siberian Railway went from Vladivostok to Miass, and “Half” divided this route in half.
• The first railway line was the road between Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the year of the death of Nicholas I, during which construction began, it was named Nikolaevskaya. For the first three days, travel on the Nikolaev railway was free, since no one wanted to ride on an unfamiliar “scary thing”.
• The first train in our country with a refrigeration unit was designed and created specifically for transportation to to the royal table fresh oysters from Sevastopol.
• In France, for a hundred years now, there has been a law prohibiting kissing at train stations. The reason for this rule was frequent train delays due to touching farewells from passengers and mourners.

In Russia, so far they are limiting themselves to simple warnings - at one of the airports you can see a poster with the words: “We ask passengers to start kissing right now so that the plane takes off on time.”

• Do you know the similarities between a violinist and a lineman? They both need absolute pitch. A railway worker needs it in order to determine the presence of faults in the wheels. But many thought that any person could handle this work - go and knock to your heart’s content.
• In our relatively flat country there is no problem with the construction of high mountain roads. But in Peru the routes pass high in the mountains - at an altitude of 3 km from sea level. Passengers on this section are offered oxygen bags.

• All branded trains in Russia have their name written on the side of the carriage. But some trains also have names given to them by passengers. This, for example, is the Rostov-Odessa train. He was nicknamed “Papa-Mom”.
• The Australian railway, running across the desert plain, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records. There is not a single turn on its 500 km section.
• A monument to a dog who waited for nine years for the return of his owner, who had left on a train, stands at Shibuya Station in Japan. This story has become the most famous illustration of canine devotion and loyalty.
• On the first section of the road built between Liverpool and Manchester, the British decided to hold a competition between five steam locomotives. However, immediately before the race, the fifth participant was removed from the competition with the wording “due to an outdated engine.” Real horses were hidden under the shell of the locomotive.
• The driver of the Ahvaz-Tehran train was severely punished for driving during namaz (prayer). The fact is that during the ritual, a Muslim must be turned strictly towards Mecca, and with each turn of the train, passengers had to spin in place.
• Security experts advise purchasing tickets for seating in the center and avoid the first and last cars, in case of an accident. In general, the safety of a train is estimated to be 45 times higher than that of a car.
• They say that one day there was a collision completely different types transport - trains and ships. Lake Ohio in the USA overflowed its banks and flooded the railway tracks with a meter-long layer of water. The driver decided to continue along the flooded path, but collided with the steamer. Obviously, neither life nor training prepared these drivers for such a turn.

People have always been fascinated by trains. And for some they gave a reason for creativity. The Lumière brothers chose a steam locomotive as the subject of their first film. As we remember, the film was called “The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station” and horrified viewers with its realism.

For example, the Qinghai-Tibet Single Track Railway, the highest mountain road on the planet, annually attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world to admire the magical Tibetan landscapes of the “roof of the world” at an altitude of more than 5,000 km above sea level.

There is no such romance at sea or air company cannot offer you. Of course, such extreme conditions require special trains. The cars are completely sealed, equipped with personal oxygen masks and an oxygen supply system if necessary, and at intermediate and observation stations, passenger cars naturally do not open, since there is nothing to breathe outside of them. The Chinese themselves feel extraordinary pride in their engineering structure and put it on a par with the Great Wall of China.

No less amazing is the Thai railway, which passes through a real market! 60 km west of Bangkok in the town of Maeklong there is a food market located right on railway tracks, several times a day, quickly rolls up his food trays, rolls up the awnings and runs up right in front of the trains.

But the most amazing thing is that even during this time, trade does not stop! From the open windows of the train, money-coins fly towards the merchants, and fish, sweets, fruits and other purchases fly back through the windows. The main thing here is to be able to catch! :-) Although, I believe that the dexterity for this matter appears in passengers after rubbing their eyes from broken tomatoes and the phrase “I didn’t catch it again!” :-) After the trains pass, the boxes with the remaining vegetables, fish and other goods are again are returning to the rails and trade is becoming more civilized :-)

The Napier to Gisborne rail route is unique in that it crosses the main runway of Gisborne Airport in New Zealand. This is the only railway in the world where the air traffic control service allows or prohibits trains from crossing the runway to continue their route.

Sometimes planes and trains are separated from each other by literally a matter of seconds! This strange “decoupling” is perhaps the first offer to tourists from New Zealand guides! Agree, a steam locomotive and a plane rushing towards each other is an ordinary sight for Hollywood or Indian films, but not for everyday life!

