Gold buckle bam. Mystical legends of bam Development of port facilities

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GORKI, 24 September. /TASS/. The Presidium of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Strategic Development and National Projects approved a comprehensive plan for the modernization and expansion of the main infrastructure of the Russian Federation until 2024 with minimal clarifications, the minister told reporters economic development Maxim Oreshkin.

"Today, at the presidium, we have already considered a specific list of objects. In general, it [the development plan] was approved, minor improvements are to come," the minister said.

According to him, a new mechanism for managing the development of infrastructure in Russia is being formed, which will unite the projects of ministries, companies with state participation and private investors. "All this will be combined in a single object - an infrastructure map. The interconnection of these objects will be taken into account, these plans at the federal level will be linked to plans at the regional level," Oreshkin explained.

For each project, an assessment of the socio-economic effect and an assessment of the increase in added value in the economy will be carried out. A separate monitoring center for the implementation of complex projects will also be created.

According to the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Dietrich, the financing of the comprehensive plan for the development of the main infrastructure is estimated at 6.3 trillion rubles (in the original version - 6.8 trillion rubles).

"1.57 trillion rubles are the measures envisaged earlier in the program. 1.45 trillion rubles are additional funds allocated for the implementation of this plan. And about 3 trillion rubles are private investments that will be directed to the implementation of projects," Dietrich said.

Development of port facilities

Dietrich also said that the plan involves expanding port facilities by a third, to 1.37 billion tons of cargo per year.

"Over the next six years, based on the draft comprehensive plan considered today, our port capacities should be significantly expanded. Up to 1.37 billion tons, increased by more than a third," he said.

About document

Earlier, the Ministry of Economic Development prepared a draft comprehensive plan for the modernization and expansion of the main transport and energy infrastructure until 2024. The first version provided for funding in the amount of 6.8 trillion rubles, including 3.1 trillion rubles from the federal budget.

The automotive infrastructure section lists 296 projects (construction of roads and bridges). Section on internal water transport includes 38 projects. The 104 railway projects included in the plan include the construction of high-speed and high-speed lines, as well as the modernization of existing tracks (the list includes the projects of high-speed lines Moscow - Kazan and Yekaterinburg - Chelyabinsk, as well as a high-speed line from Krasnodar to Grozny and further to Makhachkala). The plan also included the development of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway, the construction of the Murmansk transport hub, transport corridors in Primorye.

There are 98 projects in the maritime infrastructure section - mainly the construction of port infrastructure, in particular, the project to create a dry cargo area in the port of Taman, which, like the bridge across the Lena, was postponed due to financing of Crimean construction projects.

The ministry's list also includes the construction of icebreakers for operations in the Northwestern and Far Eastern sea basins.

On December 5, 2003, an event took place that can be considered the completion of the grandiose construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM): the Severo-Muysky tunnel in the Angarakan saddle of the Severo-Muysky ridge was put into operation.

Before turning to the story about this giant (Severo-Muisky is the longest tunnel in Russia - 15343 m), it is worth recalling the history of BAM. Surveys for a second railway outlet to the Pacific Ocean, from Taishet to Sovetskaya Gavan, began as early as 1932. Even then it was clear that the Trans-Siberian Railway would sooner or later be drowned in the flow of cargo. Before the memorable June 1941, very little was built, then the rails from the new sections were removed for the needs of the front. After the Victory, the road was extended only to Ust-Kut on the Lena River, as well as from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Sovgavan - there were more important construction projects in the war-torn country.

Secondarily, the idea of BAM was returned already in the 1970s. In 1974, the legendary construction began: Komsomol youth detachments, construction teams from all the republics of the USSR went to Baikal, Transbaikalia and the Far East. So, throughout the country, for almost a decade, in remote places where there were no means of communication before, a thread was being laid railway. Finally, on September 29, 1984, on the banks of the Syulban River in the north of the Chita Region, in the place where the small Balbukhta siding is now located, the BAM rails closed.

Most of Transbaikalia is a mountainous country; Baikal itself is also surrounded by mountains from all sides. If the Trans-Siberian goes around almost all mountain ranges from the south and goes along relatively flat terrain, then the BAM had to be laid through the entire Stanovoye Upland. One of its highest mountain ranges is the Severo-Muisky ridge, the height of which reaches 2561 m.

