Tayshet to Sovetskaya Gavan By

TAYSHET TO SOVETSKAYA GAVAN BY BAM 259 Vanino na-Amure Komsomolsk- © Lonely Planet Publications Planet Lonely © Tunnel Severomuysky Severobaikalsk Dzelinda Goudzhekit DURATION: FOUR DAYS, EIGHT HOURS FOUR DAYS, DURATION: „ ( p265 ) ( p265 ) Dzelinda Dzelinda ( p271 ), with ), with p271 ( Severomuysky Severomuysky ( p268 ) Severobaikalsk Severobaikalsk Goudzhekit ( p273 ); its two main-street light- ); its two main-street p273 ( ( p260 ), a victory of Soviet engineer- ), a victory of Soviet p260 ( Komsomolsk-na-Amure to explore Lake Baikal’s to explore stunningly beautiful northand little-visited Soviet monuments and nearby skiSoviet slopes ing over nature ing over from the usual grey houses help break styled Vanino ( p269 ) and tunnel

nicest town, St Petersburg– Tour’ the BAM’s off by taking BAM it to its end near Finish Marvel the 15.3km-long at into the hot springs at a dive Take off the train at Step ROUTE DISTANCE: 4308KM ROUTE DISTANCE:

„ „ „ „ HIGHLIGHTS HIGHLIGHTS „ Other than Lake Baikal’s lovely northern lip, adventures on the BAM reach some very some very Other reach on the BAM than Lake northern Baikal’s lip, adventures lovely The USSR began to implode just as the first carriages began clattering along the BAM’s along the BAM’s began to implode just as the first carriages began clattering USSR The Costing (in today’s terms) roughly US$500 million, the BAM – a ‘Hero Project the Cen- of roughly US$500 million, the BAM Costing (in today’s terms)

„ Everyone knows the Trans-Siberian Railway, but few have heard of the ‘other’ Trans-Sib, its the ‘other’ Trans-Sib, its heard of have Railway, knows the Trans-Siberian but few Everyone places such as Bratsk, Tynda or Komsomolsk-na-Amure. or places such as Bratsk, Tynda feel as though 1991-and-all-that never happened. never as though 1991-and-all-that feel likely your wide-eyed to be surprised to see Locals are out-of-the-way territory. in face struction projects. Nostalgia for the USSR is strong here and many communities look and for the USSR is strong here Nostalgia struction projects. achievement and become dewy-eyed when reminiscing about the comradeship of the con- and become dewy-eyedachievement when reminiscing of the old-time workers you meet on trains and stations often gush with pride over their over gush with pride of the old-time workers you meet on trains and stations often single track, turning the route into an economic white elephant almost overnight. But many elephant almost overnight. an economic white into single track, turning the route extreme temperatures and in some places almost daily earthquakes. and temperatures extreme some of the larger obstacles engineers had to overcome, not to mention mosquitoes, bears, had to overcome, obstacles engineers some of the larger permafrost, bridge-smashing blocking spring floods and the odd mountain the way were and utterly wild scenery viewed from the train window is nothing short of awe-inspiring. short scenery viewed from the train window is nothing wild and utterly Brutal is. it surely feat engineering as the world-class been recognised tury’ – has never construction workers and sport a functionalist remote look. 1970s By contrast the incredibly skaya Gavan on the Tatar Strait. The majority of towns on the line were thrown up to house thrown up line were majority of towns on the Strait. The skayaon the Tatar Gavan snow-splattered mountains and burrows through endless tunnels on its way east to Sovet- through endless tunnels on its way east mountains and burrows snow-splattered Siberian, curls around the top of LakeSiberian, curls around Baikal, cuts through nonstop taiga, winds around ing across almost half of Russia, the BAM begins at Tayshet as a set of points on the Trans- as a set of points at Tayshet begins Russia, the BAM ing across almost half of poor country cousin, the Baikal-Amur (Baikalo-Amurskaya Mainline Stretch- BAM). Magistral; poor country cousin, the

