HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROJECT
The 809 km line from Berkakit to Tommot and Yakutsk includes 94 bridges, nine of them more than 100 m in length. The line will terminate at Nizhny Bestyakh on the opposite bank of the wide Lena river to Yakutsk, although there are plans to construct a bridge upstream where the river narrows to extend the line into the city.
In the peak years of construction around 123 km of track was laid per year and Transstroy says the line cost around Roubles 110 m ($US 3.3 m) per km to build, significantly below the Russian average of Roubles 200-250 m per km, despite the challenging geological and climatic conditions.
The project has been financed by the federal government, Russian Railways (RZD) and the Sakha republic.
As well as connecting the Sakha capital Yakutsk to the national network, providing reliable year-round transport links to the city, the railway will also provide access to the region’s vast mineral deposits.
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As in most of Yakutia, construction and operation of the railway is complicated by the large temperature variations, ranging from under -60°C in winter to over 35°C in summer, as well as the challenges of building on permafrost in difficult terrain.
The Mainline currently has an official length of 1,213km, branching from the Trans-Siberian railway at Bamovskaya station, near Skovorodino in Amur Oblast. The line continues north, joining the Baikal–Amur Mainline near Tynda and continuing along the BAM for 27km before branching northwards at Bestuzhevo. The railway line in this section crosses the Gilyuy River twice. Shortly after entering the Sakha Republic, the line passes through the 1,300m Nagorny tunnel under the Stanovoy Range.
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