This is one of the most beautiful places Transbaikalia. Sharp granite-slate peaks are covered with snow almost all year round. There are a lot of glacial landforms, only bushes of cedar schist keep on the steep slopes. There is almost no forest on the mountains - it grows only in the valleys. Fast crystal clear rivers carry their waters to the Upper Angara and Vitim.

The North Muya Range turned out to be an almost insurmountable obstacle for the railway. In the process of searching for the route of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, several options for crossing it were considered. All of them required the construction of many kilometers of tunnels: there is no low pass, as, for example, between the Kodarsky and Kalarsky ridges. After a long search, a pass was chosen in the upper reaches of the Angarakan River.

The North Muya giant was built in the most difficult engineering and geological conditions. Rocks, permafrost in the portal (at the beginning and end of the tunnel) areas, areas of unstable rocks with increased fracturing, numerous active fault zones from 5 to 900 m wide, water inflows up to several hundred cubic meters per hour with hydrostatic pressure up to 34 atm, including including high-temperature ones, the presence of quicksand in granites, the overstressed state of rocks. The seismicity of this area is 9-10 points. But more suitable place for crossing the Severo-Muisky ridge by railroad simply does not exist.

On May 28, 1977, tunneling detachment No. 18 began tunneling from the western portal. Six months later, work began and east side. Later, vertical mine shafts were laid in three places above the route of the future tunnel, greatly facilitating subsequent work.

The already slow construction was constantly hampered by accidents. After the docking of BAM and the opening of through train traffic (through the high-mountain bypass of the Severo-Muisky tunnel), the country's attention to this construction site weakened, and much less funds were allocated. And then another "brake" appeared - the beginning of perestroika and the economic downturn.

Additional difficulties were created by the insufficient knowledge of the tunnel zone - far fewer exploratory wells were drilled than they should have been. In the process of work, the project was repeatedly refined, new methods of tunneling and lining were created.

They say about the Severo-Muisky tunnel that each kilometer of it is paid for with four lives. In several accidents, 57 people died. In 1979, at the very beginning of construction, a team of drifters Vladimir Kozhemyakin collided with the high-pressure Angarakan quicksand in the western section. The pressure blew up the granite bridge separating the face from the fault zone, and about one hundred thousand cubic meters of water with stone fragments and sand poured into the face and rushed through the built area, sweeping away everything in its path. For almost two years, the consequences of this disaster were eliminated, for some time the miners were even afraid to go down into the face. Another major accident occurred in 1999, when only 160 m remained to the last cofferdam. The collapse of the rock nullified the work of several months, the section of the tunnel actually had to be rebuilt.

Fortunately, the Severo-Muysky tunnel escaped the fate of Kodarsky, which was built in a hurry to the planned explosion of the last jumper - the break - of BAM, they allowed a 15-meter gap between the face and the lining, as a result of which the collapse stopped construction in 1984 for six months, forcing the construction to be completed completely bypass not provided for by the plan.

In the 1990s, work was carried out extremely slowly, and only on March 30, 2001, the teams of V. Gatsenko and V. Kazeev completed the tunnel. At the same time, a record accuracy was achieved - the difference between the axes of the workings was 69 mm horizontally and 36 mm vertically, although more than 15 kilometers were traveled to this point in the depths of the mountain. On December 21, 2001, the first train passed through the tunnel.

Already in our century, the old story almost repeated itself: the tunnel was broken, all the media reported on the solemn event, high authorities visited Severomuisk. But there was still a lot of work to be done, it was necessary to mount a complex complex for monitoring the state of the tunnel, equip an exploratory transport and drainage adit, remove equipment from mine shafts and convert them into ventilation ones. Despite the principled position of the Ministry of Railways, funds were allocated rather meagerly - preparations for the opening took another two years, and only on December 5, 2003, after the completion of all work, the tunnel was put into permanent operation.

The total length of the mine workings of the tunnel is about 45 km. Three vertical mine shafts are now used for ventilation, and along the entire main tunnel there is a working of a smaller diameter - an exploratory-transport-drainage adit. Water seeping into the tunnel is removed along it, communication cables and rails of the mine railway are laid here, which is used to move technical personnel along the adit. Seismic and radiation control systems, complex communication and lighting networks are in operation. The microclimate in the tunnel helps to maintain special gates created at the Space Center. Khrunichev. They open in front of each train and close behind it again.

