Old railways. Railway. Marginal Communications

This is not about the District Railway, it deserves a separate topic. We are talking about an abandoned (at first glance) railway line, laid by who knows when and who through the thicket of Losiny Ostrov. It is located quite far from us. We go out to the Abramtsevo clearing, and stomp along it to the left, towards the main entrance of the Kremlin. We pass by it and go further along the fence, which turns right after 500 meters, but we are not on the way with him. We keep stomping straight ahead. The Abramtsevo glade crosses the Paper Prosek, and goes further, briefly becomes paved, then again turns into dirt, takes off on a hillock, dives down, goes up again, and a sharp descent to the railway line! And the clearing goes further and after 500 meters rests on the Belokamennaya station, but we don’t need to go there (yet).

We are studying the find. It starts half a kilometer to the south, directly from the District Railway. Traffic lights are almost always red. Laying a smooth turn to the north, the railway dives into the forest:

Five hundred meters later, it intersects with the Abramtsevo glade. Here, a crossing is organized from the sleepers laid longitudinally, so you don’t even have to get off the bike. Straight as an arrow, the railway goes further into the thicket of the forest:

The rails are brown from time to time, the sleepers are wooden, bushes close to the tracks. At first glance, it seems that no one has been here for a long time. We take a closer look: there is a strip of fresh knurling on the rails, the sleepers smell of tar - it means that something is still moving here. Next comes the gravel, and the sleepers. They indicate the year of issue - the 85th. On the other 83 and 84th. Thus, the last renovation was carried out almost 20 years ago. On both sides of the railway there are ditches for water flow. In addition, there are hundreds of old sleepers. Half are stone, dated 1967, the rest are apparently even older. It turns out that the road is at least 35 years old. But judging by the completely rotten wooden sleepers, it could be even more. But how much more? Judging by the old maps of Moscow in 1931, this railway line operated already in the early 30s of the XX century (see red arrow), but then it was removed from the maps. It turns out that our branch is neither more nor less, but 3/4 centuries!!!

After two hundred meters, we get one more proof that the road is not abandoned - trees that fell across the tracks during the 2001 hurricane,. The terrain on both sides of the road at first glance is the most unusual, a thicket of forest, on the sides of the road there are paths. But again, only at first glance. And the second one is more interesting. To the left of the road is the old one. At its base is a box for equipment, of course empty. There are no wires to the pole and, judging by the shape, it never went, except perhaps underground. (According to Mufizal) is nothing more than an old barrier traffic light before crossing on the Abramtsevo clearing, which (as we will learn later) was previously guarded by sentries. Now the forest is coming closer and closer to the tracks, and the traffic light has long been standing among the trees. And on the contrary, to the right of the road, the first 200-300 meters from the intersection with the Abramtsevo glade, here and there are scattered the remains of old brick buildings. Judging by the degree of destruction, maybe even pre-war. More or less "whole" remained only one house, something like a station building, or a guard house, or something similar, and the rest were almost completely destroyed and overgrown so that it is difficult to distinguish them from the landscape. In some places there are islands densely overgrown with tall impenetrable shrubs, as is usually the case on the site of buildings demolished or destroyed from old age.

In addition, next to the Abramtsevo clearing, powerful gas valves sticking out right from the ground come across. There is a forest around, it is not clear who needs (was) gas here? What was it all about? One of the possible answers is old suburban areas. A long time ago, even before the war, at the beginning of the 30s, Losinoostrovskaya Street was built, and the territories to the north of it were then assigned to summer cottages. This can be seen on the old map of Moscow in 1929, shown on the page dedicated to the history of Metrogorodok. Perhaps we are dealing with the remnants of the former country luxury. After the war, Losiny Island was declared a nature reserve, and the construction of dachas on its territory was prohibited.