If you have already found your soulmate or are still just looking, then the railway strongly recommends visiting the beautiful “Tunnel of Love”, located near the village of Klevan in Ukraine. This scenic three-kilometer stretch of railway leads to a fiberboard factory. The train runs here three times a day, supplying wood to the Orzhevsky woodworking plant. It is the train that forces the growing tree branches to bend around the tracks and maintains the tunnel in this condition.

The green corridor, beautiful in sunny summer, attracts couples in love, and in autumn and winter, photographers who want to capture this beautiful miracle of nature. It is believed that if you visit the “Tunnel of Love” you wish cherished wish, then it will definitely come true.

The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest railway in the world, today it has 9,300 km of track and represents an entire network of railways between Moscow and the Russian Far East. In addition, the road has branches to all neighboring border countries. Construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in full force began back in 1891, under the personal control of Sergei Witte, who, being then Minister of Finance, clearly understood that Russia simply had to be a strategic partner between the West and the East. In order for the construction of the road and the accompanying infrastructure to keep pace with each other, the Russian leadership began construction from the east and west simultaneously, moving deeper into the country. To understand the full scale of the project, it is enough to say that only in 2002 was its complete electrification completed!

Having reconstructed some sections of the road in the early 2000s, Russia organized the first permanent corridor of large-scale freight traffic between China, Mongolia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, which significantly increased trade turnover and contributed to the further development of the Far East as a strategic region.

The original name of the road was the Great Siberian Way. And it is great not because the construction of the road took almost a century, but because the Russian government then deliberately refused Western “help”, not wanting to allow the influence of foreign capitalists to increase in the Far East. We built only with our own strength! And they did! Built!

No wonder they say that traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway means seeing half the world. Is it a joke? The famous Photographer Todd Selby, who traveled a long way from Paris to Shanghai by rail, claims that this is the real truth: “It’s fantastic to wake up every time, look up from the map and try to understand where you are... It’s already the seventh day of the journey, and we still in Siberia! Siberia is very big. And Baikal is very big. But this is just part of great Russia!”

If all the previous facts about railways did not arouse any emotions in you, then do not despair. There is still one railway in the world, which people never tire of admiring to this day! Well, even if you are an avid critic and the word “admire” is not for you, then don’t worry, you will also find a huge “portion” for discussion and condemnation here for yourself. What kind of railway is this? It's BAM!

I would not like to argue with those who claim that BAM is a “dead end” of the Soviet era, that it was built by prisoners, that this entire territory of BAM is a huge zone or camp... Whatever one may say, there is still talk about this brilliant engineering project a huge number of tales and legends... But, nevertheless, for thousands of thousands of BAM residents, this construction site remained the happiest and brightest memory. And they speak of it as a bright, romantic, heroic and the best time in their lives. And so it was.

The best youth from all over Soviet Union came, worked, settled in. Families were created here, real labor feats were accomplished, discoveries were made. BAM was built by the whole country.

« Through passes, rivers and swamps
We will lay the highway for centuries. We are not afraid of any work,
We came here at the call of our hearts!”

BAM was designed as part of a systemic project to develop significant natural resources little-explored areas through which, in fact, the road ran.

It was planned to build about ten giant territorial-industrial complexes along the BAM route, but Gorbachev’s very “promising” perestroika allowed the completion of only oneSouth Yakutsk coal complex. Then, no less “promising” privatization, with great hopes, transferred a number of resource deposits into private hands, but instead of loading the capacity of the BAM and massive development of mineral deposits in the highway area, “at the exit” only oligarchs with yachts turned out. By the early 2000sAlmost all projects for the development of the Baikal-Amur Mainline zone have been suspendedunder “ideological” pretexts of inexpediency, and the decision of the Soviet leadership to build the BAM was carefully labeled as erroneous and futile. How truly “oligarchic” it is to hide behind the sudden “futility” of a project that for half a century was considered simply vital for Siberia and Far East according to all experts.

The only thing that warms the soul is that today’s leadership of the country is seriously aimed at reviving the BAM and the region as a whole. And these are not just words. RecentlyThe Elga deposit is operating successfully, where the first coal was mined in the summer of 2011. An access railway line is being built to connect it to the highway. The first super-heavy freight trains started running along the BAM in May of this year, allowing them to transport 7,100 tons instead of the previous one. weight norm 4800 tons, which should increase the profitability of transportation several times. This became possible after the commissioning of new powerful two-section locomotives of the 2ES5K Ermak series and 2TE25A Vityaz diesel locomotives. The trains successfully overcome the most difficult section of the route - Kuznetsovsky Pass.