Gavan by BAM Gavan byBAM Tayshet to Sovetskaya TAYSHET TO SOVETSKAYA GAVAN BY BAM amr it. admire form, butyou’llonly have three minutes to reda bright ‘flag’ ontheeastendof theplat- relief against Lenin catching stands metallic the north. with viewsdownonalarge timberportto River onasingle-trackbridgeacross theLena A few kilometres thelineswings after Lena Yakutsk, of thecapital Republic). theSakha onto (andeventually River toLensk Lena for Ust-Kut, istotake ahydrofoil rideupthe your bunkat be an issue. registrationhotel ishalfway,butvisa could tion onZI’stwintowninJapan. Thetown’s tion onlocalwildlife, anartgalleryandasec- Gagarin, butalsohasawell-arranged exhibi- celebrates a local astroscientistfriendof Yury Museum the town’sonemodestattraction, asyouleaveright bringsyouto thestation Ilimsky iron-ore processingtownof fortheclaustrophobic 1960s the trainstation At552km, Baikal. hemminginthenorthernendoftains Lake the next600kmtowardsjagged moun- museum. ethnographical gest attractionisthe Gidrostroitel Porogiye Padunskiye crushingly dreary central(Tsentralny) area, tions: three between you mustchoose Bratsksta- ing wideviewsonbothsides.Ifyouget off 1km-long damatthe330kmmarkpresent- thetopofline actuallycrosses thisgigantic Therailway Station. Bratsk Hydroelectric lake created in1955bythebuildingof the anartificialon theedge of theBratskSea, for p206). (see fromlivelier Krasnoyarsk on dailyservices ing railwaytown.Mostconnectthrough core puristswouldbegininthisuninspir- of start is theofficial theBAM, butonlyhard- (0km ontheBAM and4373kmfromMoscow) The junctionwiththeTrans-Sibat Tayshet toSeverobaikalsk 260 TE ROUTE THE At The onlyreason toleave thecomfortof inonthelineasyoutravel closes The taiga The first major stopsalongtheBAM are Bratsk H OT • Tyhtt eeoaklk THE ROUTE••Tayshet toSeverobaikalsk Ulkan . A2kmwalkdiagonallyuphilltoyour Anzyobi

( h , asprawlingcityof 280,000people (339km)forthedam.Bratsk’sbig- halt(931km),a small buteye- 9am-4pm Mon-Fri) (293kmfromTayshet) forthe Lena (720km; p264 ), thestation (326km)forEnergetik, or Korshunikha-Angarskaya

Angara Village open-air , which not only Zheleznogorsk- Tayshet Yangel is

of of local are toUlan-UdeandIrkutsk.Only flights fromwhereout fortheairport(right) there At from theroad(unencumbered bytunnels). viewsare though Baikal, oftenLake better Nizhneangarsk tothefishingvillage ofSeverobaikalsk This iswhere theBAM From get serious. Severobaikalsk toTynda toiled on the BAM. ating theworkers fromacrosstheUSSRwho there’s asteam commemor- train andastatue the moststrikingalongline,andoutside by themayor’slove of skijumping,isoneof inspiredThunderbirds-style station, itissaid isbeautiful.The northern partof Baikal, Lake and thesurroundingarea, which takes inthe sibly thebeststoponthispartof theroute Severobaikalsk (1029km; p268 ). brief stopatpicturesque mini-spa reaching sometrainsmake Baikal, a Lake Daban tunnel.Aroundhalfanhourbefore era before intothe6km-long youdisappear a full180-degree loop.Hurryforthecam- nerma 2004 after years of severe technical difficulties the longest inRussia andonlycompleted in 15.3km-long more twistsandturnsbring theBAM tothe at station again after bytheshack- aminute’s pause River untilthelineslams into themountains across thefloodplainof theVerkhnaya Angara here save tostretch yourlegs.Trainssnake there’s(1241km) though noreason toget off roconcrete belongingto station 1980s. Thefirst major fer- haltisthelow-rise workers andtheirfamiliesinthe1970s byBAMmunities established construction the trainstopsatleastonceanhourcom- tunnels. Butdespite theregion’s remoteness, terrain alongswitchbacks several andthrough climbs over forested, densely mountainous the mostinteresting of section theline,asit achievement of theBAM. Many considerthis to appreciate thetrulymassive engineering spa at Angara River andthetinyhot-springs delta The sceneryreally improves around The next1300kmgives youampletime Though architecturallyThough ratherunexciting, Kholodnaya Nizhneangarsk 2 (983km),after which thetrackperforms elektrichki Dzelinda Kyukhelbekerskaya Kyukhelbekerskaya , 30kmnorth,thelineskirts (1105km)bytheVerkhnaya (1064km; p265 ) makes pos- Severomuysky tunnel Severomuysky (1142km; p269 ). stopattheEvenk village (1090km) station, look (1090km)station, (1241km). Afew lonelyplanet.com (1400km), Novy Uoyan Novy Goudzhekit Goudzhekit Ku-