We continue to stomp on the sleepers, there is no one around, silence, and only the birds sing in different voices. How cool... Suddenly, a powerful locomotive whistle is heard from behind! We smooth the hair that has stood on end, we take out the heart from the heels and turn around. Behind us, slowly parting the bushes, a shunting diesel locomotive rolls and hums, effectively warning of its appearance. He pulls 2 freight cars behind him. Roaring with a powerful diesel, the procession slowly floats past and leaves for the thicket:

Initially, a switchman was provided here, and they even built it, but then apparently they decided that the switchman was not needed, and the house is still standing, it is beautiful on the outside, but completely shabby, although, oddly enough, there is not much garbage there, and which surprised me a lot - on the floor, almost alone, lay a yellowed page from the magazine "Youth" of 1995. Eight years lay intact and no one even touched!

Although the railway bifurcates, both branches have the same destination, the gate of which is no more than 500 meters away. This object is still famous for its secrecy. Rumor has it that this is a warehouse of weapons or harmful substances. Others say the facility has something to do with the production of submarine rigging. But no one knows for sure, and who knows - he is silent. On the Internet, you can find information according to which the object is an ordinary military base, which means that our railway line serves to deliver goods there. It looks like the truth, but... security! Around the object there is a triple fence with barbed wire and machine gunners on the towers. It is even rumored that the Metro-2 branch is approaching him underground. A high hangar and several other lower buildings are visible on the territory. If we compare a photograph from space and an aerial photograph of our region, we can see that this military facility is carefully "smeared over". (According to Phontom) Once on TV there was a program about the only warehouse of confiscated weapons in Moscow, in the frames of which it was easy to recognize our area. One way or another, and the train drove up to the closed gate on the right branch, gave a dreary whistle, the gate opened, and the train disappeared behind them for half an hour. The locomotive drove back without wagons, stood for a while at the switch and drove off through the forest on its way. He did not use the left branch. Each of them leads to its own gate, and the left, oddly enough, was wide open (but only external):

So our journey along the "abandoned" railway line ended, which, in fact, turned out to be not abandoned at all. But the story doesn't end there. There are two stories ahead of you. The first relates to the secret object mentioned above, and the second contains interesting information about the past of our railway line.

Thus, this military facility has been hiding in our forest for over 150 years! But the arrival there was from the Yaroslavl highway. A branch from the District Railway was built already in our century, as follows from the maps - in the early 30s of the XX century. And one of the readers of the site - Sergey K. - had a chance to meet a person who was able to tell a lot of interesting things about history himself about and railway. I quote Sergey's story almost unchanged:

I received this information by chance, having once met a man who got lost there in the forest. It turned out that he also grew up in these parts, the whole Losiny Ostrov came out as a boy, emigrated to Israel in the 80s, and in the 90s, when it became possible to come to Russia, every year he comes here for a month to visit relatives and does not forget the old places . Obviously, a long absence from the homeland had an effect, which is why he got lost. According to him, this railway line was built before the War (1941-1945). It led to the military unit where the arsenal was located. In the summer, as boys, they went swimming in the ponds, which were also guarded by the military. Now, according to him, these ponds have not been preserved. Apparently it was some kind of fire reservoirs. Sometimes they were caught, and then they hit hard. Perhaps we are talking about located next to the shooting range. Towers with machine gunners were already at that time. Unfortunately, it was not possible to understand the exact location of these ponds from the conversation, but they definitely have nothing to do with the reservoir near the MGSU hostel. During the war, this branch acquired strategic importance, and its protection was strengthened. The locomotive pulled wagons with weapons, and along the entire branch at a certain interval there were sentries with machine guns. The crossing, where the branch is crossed by the Abramtsevo clearing, was guarded especially hard. Here, to this day, old buildings have been preserved, where, obviously, the main guard guarding the branch was located. He also spoke about the present day of this mysterious branch. It is still functioning, but diesel locomotives with trailers almost always drive through the right gate. There really is a military-trade base. In general, it was never a special secret - along the former route of the 75k bus, where it turned off the Paper Glade to the right towards the Kremlin, there used to be a small wooden house like an arbor and there were signs near it: an arrow directly with the inscription "GUTMO Base " and an arrow to the right with the inscription "Possession No....". The first sign was intended for service buses and trucks, which constantly shuttled to and from the base, poisoning the fresh air and interfering with cyclists, forcing them to cling to the curb every now and then. The second pointer is for cars carrying building materials for the new building of the Kremlin. Obviously, the abbreviation GUTMO is the General Directorate of Trade of the Ministry of Defense. Fortunately, in the early 1990s, Paper Prosek was closed to traffic, and cars began to drive up to the base exclusively from the Yaroslavskoye highway. At the same time, it was necessary to "declassify" a part of the military unit behind the pond near the MGSU hostel - behind the preserved high, but holey fence with barbed wire, where submachine gunners used to stand on the towers, now there are private garages and free passage to the trading base. I assume that the left gate leads just to the territory of the military unit, or rather, what is left of it. And at one time it occupied a vast territory and went directly to the Yaroslavl highway. Until now, the gate and the fence with the characteristic "Stalinist" architecture have been preserved there, but a quarter of modern houses has now been built behind the gate, and you still need to walk to the buildings of the military unit. As far as I know, at present the guarded zone with towers remains only in the area of ​​the Babushkinsky cemetery, but there are no machine gunners there.