The railway tracks themselves at the pass were reconstructed and strengthened, and the New Kuznetsovsky Tunnel was put into operation.Let me note for critics: “The trains have started, but they will not go. The pass has been reconstructed, but will not be there someday. "Ermaki" and "Vityazi" have been put into operation and are not at the design stage."

I am sure that BAM has a bright future because a road built with love cannot but live forever!

The opening of the Moscow – St. Petersburg railway connection was a real event. But ordinary people were in no hurry to take advantage of the innovation. The terrible rumbling thing caused genuine fear. To promote rail transportation to the masses, it was decided to make travel free. And this measure had an effect. Very soon they stopped being afraid of trains.

It’s just a pity that free travel from Moscow to St. Petersburg is a thing of the past. The history of the action was short-lived. It was possible to travel there and back for free only in the first three days after the opening of the corresponding railway line.

The magic of numbers

The first trains in Russia and Europe were available to approximately 9% of the population of those cities between which railway connection. Today (on average, of course) every Russian travels by rail approximately 9 times a year. A total quantity guests have long exceeded 1.3 billion people per year.

Remarkable Transsib

Among domestic railways, the most remarkable was and remains the Trans-Siberian Railway. She has many statuses. For example, this railway is known as the longest in the world. The Trans-Siberian Railway is 9438 kilometers, more than 8 days on the road. Along the route, the train stops at 97 major stations and passes through many small ones.

And there is also half the way on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The station, located exactly in the middle of the railway between Moscow and Vladivostok, is called that. The distance from “Half” to both cities is the same. Transsib is also considered the coldest railway. Part of it passes through climatic zone, where -62˚С is the usual temperature. A remarkable fact: the coldest point of the route does not coincide with the northernmost one.

Evolution of speed

The world's first passenger train ran along the rails at a speed that barely reached 33 km/h. A little later it was possible to accelerate to 38 and even 42 kilometers per hour. Modern high speed trains They drive along the railway at a speed of 320–430 km/h. And experimental innovative compounds can accelerate to 603 km/h. And this, as scientists and engineers say, is far from the limit.

Freight trains also set records

The first freight railway in Russia was only 2 kilometers long. This miracle of science and technology of its time was powered by - what do you think? Horse drawn!

The longest freight trains in the history of the railway traveled to different parts of the world. One transported coal (no more or less - 42,000 tons per trip) to the Uraliz of Ekibastuz back in the Soviet era. The train consisted of 440 cars. Their total length exceeded 6.5 kilometers.

The record was broken in South Africa. Here a train of 660 cars entered the route. Their total length was 7.3 km. But the experiment, unlike the Soviet one, had no practical meaning. The track could not withstand the load, and the railway had to be closed for a long time for repairs.

Safety first

Are you afraid to travel by train? Perhaps the following fact will help you change your attitude towards this transport. Traveling by rail is 45 times safer than traveling by road. The risk of getting into an accident on a train is significantly lower than in a car.

Do you want maximum security guarantees? Choose carrier TKS. Their location in the composition and modern technical equipment provide safety and comfort during the trip.

Such a familiar thing to us - the railway! One of the most reliable and affordable and loved by many modes of transport. I bought a train ticket and came to the station. Nowadays no one remembers that when the railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow opened, travel was made free for the first three days precisely because everyone was afraid of this “terrible thing.”

On average, each of us becomes a railway passenger 9 times a year. The average number of passengers of JSC Russian Railways per year is 1 billion 300 million.

The most remarkable railway is the Trans-Siberian Railway. It is the longest in the world. From Moscow to Nakhodka - 9438 km and 97 large stations. Walks this route branded train"Russia", which is on the road for 8 days 4 hours and 25 minutes.

The very middle of the Trans-Siberian Railway is called: Polovina station. It is the same distance from Moscow and Vladivostok.

The coldest section of the Trans-Siberian Railway is located between the Mogocha and Skovorodino stations. The temperature here reaches -62 degrees. Although geographically this is not the northernmost point of the highway.

And the highest point, where the Trans-Siberian rails are laid, lies at an altitude of 1040 m, between the Turgutui and Yablonovaya stations. This is 6110 km, Yablonovy Pass.

The longest freight train was 6.5 km long, consisted of 440 cars and regularly transported 42,000 tons of coal from Ekibastuz to the Urals back in Soviet times. On the other side of the world, in South Africa, another record was recorded in 1989: a 7.3 km long train consisting of 660 cars. True, the experiment was not repeated. The track couldn't stand it.

The first railway in Russia was a freight railway, 2 km long. It was built in the Urals, at the Kolyvanovsky plant, and it was horse-drawn. The first passenger road was the well-known Tsarskoye Selo.

