Circum-Baikal railway

Author: Dimitry Paranyushkin (on 21 Aug 2009)

 

This is Circum-Baikal railway, which goes along Baikal lake from Slyudyanka (1 hour from Irkutsk) to Port Baikal (which is just across Angara river from Listvyanka - 1 hour from Irkutsk). It is a very interesting railway, because of its many tunnels, bridges, and beautiful views on Baikal. It was built about 100 years ago by architects from all over the world, and it was the greatest challenge for Russian railways to build it then.
Nowadays, there are a few trains every week that bring products to the village along the railway. There are also many tourists taking the train in Summer. Some people like to hop off in one of the villages, trek along the railway, and camp overnight. The main way of recognizing where you are on this railway is kilometer marks. Every kilometer has a story. For example 110 km is considered to be a nudist beach, and at the 107 km there's the longest tunnel on the railway. In fact, this railway is only 70 km long, but the distance is counted from Irkutsk, hence all the 100s




 

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