On the sleepers - above the water

All lovers of the aesthetics of the worlds of the Strugatsky brothers will appreciate this location in the Losiny Ostrov park. The abandoned railway line, flooded in places, lost in the thick of the forest and bifurcating, seems long forgotten.

It turned out to be not very difficult to find it - it originates not far from the Belokamennaya MCC station. By the way, the station even has a historical building built in the early 20th century. There are almost no people here - it seems that you have already gone far from Moscow and now you have left at the old half-station.

Directly behind the platform is a fenced area. The lone guard says that there are not very many people who want to see the road, and points the way.

If you go by car, then you can safely put the Abramtsevo clearing into the navigator: there the rails intersect with the road. However, to watch the branch from the very beginning, you will have to go to the aforementioned station.

The first 500 meters of the "piece of iron" runs almost parallel to the MCC branch. The tracks are covered with sleepers, the new LED traffic light is red. Here the rails seem less abandoned - we even had an assumption that the road is still sometimes used. However, we were quickly convinced of the opposite, as soon as we went a little into the forest after the “piece of iron”.

Near the clearing, the road winds in a lowland, so after the rains, the rails were under water. Do not drive, but it looks more than picturesque.

200 meters have to go parallel to the rails, because the water reaches almost to the knee. Tree branches converge above the road dome - it turns out such a railway straight to the fairy forest. On the side of the road is a ruined house, abandoned, apparently, for a long time. It is possible that this could be a building for railway workers. If you move a little away from the road, then there are foundations of several more buildings heavily overgrown with grass and moss. A pole was found near the crossing - most likely, a traffic light was once attached to it.

Finally, you can go down and walk along the sleepers. Here, on the road, the consequences of the hurricane are perfectly visible - fallen trees are everywhere. Somewhere it is impossible to climb over them - you have to go around. The rails are brown with rust - it is clear that no one has ridden on them for a long time.

It seems that the road has not been used since the time when the sleepers were changed, but along the slopes of the road there are cut down trees, to put it mildly, not the first freshness. Most likely, they have been lying here since the time of the hurricane in the early 2000s. They are neatly cut, which suggests that this road was still in use at the beginning of the century.

Sleepers deserve a separate discussion. Among them there are both concrete and wooden. If you look closely, then on concrete sleepers you can find the years of their replacement - from 1983 to 1985. That is, the road has not seen repairs for more than 30 years. Going deeper into the thicket, you can find old sleepers in the ditches for draining water. Most of the concrete ones are dated 1967. It seemed that this was all, but under them there were still replaced wooden ones. Thus, in the mid-80s there was at least a third repair of the road.

As it turned out a little later, the road was indicated on the maps of Moscow in the early 30s, that is, these very wooden sleepers could have been laid even when laying the "piece of iron". She disappeared from the maps much later.

Meanwhile, we, having crossed another fallen tree along the slope, come out into a relatively open space. Somewhere in the tall grass, the rails are finally lost, and you can only navigate along the sleepers. The open space is a whole clearing of fallen trees and wet, squelching earth underfoot. It is impossible to go deep without the risk of falling into a swamp.

Trees lie on the rails in a dense flooring, so you can walk without fear.

