page_title: Circum-Baikal Railway
section_title: Current condition
hierarchical_section_title: Circum-Baikal Railway / Current condition
context_page_description: The Circum-Baikal Railway is a historical railway in the Irkutsk region of Russia. It runs along the Northern shore of the Southern extremity of the lake from the town of Slyudyanka to the Baikal settlement. Until the middle of the 20th century the Circum-Baikal railway was part of the main line of Trans-Siberian Railway; later on, however, a duplicate section of the railway was built. Sometimes called a unique achievement in engineering, the Circum-Baikal is one of the picturesque sights of the area around Lake Baikal.
context_section_description: At the present time the Circum-Baikal Railway is the name of an 89-km–long branch covering the route Slyudyanka-2–Kultuk–Maritui–Baikal. Four stations are currently in operation: Kultuk, Maritui, Ulanovo, and Baikal, with one section of double track at 137 km. The Circum-Baikal contains thirty-eight tunnels with a total length of 9063 m (the longest of them, a tunnel through cape Polovinnyj, is 777.5 m long). There are also 15 stone galleries with a total length of 295 m and 3 ferro-concrete galleries with apertures, 248 bridges and viaducts, and 268 retaining walls. The Circum-Baikal has no equal in Russia as to the richness of engineering constructions. The tunnels and stone galleries of the Circum-Baikal are unique in that they were constructed atypically and have not been reconstructed since, conserving the initial plan of architects and engineers of the beginning of the century.
  Kilometers on the modern Circum-Baikal are traditionally measured from the Irkutsk exchange station, which until 1934 was the administrative border between the Tomsk railway and the Transbaikal Railway. The Baikal station is thus located 72 km from this datum point, and the Slyudyanka-2 station, at 161 km.
  In the 1980s and 1990s, measures were begun to reconstruct and strengthen the railway. Currently, normally one train a day (a diesel locomotive and two cars) runs on the railway. The duration of the trip from Slyudyanka to the Baikal station is four hours and forty minutes. The inhabitants of the trackside settlements call the train a передача, or "transfer", reflecting the value of this transport for the supply of necessary articles such as bread, salt, matches, vodka, and tobacco. Another name given to the train is мотаня (so called because the train rushes or мотается between stations). In addition, tourist trains periodically pass along the Cicum-Baikal, including steam locomotives and retro-style cars. Tourists can also rent handcars.
  By a decision of the Irkutsk regional council on December 21, 1982, the section of the Circum-Baikal from Baikal station to Kultuk station was declared an architectural and scenic reserve (it is now part of the Baikal National Park) and put under State protection. Beginning in the early 1980s the tourist potential of the Circum-Baikal Railway began to come into its own (the stations, however, were used to a limited degree since the railroad's inception as an area for dachas and recreation).  A series of tourist areas are in operation ("Taiga" at 134 km, "Sensation" at 102 km, "Coniferous" at 98 km, "Retro" and the "Silver Key" at 80 km.
  Along with actual railway sights, tourists on the Circum-Baikal route are attracted by the numerous nature reserves, including the rocky formations such as "Белая выемка". In the settlements along the Circum-Baikal, especially in Maritui, a number of early twentieth-century items in the modernist style are preserved.
  The following establishments are also located on the Circum-Baikal:
  at 80 km: a research experimental base, the Center for Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage
  at 106 km: the base of a nuclear research institute
  at 119–120 km (Maritui): a research area for students of the Biological and Soil Studies Department of the Irkutsk State University
  The 100th anniversary of the railway was celebrated in the autumn of 2005. For this event the Baikal station was reconstructed, in which an exhibit was opened, devoted to the Circum-Baikal. The Sludyanka station was also rebuilt.
caption: Tunnel on the Circum-Baikal Railway
exif: {}