In the 1990s, opinions were expressed that due to the danger of collapses, passenger trains would never run through the tunnel. These are just rumors: the builders give a century-long guarantee for the lining of the tunnel under the conditions of calculated 9-magnitude earthquakes. The quality of construction and engineering calculation turned out to be above all fears. The tunnel is recognized as safe in operation.

The Severo-Muisky Tunnel shortened the way through the Angarakan Pass from 57 to 23 km, and the travel time - from 120 to 25 minutes. Now it is possible to move full-weight freight trains– even the ascent to the Mururinsky pass, highest point highway, has much smaller slopes than the old bypass. The main flow of trains goes through the tunnel, and the detour is left as an alternate route.

The fate of the two settlements built as bases for the tunnel builders developed differently. The village of Tonnelny, located near the western portal, was evicted and wiped off the face of the earth. Its inhabitants moved to Taksimo, neighboring Severomuisk, or left "for mainland" - in southern regions Buryatia.

Severomuisk, located at the eastern portal, became one of the many BAM settlements. Here live people whose work is related to the maintenance of the railway. The completion plan for 2002-2003 included the improvement of Severomuisk, the construction of several capital buildings and all the necessary infrastructure. Now not only railway workers live here, but also the operating personnel of the tunnel.

It is worth saying a few words about the modern bypass of the Severo-Muisky tunnel, which, in my opinion, is the most beautiful section of the entire BAM. In order not to exceed the maximum allowable slope when climbing the Angarakan pass, the railway line winds in knots along the slopes of the mountains, rising in a serpentine to the pass saddle. Where the surface is only 16 km, the train travels almost 55 km, ascending and descending half a kilometer.

On the detour, you can see several unique engineering objects. The most famous, of course, is the "Devil's Bridge" - a high flyover on two-tier supports above the Itykit bed, curved and located in the rise. They say that when heavy trains passed, this bridge even swayed a little.

There are loop tunnels on both sides of the pass (the terrain did not allow making a serpentine bend on the slope), and this turn is made inside the mountain - the train enters the portal, and after a while it appears from another portal above or below the first one, having made a turn of 180 degrees. This is especially noticeable on the western tunnel (No. 1) - its portals are located almost one above the other. When freight trains passed by, the empty trains could be quite long. In this case, the locomotive emerged from the tunnel quite soon after the last car was hidden in it.

The history of the detour is as complex as everything related to the construction of the BAM. Initially, the Severo-Muisky tunnel was planned to be opened in 1986-1987. So that the construction does not delay the construction of the entire highway, for the passage of construction goods in the shortest

Later, from August 1982 to March 1983, a temporary bypass was built - the Angarakan-Kazankan line with a length of 24.6 km. His project was drawn up according to very light standards (slope up to 40 meters per kilometer of distance), as a result of which the average length of a freight train was only a few wagons - no diesel locomotive could lift more weight along such a steepness. But this detour made it possible to let the tracklayer pass to the east and bring in rails and other materials necessary for the construction of the highway.

After the first years of construction and severe accidents, it became clear that the Severo-Muisky tunnel could not be built quickly. The BAM failed, but the old Severo-Muisky detour was the narrowest point of the highway: freight trains had to be uncoupled in front of it into parts, and passenger traffic along such slopes was completely prohibited - people were transported from the Angarakan station to the Kazankan station on shift buses through the pass .

In November 1985, the construction of a modern bypass (length 54.3 km, slope up to 18 m / km) began, completed by 1989. At the same time, the old bypass was dismantled, and now only the embankment and concrete bridges point to its route. Today, despite the successful completion of the quarter-century construction of the Severo-Muisky Tunnel, the high-mountain bypass has been left in operation for the time being - it can still be useful as a second way with an increase in freight traffic.

Unfortunately, now passengers of ambulances and passenger trains they almost do not see the beauty of the mountains and the bypass threads winding through them - they all pass through the tunnel, and in the dead of night. Only the working trains Taksimo-New Uoyan, transporting mainly railway workers, follow the detour twice a day in each direction, meeting at the Pereval junction. Such a train usually consists of an old reserved seat car, platforms for railway inventory and electric locomotive VL-65. Occasionally, on the platform you can see not only sleepers and jacks, but also a mountain of colorful backpacks - tourists come to see the landscapes of the North Muya Range and the bypass.