Speed ​​of the first passenger trains in the 19th century it was 33 km/h. And railway workers at that time were a kind of elite: they were treated like, for example, aviators at the beginning of the 20th century, or astronauts in the 60s. Modern trains can reach speeds of up to 580 km/h.

The requirements for hiring track linemen during this time have not changed: they must have a good ear for music, since they can determine the malfunction of a wheel by the change in tone when it is tapped.

According to statistics, the railway is 45 times safer than a car. For those who are still worried, experts advise choosing cars in the middle of the train, and seated carriages— buy a train ticket for seats against the traffic.

Thrill-seekers are invited to Argentina. The legendary Patagonia Express train, specially restored for tourists, runs there. In addition to the vivid impressions of the local landscapes, you can unexpectedly find yourself taking part in an action called “Train Robbery” :)

IN South America a lot of surprises. For example, German engineers who examined the Isthmus of Panama for the construction of the Trans-American Railway said that it was unprofitable to make rails from local iron. Gold is a more affordable metal here...

In which country did a cat work as a stationmaster and attract many new clients?

In 2006, a Japanese railway company in Wakayama Prefecture hired part-time station attendants to help optimize costs. One of the new employees took care of several stray cats, and soon they decided to officially appoint one of them, named Tama, as a station guard. Her main responsibility was to greet passengers wearing a signature cap, and the news about this significantly increased their flow. It was estimated that Tama's appointment brought over a billion yen into the local economy. For these achievements, Tama was promoted to executive director and worked at the company until her death in 2015.

Which country produced an armored car that could move on both tracks and rails?

Planning expansion into China and Siberia, the Japanese developed a special armored vehicle, the Type 2595 So-Ki, in the 1930s. Its distinctive advantage was the ability to move both on caterpillar tracks and on railways. Transferring the vehicle from tracks to wheels took three minutes, and back - only a minute. The armament consisted of one machine gun in a conical turret. The So-Ki, capable of rail speeds of up to 72 km/h, was widely used in China for transportation and patrol purposes.

Why does the train go backwards before moving forward?

If the driver of a heavy freight train tries to start moving sharply forward, the train may not move, since the total force of static friction acting from the rails on the wheels of the cars will exceed the sliding force of the driving wheels of the locomotive. Often the driver must first back up to release the tension on the couplers. And only then drive forward, setting the carriages in motion one after another.

What country has a market with a railroad running right through the middle?

There is a railway track right in the middle of Maeklong Market in Thailand, along which a train travels every day. Warned by a siren, sellers know how to very quickly roll up their awnings and remove the goods, and then just as quickly return everything back, and trade continues. Many vegetables and fruits remain lying on the ground right next to the rails, since the train does not touch them. When the road was built in 1905, they wanted to move the market to the side, but its workers chose to stay and adapt.

Where and when did a baboon work as a railway signalman without making a single mistake?

At the end of the 19th century, James Wide worked as a signalman on the railway tracks of the port of Cape Town, who lost both legs in an accident. After some time, he bought Jack the baboon from the market, whom he trained to carry him on a cart between the hut and the signal box, and also help him switch signals using levers. One day, the railway management received a complaint, and Whyd was almost fired, but he asked to test the abilities of the baboon, who did an excellent job with all the tests and was added to the staff. Jack worked as a signalman until his death and is said to have never made a single mistake.

Where does a train run that you can hitchhike on at any point along its route?

The Hurricane Turn train runs between Talkeetna and Hurricane Gulch in Alaska. The route is just under 93 km long, and there are no intermediate stations along this distance. But at any point on the route, those wishing to board the train can stop it by waving a white cloth.

Which toy part was used in the first electrocardiograph?

The first version of the electrocardiograph design was developed in 1887 by a London hospital employee, Augustus Waller, and included a platform from a toy railway. There was a movable photographic plate on it, on which the cardiogram was recorded. However, due to the low sensitivity of the electrometer used, Waller's apparatus was not yet suitable for full diagnostics.

What intellectual abilities have been identified in slime molds?

Slime molds are organisms of the protozoan kingdom. At various stages of development, they either take the form of mucus from a single multinucleated cell, or take on a more solid form, similar to the fruiting body of mushrooms, but in any case do not have even a hint of a nervous system. However, several studies have revealed the "intelligent" abilities of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum. For example, they can take the shortest route through a maze, at the entrance and exit of which pieces of food are placed. In another study, scientists arranged oat flakes to match the size and position of the Japanese capital Tokyo and its 36 suburbs, and the slime mold built a structure similar to the existing railway network.

What did chauffeurs originally do?

