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The Baikal- Mainline (BAM)

Why Go? ...... 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 ...... 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 , 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: +5 to Riding the BAM’s snail-paced trains takes you to some Moscow +7 very out-of-the-way places. Only Severobaikalsk on 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

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ake B B ake L L ULAANBAATAR MONGOLI e Komsomolsk-na- Ud Ulan- 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 ’s most exhilarating exhilarating most Siberia’s of hiking routes long-distance Ulkan

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