In order for the beauty of the BAM Golden Buckle to be revealed to you, you will have to make some efforts. In order to inspect the bypass from the train and at the same time have time to take a walk during the stops at the sidings, you need to spend the night in New Uoyan (there are no hotels and camp sites there, only the station with hard benches), and then go to Taksimo on the morning working train. The reverse option does not include spending the night at the station, but is less preferable because of the small parking lots at the sidings.

But it is best to come here in the summer with a tent, land at the Pereval junction and slowly walk along the line on foot in one direction or another - to Kazankan or Angarakan, where trains stop long distance. The tunnels are guarded, but no one bothers to cut the path a little, descending from loop to loop along the mountain slope, surrounded by elfin cedar and rare larches.

It is the walking path that will allow you to enjoy the beauty mountain peaks and admire human genius who laid the railway in the most difficult conditions of the North Muya Range ...

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The construction of separate complex engineering structures sometimes determines the start time of the entire object. This is what happened at BAM, when the construction of the tunnels dragged on and temporary bypasses were required to ensure the opening of traffic. They were built, for example, during the construction of the Baikal tunnel and Cape tunnels.

First of all, such bypasses, built according to simplified conditions, make it possible to open traffic without waiting for the completion of the construction of complex engineering structures. Of course, one has to put up with the fact that such detours cannot fully compensate for the permanent tunnel, but ... Firstly, it is already possible to report to the party and the government and the completion of construction. Secondly, to start operating the railway. And, thirdly, get all the goodies that rely on the completion of construction.

Initially, it was assumed that the Severomuysky tunnel would be put into operation in 1986-1987, and in order to open traffic on a temporary basis, it was decided to build a temporary bypass. But it so happened that there were two detours ...

The first bypass was built quite quickly, from August 1982 to March 1983. It was slightly longer than the tunnel (24.6 kilometers versus 15 underground), but with a slope as much as forty thousandths. This means that for every hundred meters the height difference was four meters. For a railroad, this is outrageous. As a result, freight trains were uncoupled into several parts: the diesel locomotive transported only a few wagons. Passenger traffic on the bypass for security reasons was generally prohibited - from the Angarakan station to the Kazankan station, passengers were transported by shift cars along the road laid next to the bypass. Now the rails have been removed from this bypass, but the embankment and primer have been preserved almost everywhere.

By 1985, it became clear that the construction of the Severomuysky tunnel was being delayed for an indefinite period. Therefore, a decision was made to build a second temporary bypass, which began in November 1985. To reduce the slope to 18 thousandths, it was necessary to lengthen it very much in order to find optimal route. Now its length has become 64 kilometers. Now the bypass winded through the valleys, moving from pass to pass, gradually climbing up. Freight and passenger traffic was already allowed along this detour, but the speed of trains did not exceed 20 km/h.

Two loop tunnels (2.14 km and 752 m) were built on this bypass. It was opened to traffic in 1989.

1. First, let's look at the scheme of all this beauty of authorship af1461 . The legend is presented on the diagram, so everything, I think, is clear. Please note that loop tunnel No. 2 passes over the Severomuysky tunnel, and in loop tunnel No. 1, the train turns 180 degrees.

(c) af1461 from this post.

2. By the way, the second tunnel is called the third on different schemes, since exactly three tunnels were originally designed. But the second one was never built - already during the construction they found a workaround.

(with) nikat from this post.

3. I start my trip to the Devil's Bridge from Severomuisk. On the way we pass under the railway bridge. It is double-tracked - it contains the main BAM track and the track for the 18,000th detour. Unfortunately, even in the pictures high definition it is not very clear where the 40,000th detour began.

4. North Muya Range. Young and hot-tempered.

5. This is a drainage from the adit of the Severomuysky tunnel.

6. From above, one of the countless bridges with an 18,000 bypass. The bridge piers look like a stool. Below is the Eastern portal of the tunnel.

7. A working train is approaching the East Portal from Okushikan Station.

8. On the left you can see three shelves. First - highway. The second is the 18 thousandth detour, and the third, the highest, is the 40th thousandth.

9. Bridge of the 18th bypass. From above, if you look closely, you can see the pillars that stand along the first bypass.

10. Bridge of the second bypass. It was built on a very large scale. Even now, the second bypass is kept operational as a backup. In particular, it will be used again to increase traffic on the BAM.

11. On the left are the pillars along the first bypass. The double-track bridge at the top is the beginning of the Pereval siding.