In the meantime, our path again went into a deaf thicket. Here, surprisingly, the road was less affected by the hurricane, but in some places puddles still spoil the walk. The total length of this branch is about 4 kilometers, and, judging by the map, it must split somewhere. We deliberately did not look where the road leads - we decided that it would be more interesting that way.

On the old maps of Losiny Island, summer cottages really appear. However, no matter how we wandered around the neighborhood of the road, we found nothing but one foundation. Birds sing somewhere in the distance. It seems that trains never ran here, and the rails were laid simply by mistake ...

Finally, we came across a switchman's booth. It was possible to try to translate the arrow, but it was already very rusty and did not give in. The booth practically collapsed. Having rummaged through old records, we find that the switchman has really been gone for a very long time, and often, while the branch was functioning, the driver himself had to stop and switch the switch. Judging by the observations of local residents, trains were running here back in 2003.

But the bifurcating branch confused us. We were completely sure that it would lead to different objects, but it turned out that the branches converge at one destination. There is barbed wire, behind it there are obviously some warehouses - you can’t go any further, and you can only look at them from afar.

The Moscow Railway informed MK that the railway line from the Belokamennaya MCC station, located on the territory of the Losiny Ostrov National Park, was laid to the military unit and is currently not in use. In the future, it is planned to dismantle this branch - the railway workers have already sent a corresponding proposal to the design organization.

However, it became interesting to us: what kind of military unit is this? Digging through the sources, we see that Losiny Ostrov was used by artillerymen somewhere in the middle of the 19th century. Then there was no talk of a holiday village, and even more so of a city, but a small farm stood here. It was her who was chosen by the Artillery Directorate.

But if warehouses appeared in the 19th century, then the branch is clearly younger. According to some reports, it appeared around the 1930s of the last century. Since the object was strategically important, the branch was also heavily guarded. Apparently, from time to time the guards' booths, which, according to some sources, stood along the roadsides, finally collapsed.

The road acquired special significance during the war. Every day, several echelons passed through it, and the crossing at the Abramtsevo clearing was especially carefully guarded. Already after the war, the reinforced security was removed, but those very destroyed buildings near the glade itself, which we initially took for old dachas, turned out to be guard houses.

Judging by the maps of the 1930s, somewhere near the warehouses there were two ponds, which, however, are now filled up.

Until the branch was laid, the entrance was carried out from the side of the Yaroslavl highway through the Paper Prosek. Back in the 70s there was a pointer to the GUTMO base. This abbreviation means the General Directorate of Trade of the Ministry of Defense.

Marginal Communications

By the way, in Moscow such an object is not the only one. A chic place for a walk can be found not far from the Electrozavod (or the Moscow Electric Lamp Plant) - there the branch runs parallel to the MK MZHD. Its length is approximately 4 kilometers. The tracks were built back in the 20s of the last century and connect several industries at once. The road is half-dismantled, numerous arrows have been dismantled, but it is quite possible to find entourage locations here. In general, after the liquidation of the branch on ZIL, this industrial railway became the longest unused in Moscow.

In total, there are 4 crossings on the branch, and it itself is strongly curved. It seems that she seems to go around some invisible obstacle. Indeed, it turns out that the Khapilovka River used to flow here. Now it has been hidden in a sewer, but the curvature of the road itself remains. It appears that the transfers no longer work.

Most often, such roads were built by enterprises in order to facilitate their own logistics routes around the city, and not to create traffic jams. These roads were on their balance sheet, and now, due to the fact that production facilities are being moved out of Moscow, there is no need for such branches.

The press service of the Moscow Railway told us that there really were a lot of such objects, but the official department has nothing to do with them. “There are branches on the territory of the city that do not belong and are not serviced by Russian Railways. These railway tracks are on the balance sheet of various enterprises. We have no information about how many there are, where they are located, etc. The fate of these branches is in the hands of the owners.”

The walk itself takes about two hours. It is best to walk in such places in comfortable shoes, because after Moscow rains the slopes of the roads are washed away. The road itself also looks very picturesque, in lush greenery - there seems to be no feeling that there will be, as they say on the Internet, "syringes crunch like snow underfoot." Sometimes it even seems that a locomotive whistle is about to be heard behind...

