The Oldest Railway In Russia

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 505.

The St.Petersburg–Moscow mainline is considered to be the oldest and the most outstanding railway in Russia.

In the thirties of the 19th century much was spoken about the necessity of its construction and various projects were proposed by Pravdin, Safonov, Muravjov, Abaza, but all of them were rejected.

In June 1839, the professors of the Moscow Engineering Institute P.P.Melnikov and N.O. Kraft were sent to the USA for the purpose of studying experience gained by the Americans in constructing and operating the railways. Melnikov's report about the results of their trip laid down the basis of the future railway project.

According to this project «chugunka» was planned as a double-track line, 664 km long, with the 5 feet gauge (now the standard), steam powered. The speed of passenger and freight trains was supposed to be 34.4 km/h and 16 km/h respectively.

The construction began in 1843 and lasted 8 years. From the very beginning the builders faced many hardships because of severe climatic and difficult geological conditions. Hundreds of kilometers of track were laid down through forests and marshes, many rivers were crossed. It should be noted that the line is virtually straight and level. 185 bridges and 19 viaducts were built to make the line as straight as possible. There is a legend that the route of the railway was chosen by the tsar Nikolay I, who took the map and the ruler, drew a straight line between the two cities on the map and ordered this line to be the route of the railway. But the fact is that the construction of the line was preceded by long and thorough surveying work.

The railway was officially opened for public traffic on November 1, 1851. The speed of the first trains was 40 km/h but two years later it was increased up to 60 km/h. It was the world's record in the speed of passenger trains.