12. The weather turned bad at the end. Lonely VL65 at the crossing Pass is barely visible.

13. I'm worried that the Devil's Bridge will be in the same veil.

14. We went to the embankment of the first detour.

15. Another bridge across some valley.

16. Old bridges on the first bypass. So no one could answer me here, was there ever a trip on it or made a reserve for the future. It's a bit scary to drive across the bridge...

17. Finally! Damn bridge!

.::clickable::.

18. It was built in 1986, but regular train traffic began in 1989.

19. Height up to 35 meters. There would be climbing on the ropes! Such a location can be done!

20. Located on characteristic bunk supports.

21. The only bridge of this design in Russia.

22. Ah... Loop Tunnel #1 begins next. They say about him that he has two portals: east and west, but both look to the north. Looking at the map above, you can see that they are not looking quite north. :)

23. In the post about the tunnel there were many comments on the topic, why is the tunnel needed, since there is a bypass. This question cannot be answered head-on. There are many factors. Firstly, the bypass is a narrow bottleneck on the entire BAM. Small radius curves, need to trip heavy haul trains, the high cost of maintaining and maintaining such a site ... The tunnel was needed. And the point is not even in reducing the time, although this is important, but in the normal operation of the entire BAM.

24. Soft fluffy snow is falling ... There is complete silence around.

25. With some incredible feeling, I walk along this bridge ...

26. Now cargo and passenger traffic no bypass.

27. A working train passes only twice a day.

28. Stool :)

29. Amazing design.

30. Real winter.

31. The bridge swayed a little when heavy trains passed over it.

32. They say that the bridge was notorious among the drivers.

33. Farewell look at the Devil's Bridge and drive back.

.::clickable::.

34. The weather got a little better.

35. SM-2 at the Pereval junction. One sign says it's a station. And on the other, hanging two meters away, there is a siding.

The construction of individual complex engineering structures sometimes determines the start-up time of the entire facility. This is what happened at BAM, when the construction of the tunnels was delayed and temporary bypasses were required to ensure the opening of traffic. They were built, for example, during the construction of the Baikal tunnel and Cape tunnels.

Initially, it was supposed to be put into operation in 1986-1987, and in order to open traffic on a temporary scheme, it was decided to build a temporary bypass. But it so happened that there were two detours ...

By 1985, it became clear that the construction of the Severomuysky tunnel was being delayed for an indefinite period. Therefore, a decision was made to build a second temporary bypass, which began in November 1985. To reduce the slope to 18 thousandths, it was necessary to lengthen it very much in order to find the best route. Now its length has become 64 kilometers. Now the bypass winded through the valleys, moving from pass to pass, gradually climbing up. Freight and passenger traffic was already allowed along this detour, but the speed of trains did not exceed 20 km/h.

Two loop tunnels (2.14 km and 752 m) were built on this bypass. It was opened to traffic in 1989.

3. I start my trip to the Devil's Bridge from Severomuisk. On the way we pass under the railway bridge. It is double-tracked - it contains the main BAM track and the track for the 18,000th detour. Unfortunately, even on high-resolution images, it is not very clear where the 40,000th tour began.

4. North Muya Range. Young and hot-tempered.

5. This is a drainage from the adit of the Severomuysky tunnel.

6. From above, one of the countless bridges with an 18,000 bypass. The bridge piers look like a stool. Below - East portal of the tunnel.

7. A working train is approaching the East Portal from Okushikan Station.

8. On the left you can see three shelves. The first is the road. The second is the 18 thousandth detour, and the third, the highest, is the 40th thousandth.

9. Bridge of the 18th bypass. From above, if you look closely, you can see the pillars that stand along the first bypass.

10. Bridge of the second bypass. It was built on a very large scale. Even now, the second bypass is kept operational as a backup. In particular, it will be used again to increase traffic on the BAM.

11. On the left are the pillars along the first bypass. The double-track bridge at the top is the beginning of the Pereval siding.

12. The weather turned bad at the end. Lonely VL65 at the crossing Pass is barely visible.

13. I'm worried that the Devil's Bridge will be in the same veil.

14. We went to the embankment of the first detour.

15. Another bridge across some valley.

16. Old bridges on the first bypass. The first bypass was double track. For security reasons, auto-blocking was not there, because. due to the large slope, only one train was allowed on one track.