In general, there is no impression of complete desolation, as in Elk Island. It seems that sometimes the road is even used. The Moscow Railways confirmed to us, however, that they have nothing to do with this road and do not serve it. “The railway line from the Lokomotiv Moscow Central Circle station, located in the Preobrazhenskoye metropolitan area, is not owned or serviced by Russian Railways. These are access roads that are on the balance sheet of a third-party organization,” the ministry said.

Once this branch had strategic knowledge. During the war, the factories to which the rails were laid produced strategically important products and shells. Now, most of the factory buildings have been given over to offices, and at the once huge electric lamp factory, you can rent a photo studio for yourself ...

After wastelands, very urban, heavily littered, at some point we find ourselves almost in the forest. The bright green contrasts strongly with the brown rails, which already seem to be a continuation of the trees - large thick roots.

In some places, abandoned buildings come across - most likely, switchesmen's booths or other outbuildings.

By the way, to walk along this branch in comfort, you can even book a tour.

"You don't have to go to places like this alone"

Such locations attract both photography lovers and other seekers of non-standard places for walking.

However, in order for walks and photo shoots not to be overshadowed by unpleasant meetings and other surprises, we decided to draw up a small set of rules for those who want to visit such places. Roman Vaseykin, a photographer and tourist with many years of experience, gave some recommendations.

“Any walk in such places should begin with the collection of information. You need to clearly understand where you are going, what can threaten you there, ”says Roman. In his opinion, in the case of Elektrozavod, the real danger is people. “As far as I remember, it was a rather marginal quarter, and the inhabitants there were appropriate. It is not worth going to such places alone. Even if you are confident in your abilities.

In the case of Elk Island, people are most likely the least danger. But getting injured and not calling for help is quite likely. And here one more person is just a guarantee that qualified people will come to your aid. In general, you always need to calculate the worst-case scenario and be prepared for it.

Among other things, you need to be attentive to hanging wires - after all, for example, at the Electrozavod, the entire branch was electrified. And wire breaks are also a reality of such places.

If we talk about photo shoots, then it’s better to just take all the uncomfortable, but entourage clothes with you, and go in what is most convenient.

Maxim Khaldeev, a mountain tourism instructor, does not recommend visiting such places at all. But if a person has already decided to arrange such a walk for himself, then he is in solidarity with his colleague: first you need to collect information. Then - decide what you need to take with you. “Of course, no one says that you need to pack like a hike, but it’s worth considering what to go in and what is good to take with you. Someone takes some means of self-defense, someone constantly carries a first aid kit with them - all this is useful.

From "Yandex-photos", I'll post another portion of rare photos from there. For example, here it is. Photo of the tracks of the Kievsky railway station in Moscow in 1936. Taken from "the very sky", the Photographer climbed up the openwork trusses supporting the glass roof over the station platform and took this memorable shot. I wonder if there are any stairs leading there, or if the author of the photo used climbing equipment.

Diesel locomotive Gakkel GE1 (Shchel1), one of the world's first main diesel locomotives, built in 1924 in Leningrad. And who's on the pedestal? Is it not his designer Yakov Modestovich Gakkel himself? Here, there is a photo where the same person was filmed in the very center of a group of comrades standing in front of a diesel locomotive. Most likely it is he, and the photo was taken in November 1924, immediately after the tests of the diesel locomotive began

Car "Russo-Balt", adapted for movement by rail. Under the tsar, the railway authorities went on such inspection trips.

A group of comrades, shot against the background of C10-12, Surami Italian in the early 30s in Georgia. There is no signature under the picture and we can only guess who they are, these people, and what they have to do with the locomotive standing behind them.

Hungarian diesel train DP (three-car) in Sukhumi, 1950. Photo from the magazine "Spark". I remember how much I was struck by the sight of this train when I first saw it in old newsreel footage from the early 50s. It was filmed in Abkhazia and was driving along the road right along the coast of the Black Sea.

Railway workers in front of the only Soviet passenger electric locomotive PB21. Filmed clearly after the war (judging by the shoulder straps). But where is Georgia or Perm?

