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The Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM)
Why Go? Bratsk ...... 254 Most people know the Trans-Siberian Railway, but how Severobaikalsk ...... 255 many can say they’ve heard of the ‘other’ Trans-Sib, its poor Tynda ...... 259 country cousin, the BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline, or Baikalo- Amurskaya Magistral)? The branch line to end all branch Komsomolsk-na- Amure ...... 261 lines, the BAM begins as a set of points at Tayshet, and ends over 4200 lonely kilometres further east at Sovetskaya Ga- van, passing through some jaw-slackeningly off -the-map places en route. As great railway journeys go, this is a Soviet epic, a rail-clanging odyssey you’ll never forget. Route Info But it’s a miracle the BAM was ever built at all. Costing billions of dollars and declared a ‘Hero Project of the Cen- » Distance: 4287km tury’, construction was fraught with seemingly insurmount- » Duration: Four days one able diffi culties. The line opened fully in 1991, just as the hour USSR collapsed. Today only a handful of trains ply the route. » Time zones: Moscow +5 to Riding the BAM’s snail-paced trains takes you to some Moscow +7 very out-of-the-way places. Only Severobaikalsk on Lake Baikal is geared up for visitors. Best Places to Stay When to Go » Baikal Trail Hostel (p257 ) Tynda » Biznestsentr (p 263 ) °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm » Zolotaya Rybka (p 257 ) 30/86 6/150 20/68 » Hotel Taiga (p 255 ) 10/50 4/100 0/32 » Hotel Olymp (p257 ) -10/14 -20/-4 2/50 -30/-22 -40/-40 -50/-58 0 J FDNOSAJJMAM
Mar Ponder the Sep–Nov Avoid Sep & Oct Watch weird shapes the crowds and larch trees around into which Lake ticket shortages Lake Baikal’s Baikal freezes of summer by tak- north fill the from the shore at ing an autumn trip landscape with Severobaikalsk. along the BAM. autumnal gold. 251 tar y T a it y
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m ur R R ur m Primorsk Sovetskaya A A e Sikhote-Aline Sibirtsevo Nature Reserve Vysokogornaya Spassk-Daln Bikin Verkhnaya Vyazemskaya Sea of Japan Ussuriysk Vladivostok Khabarovsk Amursk Slavyanka n Litovko Bratsk Dam Bratsk e Lake Khanka Gaivaro Great Baikal Trail Baikal Great a Territory NORTH KOREA Dalnerechensk Evoron Trekking a rugged section section a rugged Trekking Khabarovsky Birobidzhan Tyrm Leninsk To Nikolaevsk-na-Amur the top of the of the top 6 of the of between Baikalskoe (p 259 ) 259 (p Baikalskoe between Turbaza and Echo (p 254 ) Novy Urgal Arkhara THE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE (BAM) THE BAIKAL-AMUR MAINLINE (BAM) A Bureya Jewish Region Hƒ'›rb¸n Zavitaya Komsomolsk-na-Amur Poyarkovo RUSSI Belogorsk Autonomous Amur Svobodny Region Fevralsk (p 260 ) in the 260 (p CHINA Verkhnezeysk To B›ij¸ng H‰ihé Magdagachi Looking out across the out across Looking Blagoveshchensk BAM capital, Tynda capital, BAM BAM Museum BAM 5 Bratsk Sea from a BAM train train a BAM from Sea Bratsk trundle across as you window Tynda Skovorodino Reynovo
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Krasnokamensk Priargonsk y Zabaikalsk Sretensk Yuktali Yerofei Pavlovich Borzya Chernyshevsk Priiskovaya Territory Khani (p 261 ), with Soviet t Novaya Chara Zabaikalsk Olovannaya Soaking up all things BAM BAM up all things Soaking Kuenga Tarskaya Kuanda o Shilka 4 at the varied and welcoming and welcoming at the varied Amure Nanai and nearby monuments villages e Bukachacha District Main Trans-Siberian Route Baikal-Amur Mainline Trans-Mongolian & Trans-Manchurian Routes Other Railway Lines Taksim Chita Autonomous Aginsky Burya Severomuysk A y Mogzon Khilok Tunnel Nizhneangarsk Frolikha Adventur Coastline Trail Novy (p 258 ), (p 258 ), one Uoyan To B›ij¸ng Buryat
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ake B B ake L L ULAANBAATAR MONGOLI e Komsomolsk-na- Ud Ulan- Kyakhta Touring the BAM’s the BAM’s Touring Darkhan Severobaikalsk Baikalskoe Island Tankhoy Olkhon 3 nicest town, St Petersburg- town, nicest styled Coastline Trail Trail Coastline of Siberia’s most exhilarating exhilarating most Siberia’s of hiking routes long-distance Ulkan Lena Irkutsk Naushki
Baikalsk Sükhbaatar 0 500 km miles 0 500 0 300 Great Baikal Trail Polovina Angarsk Sea a Angarskaya Bratsk Korshunikha- Slyudyanka Zim Usole-Siberskoe Tulun Bratsk Nizhneudinsk Frolikha Adventure Adventure Frolikha Region Irkutsk Tayshet Getting into hot water at hot water Getting into boots Bagging up your Territory Tuva BAM BAM Highlights 1 2 northern Baikal’s mini-spas northern Baikal’s the for (p 260 ) for a spot of R&R a spot of ) for 260 (p Siberian-style Krasnoyarsky Kansk Republic