Scheme of development at the pass junction and East Portal. You can see where the first round began. Thanks Anonymous :)

17. Finally! Damn bridge!

.::clickable::.

18. It was built in 1986, but regular train traffic began in 1989.

19. Height up to 35 meters. There would be climbing on the ropes! Such a location can be done!

20. Located on characteristic bunk supports.

21. The only bridge of this design in Russia.

23. In the post about the tunnel there were many comments on the topic, why is the tunnel needed, since there is a bypass. This question cannot be answered head-on. There are many factors. Firstly, the bypass is a narrow bottleneck on the entire BAM. Curves of small radius, the need to uncouple heavy trains, the high cost of maintaining and maintaining such a section ... The tunnel was needed. And the point is not even in reducing the time, although this is important, but in the normal operation of the entire BAM.

24. Soft fluffy snow is falling ... There is complete silence around.

25. With some incredible feeling, I walk along this bridge ...

26. Now there is no freight and passenger traffic along the bypass.

27. A working train passes only twice a day.

28. Stool :)

29. Amazing design.

30. Real winter.

31. The bridge swayed a little when heavy trains passed over it.

32. They say that the bridge was notorious among the drivers.

33. Farewell look at the Devil's Bridge and drive back.

.::clickable::.

34. The weather got a little better.

35. SM-2 at the Pereval junction. One sign says it's a station. And on the other, hanging two meters away - a siding.

36. VL65-019.

37. According to high-resolution satellite images, then traces of the tracks from the temporary bypass to this siding are visible. In the photo, that path to the first bypass was in front of the power transmission towers.

38. Snow fighting in full swing.

39. SM-2 has thrown the snow out of the bunker and is going to clear the tracks again.

40. While warming himself with tea and delicious bacon, he asked how long SM would work. The answer was simple: “Until I clear all the paths, I won’t let her go anywhere.” And then, after a little silence, he adds: “However, the railroad workers, until all the arrows are cleaned for me, will also go nowhere.”

41. We descend from the pass to Severomuisk.

42. Once on this road, train passengers were transported by shift workers.

43. Again the same bridge.

44. And Okushikan station in front of the portal.

Many thanks for organizing the shooting to all the employees of the East Siberian Railway, its press service and personally to Arkady Petshik and Roman Rinchinov.

Special thanks to my guide through the tunnel and bypass - Yuri Vasilyevich. His account of construction, maintenance and his patience throughout the shoot were invaluable.

“From Baikal to Amur we will lay a highway” - these words of the Soviet song popular in the 70s of the last century were probably familiar to everyone in the USSR. BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline) is one of the largest railway lines in the world. The length of the main route Taishet - Sovetskaya Gavan is 4287 km.

BAM on the bones

In the spring of 1972, the backfilling of the first kilometers of the famous Baikal-Amur Mainline began, two years later declared by the All-Union Komsomol shock construction site. Thousands of romantic volunteers from all over the multinational country poured into Eastern Siberia to become participants in such a grandiose, hitherto unseen project.

At that time, few people in the country knew that four decades before that, attempts had already been made to build the famous BAM and the just begun Second World War prevented the implementation of the plans of the Soviet government.

Back in 1926, units of the railway troops of the Red Army began to carry out topographic reconnaissance of the future BAM route - an important transport artery in strategic terms. And six years later, a special resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR was issued, according to which the construction of the railway was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Special Directorate of the OGPU. In the fall of 1938, Bamlag was created, which included six forced labor camps.

And in the harsh climatic conditions, without special equipment and technology, a large special contingent began the "construction of the century." Many of them ended their earthly journey on one of the sections of the highway.

Psychic from Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Yuri Vasilievich Paramonov, who laid the first sections of the highway in 1972-1973, recalls how heavy the aura of those places was, which saw hundreds of martyrdoms of construction prisoners. Sometimes emaciated human figures clearly appeared before the eyes of the then young guy, and it seemed that the earth itself was groaning, soaked in sweat and blood.

Yu. Paramonov believes that the numerous legends about ghosts and all sorts of other devilry are not at all an invention of the BAM youth, who are eager for jokes and practical jokes.

ghost train

Local Buryat residents also spoke about him, who allegedly saw a steam locomotive more than once rushing along the once-cut clearings and frozen desert paths and at the same time did not make a single sound.