Most likely Georgia. Here is a photo of the same people, but against the backdrop of more exotic vegetation than we have in the Urals. The electric locomotive PB21 was sent to Georgia in 1952, so both photos were taken in the early 50s.

And this is Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev himself on the footboard of an electric locomotive of the "F" series. The photo was taken during Khrushchev's visit to France in 1960. The General Secretary decided to personally "accept" the electric locomotives made by Alstom for the USSR. By the way, isn't this electric locomotive the same one that is now in the museum at the Finland Station? That one has the designation Fk07, and this one in the photo is Fp07. But, as we know, the letter "k" appeared in the name of the locomotive only after its modernization in the USSR. So it is quite possible that the only electric locomotive of the F series that has survived in Russia is exactly the one that Khrushchev stepped on.

This photo was most likely taken in the same place and at the same time. Only General de Gaulle is already at the door of the electric locomotive. Unfortunately, the Soviet comrades did not save the electric locomotive, on board of which the foot of the President of France stepped.

TASS-DOSIER. 180 years ago, on November 11 (October 30, old style), 1837, the first public railway in Russia was opened.

It connected St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo.

The editors of TASS-DOSIER have prepared a note on the history of Russian railways.

In Tsarist Russia

Ideas for the creation of railways in the Russian Empire began to appear as early as the 1820s, shortly after the launch of the first line in England. Proposals were put forward to build the first railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow, Tver or Rybinsk. However, all these projects were met with distrust from the government due to the high cost, and also because of the uncertainty about the reliability of the railway in the conditions of the Russian winter.

The beginning of testing of the first Russian steam locomotive in August 1834 is considered the birthday of the Russian railway industry. It was built by mechanics and inventors Efim Alekseevich Cherepanov (1774-1842) and his son Miron Efimovich (1803-1849) to transport ore at the Vyisky plant in Nizhny Tagil. The steam engine, called the "land steamer", could carry more than 200 pounds of weight (about 3.2 tons) at a speed of 12-15 miles per hour (13-17 km / h).

The first public passenger railway in Russia, Tsarskoye Selo, was opened in 1837 and connected St. Petersburg with Tsarskoye Selo; locomotives for it were ordered in England.

In 1840, traffic was opened along the second railway on the territory of the Russian Empire: a line from Warsaw to Skierniewice was built with the money of Polish bankers. In 1848, it merged with the Krakow-Upper Silesian Railway (Austria) and became known as the Warsaw-Vienna Railway (total length with the Austrian section is 799 km).

On February 1, 1842, Emperor Nicholas I signed a decree on the construction of the St. Petersburg - Moscow railway with a length of 650 km. On November 13, 1851, its official opening took place. Exactly at 11:15 a.m. The first passenger train departed from St. Petersburg to Moscow, which stayed on the way for 21 hours and 45 minutes. At first, two passenger and four freight trains ran between St. Petersburg and Moscow. During the construction of the line, a gauge of 1,524 mm (5 feet) was chosen - later it became the standard on Russian railways (since the 1980s, railways in the USSR were switched to a compatible gauge of 1,520 mm).

From 1865 to 2004, the Ministry of Railways (in 1917-1946 - the People's Commissariat) of Railways (MPS, NKPS) was in charge of the railways in the country.

On March 17, 1891, Emperor Alexander III instructed his son Nikolai Alekseevich, the future Emperor Nicholas II, "to start building a continuous railway through the whole of Siberia, with the aim of connecting the abundant natural gifts of the Siberian regions with a network of internal rail communications." The solemn ceremony of the beginning of the construction of the road took place on May 31, 1891 near Vladivostok. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed on October 18 (October 5, old style), 1916, with the commissioning of a three-kilometer bridge across the Amur near Khabarovsk.

Even before the completion of construction, the Trans-Siberian Railway gave impetus to the development of Siberia; in 1906-1914, more than 3 million people moved to the eastern regions with its help. As of 2017, the Trans-Siberian is the longest railway in the world (9,288.2 km).