The word “driver” originally meant people who did not drive a vehicle, but threw coal or firewood into the firebox engine room. Literally translated from French, where it came to us, chauffeur means “stoker, stoker.” Since the engine of the first cars was a steam engine, the drivers had to heat it, therefore, by analogy with the stokers of steam locomotives, they also began to be called drivers.

Where is the railway laid where oxygen is supplied to the train cars?

The Qinghai-Tibet Railway in China is the highest in the world, rising in the most high point to an altitude of more than 5 kilometers. For this road, trains with special cars in which oxygen is supplied have been developed. In addition, each passenger can wear an individual oxygen mask.

Where do trains run with cars that tilt when turning?

In 1973, Japan's railways pioneered the use of trains with cars that tilted when turning, allowing them to navigate turns at higher speeds. The original technology was imperfect and caused seasickness among passengers, so it was not widely adopted. Modern systems based on digital signal processing and allowing active control of the tilt of each car have eliminated this problem, and such trains are now used in a dozen countries from Australia to Norway.

When and where did a tram run on rails laid at the bottom of the sea?

In 1896 between English cities Brighton and Rottingdean start to run unusual vehicle called Daddy Long Legs - a cross between a tram and a ferry. Laying a railway overland on this route required a lot of engineering structures, and engineer Magnus Volk proposed laying the rails directly along the bottom of the sea - the total length of the track was 4.5 km. The platform with passengers rose above the rails on four supports 7 meters long and had a flag, lifeboat and other marine attributes, since it was formally considered a ship. The service was canceled in 1901 when new breakwaters were decided to be built near Brighton and relocation of the route was considered too costly.

When and where did an out-of-control train travel over 100 km, accelerating to a speed of 76 km/h?

On May 15, 2001, in Ohio, USA, a railroad crew was moving a 47-car train from one track to another. Due to a technical error, an uncontrolled train called CSX 8888 picked up speed and set off for independent travel, during which it accelerated to a speed of 76 km/h. Having traveled more than 100 km, the train was stopped by the driver of a diesel locomotive that had caught up with it, who coupled up with the last car and applied rheostatic braking.

What mechanism received its name from the name of the inventor of the prototype bicycle?

The prototype of the bicycle was designed and patented by the German baron Karl von Dres in 1818. This mechanism had a wooden frame, metal wheels and a steering wheel, but there were no pedals - in order for it to move, you had to push off the ground with your feet. The name of the inventor was not fixed in the name of the bicycle, but it gave the name to the trolley - a device for moving on rails with mechanical traction.

How did the anti-alcohol campaign influence the lyrics of the Time Machine songs?

During Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign, many works of art were censored. For example, Andrei Makarevich changed the lyrics in the song “Conversation on the Train”: after the line “Wagon disputes are the last thing,” instead of “when there is nothing left to drink,” he began to sing “and you can’t cook porridge from them.”

What was the main reason for the change to the time zone system in the 19th century?

Until the 19th century, there was no division into time zones; time was determined everywhere by the Sun. There was no need for time zones since there was no rapid transit. Unification was driven by the development of railways in England, because time differences in each city made it very difficult to create a normal timetable. It was the railway companies that ensured that the entire country had one time zone, Greenwich Mean Time. And then gradually the time zone system began to spread throughout the world.

Who became the victim of a murderer whose brother had previously saved the life of the murdered man's son?

US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in a theater by John Booth in 1865. Shortly before this, by coincidence, the latter’s brother, Edwin Booth, saved the life of the president’s son, Robert Lincoln, on a railway platform.

Where did the train accident happen that was caused by a language barrier?

In 2001, a train accident occurred in Belgium in which 8 people, including both drivers, were killed as a result of a head-on collision between trains. Among other accidents, this one is unique in that it main reason there was a language barrier. When the driver of the first train left the station despite the red light, the dispatcher called the next station to warn him about it. However, the dispatchers did not understand each other, as one spoke French and the other Dutch. Both of these languages ​​are official in Belgium, and according to the rules of the railway company, staff must know at least one of them.

What accident did the Americans stage in 1896 to entertain the public?

In 1896, one of the American railway companies staged a show - a deliberate collision of two trains at full speed. 40,000 tickets were sold for the “performance”, and a temporary town was built for the spectators who bought tickets. However, engineers miscalculated the force of the explosion and the crowd was not moved to a safe enough distance, resulting in three deaths and several others being injured.

What were military armored tires?

It is known that in the wars of the 19th century, as well as the First and Second World Wars, many countries used armored trains. However, in addition to this, they tried to fight with the help of individual combat units - armored tires. They were almost like tanks, but limited in movement only by rails.

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