The old-timers of small villages located near the railway line recalled the story of how in 1940 the prisoners of camp 23/5, who worked on the section between Kichera and Yanchukan, raised an uprising and stole a steam locomotive with three cargo platforms, on which they tried to break through on a narrow gauge railway. northwest, to the reserved Yakutia.

The leadership of Bamlag used aircraft to fight the fugitives, which bombed both the train and the railway track. However, two years later, when the construction was turned off and the camps were empty, the mysterious train began to appear in those parts from time to time. And the destroyed narrow-gauge railway turned out to be restored in a completely mystical way, as the work crews of Dmitry Zarechnev, who accidentally stumbled upon it in 1973, could be convinced of.

To the surprise of the sinkers, the railway track, lost in the taiga, was in perfect condition: the wooden sleepers, as if laid yesterday, were generously saturated with odorous creosote; neither the bolts nor the crutches had even a hint of rust, and the rails themselves were so polished as if dozens of trains were walking along them every day.

The assumption that the narrow-gauge railway in the early 70s could be used by the military and Soviet intelligence services to deliver goods to secret objects, did not find confirmation: the railway line led literally to nowhere, resting after twenty-six kilometers on a high hill overgrown with cedar. Who maintained the abandoned railway line in such perfect condition remains a mystery.

Tunnels to other worlds

During the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline, which took place in the most difficult climatic and landscape-geographical conditions, 142 large and small bridges were erected and eight tunnels were laid, with which the builders also associated many exciting stories.

Thus, the Baikal Tunnel was famous among tunnellers for the fact that from time to time mysterious yellow fireballs floated out of deep vertical cracks in the tunnel vault. Soon, the builders established a curious pattern: an hour and a half after the appearance of these balls, a strong influx of groundwater was observed, which was pumped out with great difficulty.

The attraction of the Kodarsky tunnel (the highest mountainous tunnel on the BAM) being built on the Vitim-Chara section was ... a ghost, which the drifters soon dubbed the White Shaman. This section of the highway, known for its increased seismic activity, was sometimes shaken by earthquakes of up to 4-5 magnitudes.

By his appearance, the White Shaman seemed to warn the builders of the approaching cataclysm.

Perhaps the most mysterious, according to the stories of tunnellers, was the longest Severomuysky tunnel in Russia, which was built for more than a quarter of a century. In addition to the need to literally solve new complex technological problems at every kilometer, the tunnel presented the builders with unusual, almost mystical surprises.

So, in 1979, a quicksand break occurred in the western section, as a result of which more than 30 workers died and several more people were walled up by stone debris. When the operation to rescue the sinkers was completed, one of the workers said that, trying to get out on his own, he stumbled in a niche washed with quicksand in a granite wall on a huge metal door green with mold, all attempts to open which were unsuccessful.

In 1980, during tunneling, at the eighth kilometer, a sudden collapse of one of the sections of the base of the tunnel body occurred, exposing a wide chute that led deep into mountain range. According to the recollections of the workers, sounds similar to the sound of jackhammers began to be heard from the black void.

Later, after the strange gutter was filled with rock and filled with high-strength concrete, the management of the Bamtonnelstroy enterprise explained this fact by a high concentration of radon gas in the tunnel, which could cause auditory hallucinations among workers.

Devil's Bridge Fears

Until 2003, until the Severomuysky tunnel was put into operation, railway traffic through the ridge was carried out along the Severomuysky bypass, the main attraction of which was and remains the famous Devil's Bridge - a high and steep two-tier overpass laid over the valley of the Itykit River.

It is known that even today the drivers of freight trains entering the Devil's Bridge prudently cross themselves - the path along this structure seems so difficult and dangerous, where trains travel at a speed of no more than 20 kilometers per hour.

Rumor has it that railroad workers also perform a similar ritual in order not to meet devils on the tracks, which, according to legend, are found in abundance in those places.

Old machinists assure that tailed and nimble creatures with pig faces from time to time appear on the railway track in front of a slowly rising train, and sometimes even jump onto a locomotive coupler, deftly climb onto the roof of an electric locomotive and arrange frantic dances there ...

Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, the press began to stubbornly exaggerate the opinion that the construction of the BAM was not economically justified and that this highway had no future. For some time, life at the former “construction site of the century” really barely glimmered, but with the advent of the new century, interest in the Baikal-Amur Mainline arose with a vengeance.

BAM is currently operating at its capacity limit. The highway is being modernized in order to double the cargo flow to 50 million tons per year.