By 1916, the framework of the modern railway system of Russia was formed: all the main radii of the railways of Moscow and St. Petersburg were built, in 1908 traffic was launched along the ring railway in Moscow (now the Moscow Central Ring, MCC). The total length of railways, including access roads, exceeded 80,000 km.

IN THE USSR

As a result of the First World War and the Civil War, more than 60% of the railway network was destroyed, up to 90% of the rolling stock was lost. Transportation was restored to the level of 1913 only in 1928.

In the 1920s, the electrification of Soviet railways began. The first electric train was launched on May 13, 1926 on the territory of modern Azerbaijan along the suburban route between Baku and Sabunchi. On October 1, 1929, electric trains connected Moscow and Mytishchi. In 1932, the first electric locomotives were built in the USSR. The construction of a new type of railway for the country also began: on May 15, 1935, the Moscow Metro began to work. Before the collapse of the USSR, he and other subways were subordinate to the People's Commissariat / Ministry of Railways.

Railways played a crucial role during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945: 20 million wagons were transported for the needs of the front, civilians and entire factories were evacuated through them, and the wounded were transported. The railway continued to operate despite the fact that Nazi aircraft dropped 44% of all bombs destined for the USSR on its facilities.

In 1956, the last steam locomotive, P36-0251, was produced in the USSR. By 1980, the railways of the Soviet Union were finally switched to heat and electric traction.

In the 1960s-1980s, railways were especially actively built to the deposits of natural resources in Siberia. In 1984, traffic was opened along the Baikal-Amur Mainline.

In 1984, regular operation of the first high-speed electric train, the ER200, began in the USSR. It ran between Moscow and Leningrad, the speed reached 200 km/h. Travel time was 4 hours 50 minutes, but subsequently reduced to 3 hours 55 minutes.

Russian Railways

In 2001, the reform of railway transport was launched in Russia. As part of it, the Ministry of Railways was liquidated, its economic functions were transferred to Russian Railways OJSC (RZD).

In 2007, as part of the industry reform, freight operators were separated from Russian Railways, including the First Freight Company (privatized in 2011-2012). Since 2010, the largest part of passenger traffic on long-distance trains has been carried out by the subsidiary Federal Passenger Company. Russian Railways has various stakes in commuter transportation operators and a number of other organizations in the industry.

On December 17, 2009, a new high-speed train - Siemens Velaro Rus ("Sapsan") - set off on the first commercial flight with passengers between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The minimum travel time for trips is 3 hours 35 minutes. Russian Railways JSC operates 20 ten-car "Sapsan" (maximum speed - 250 km / h) and more than 60 electric locomotives EP20 and ChS200, developing speeds up to 200 km / h. The joint company of Russian Railways and Finnish Railways (VR Group) - Karelian Trains - owns four high-speed trains of the Pendolino type ("Allegro", maximum speed 220 km/h).

Since 2013, Russian Railways has been operating Siemens Desiro Rus (Lastochka) electric trains manufactured in Germany and Russia, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h. They are also used on the MCC (passenger traffic on the Moscow Railway Ring was resumed after an 80-year break in 2016).

Statistics

According to Rosstat, the operating length of public railways in Russia as of 2016 was 86,363.7 km, of which about 44,000 km were electrified. In addition, about 60 thousand km of factory and service tracks adjoin the public network. At the end of 2016, Russian rail transport transported 1 billion 325 million tons of cargo (4 million tons less than a year earlier). Passenger transportation grew from 1 billion 26 million people to 1 billion 40 million people in 2016.

In total, about 1 million people are employed in railway transport, of which 774 thousand are employed by Russian Railways. The average salary in Russian Railways, according to the company's annual report for 2016, is 46,852 rubles.

Regular high-speed traffic (over 200 km/h) has been established on the Moscow-St. Petersburg line (645 km).

Among the main development projects are the expansion of the capacity of the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Mainlines, the development of the Moscow railway junction, including the passenger traffic on the MCC opened in 2016, the development of high-speed communication, the railway infrastructure of Siberia and the Far East.

In August 2017, traffic was opened on the railway line between Zhuravka (Voronezh region) and Millerovo (Rostov region) on the Moscow-Adler highway, bypassing the territory of Ukraine.