The Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM)
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©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd The Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) Includes Why Go? Bratsk ..........................241 Most people know the Trans-Siberian Railway, but how Severobaikalsk ...........242 many can say they’ve heard of the ‘other’ Trans-Sib, its poor Tynda ..........................246 country cousin, the BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline or Baikalo- Komsomolsk-na- Amurskaya Magistral)? The branch line to end all branch Amure ........................ 247 lines, the BAM begins as a set of points at Tayshet and ends more than 4200 lonely kilometres further east at Sovetskaya Gavan, 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 ¨ Distance: 4287km billions of dollars and declared a ‘Hero Project of the Cen- tury’, construction was fraught with seemingly insurmount- ¨ Duration: Four days, one able difficulties. 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 for visitors. Best Places to Stay When to Go ¨ Baikal Trail Hostel (p243) Tynda ¨ Biznestsentr (p249) °C/°F Te mp Rainfall inches/mm 30/86 6/150 ¨ Zolotaya Rybka (p243) 20/68 10/50 ¨ Hotel Taiga (p242) 4/100 0/32 ¨ Hotel Olymp (p243) -10/14 -20/-4 2/50 -30/-22 -40/-40 -50/-58 0 J FDM A M J J A S O N Mar Ponder the Sep–Nov Avoid Sep & Oct Larch weird shapes summer crowds trees around Lake into which Lake and ticket short- Baikal’s north fill Baikal freezes ages with an the landscape with from the shore at autumn trip along autumnal gold. Severobaikalsk. the BAM. ) ) ) ) AM AM AM (B (B (B AINLINE AINLINE AINLINE M M M MUR MUR MUR A A A BAIKAL- BAIKAL- BAIKAL- THE THE THE hts IG hl T HIG BAM Highlights 1 Getting into hot water at Coastline Trail (p244), one (p247), with Soviet BAM Museum (p246) in the the top of the Bratsk Dam northern Baikal’s minispas of Siberia’s most exhilarating monuments and nearby Nanai BAM capital, Tynda (p242) (p247) for a spot of R&R long-distance hiking routes villages 5 Looking out across the 6 Trekking a rugged section Siberian-style 3 Touring the BAM’s nicest 4 Soaking up all things BAM Bratsk Sea from a BAM train of the Great Baikal Trail 2 Bagging up your boots town, St Petersburg-styled at the varied and welcoming window as you trundle across (p245) between Baikalskoe for the Frolikha Adventure Komsomolsk-na-Amure and the Echo turbaza Neryungri To Nikolaevsk-na-Amure r Tata Yuktali e Stra Krasnoyarsky Khani iv 0500 km RUSSIA R Territory 0300 miles r Khabarovsky ur it Severomuysky Territory m Novaya Verkhnezeysk A Tunnel Tynda Chara Evoron Vysokogornaya Korshunikha- Irkutsk Lena Novy Kuanda Angarskaya Region Severobaikalsk Uoyan Taksimo Komsomolsk-na-Amure Severomuysk Bamovskaya Skovorodino Fevralsk Sovetskaya Kansk Bratsk Novy Gavan Ulkan Nizhneangarsk Yerofei Pavlovich Magdagachi Urgal Amursk Frolikha Adventure Zabaikalsky Amur Tayshet Baikalskoe Verkhnaya Bratsk Coastline Trail Territory Reynovo Region Ekon Sea Great Baikal Trail Khakusy Nizhneudinsk Svobodny Litovko Belogorsk Tyrma aikal Bukachacha Khabarovsk Tulun B Zavitaya Birobidzhan Bureya Zima Olkhon Chernyshevsk Buryat Blagoveshchensk Arkhara Island Lake Kuenga Sretensk H‰ihé Polovina Republic Poyarkovo Vyazemskaya Tuva Chita Shilka Priiskovaya Leninsk Usole-Siberskoe Ulan- Mogzon Jewish Primorsky Republic Angarsk Ude Tarskaya Bikin Territory Irkutsk Autonomous Onokhoi Olovannaya Argun River Region Sikhote-Aline Nature Reserve Khilok Aginsky Buryat Borzya Priargonsk Slyudyanka Tankhoy Dalnerechensk Ternei Autonomous Krasnokamensk Baikalsk Petrovsky- CHINA Zavod District Zabaikalsk Lake Naushki Kyakhta Khanka Sibirtsevo Sükhbaatar Gaivaron Spassk-Dalny Darkhan Hƒ'›rb¸n MONGOLIA Main Trans-Siberian Route Ussuriysk Baikal-Amur Mainline Nakhodka Trans-Mongolian & ULAANBAATAR Trans-Manchurian Routes Vladivostok Slavyanka Other Railway Lines NORTH Sea of Japan To B›ij¸ng To B›ij¸ng KOREA.