All year round:

Direction Irkutsk - Sludanka - Port Baikal on Sat

Direction Port Baikal-Sludanka-Irkutsk on Sun

Mid June - early September:

Direction Irkutsk - Sludanka - Port Baikal on Sat, Wed

Direction Port Baikal-Sludanka-Irkutsk on Sun, Thu

The CircumBaikal Railway is the most beautiful rail road of Trans-Siberian Railway. It is a kind of museum of engineering construction and building art. Take a journey of life along old rail road and take delight in beautiful sceneries of Lake Baikal.

CircumBaikal Railway route begins from station Sludanka and ends to station Port Baikal.

Early morning 8:00 a.m. suburb train departs Irkutsk to town of Sludanka, then train follows on the old railroad along Lake Baikal, then ferry or private boat to Listvyanka village and transfer to Irkutsk.

Train goes very slowly 25-30 km/ hour. You have a good opportunity to make collection of photos of Lake Baikal, villages, rail tunnels and bridges. You will be travelling about 4 hours by the train.

It goes along the south-western shore of Lake Baikal. The road is 84km long. It has more than 400 engineering structures, including 39 tunnels with total length 7 300 meters, 14 kilometers of supporting walls, 47 stone and 3 iron galleries.

It is difficult to understand the difference between tunnel and gallery in many cases. Don't make a mistake when count tunnels.

The difference between tunnel and gallery is in construction methods. Tunnels enable to be constructed when mountains impede further progress. Galleries were constructed in deep cavities to protect rail road against landslide. When a gallery builds to a tunnel, it is the whole gallery-tunnel complex.

The longest tunnel

Tunnel "Plovinnyi" is situated on 109-110 kilometers of the way. It is the longest tunnel. Its length is about 800 meters.

The most expensive tunnel

Tunnel "Shumihinskyi" is situated on 10 km of the way. Its length is 299 meters, but cost of running meter is 1656 rubles. Let us compare with another tunnel of the same time. Cost of running meter of another CircumBaikal Railway tunnel is 1266 rubles. The famous Simplon Pass between Switzerland and Italy has length about 20 kilometers, but cost of running meter is about 1060 rubles.

It is amazing!

The most difficult tunnel

Tunnel 18 is situated on 123 kilometer of the way. Its length is 75 meters. After it was constructed, builders had to make over the tunnel because of stream Kirkirei that runs at the west part of the tunnel.

The stream is powerful and fast. Dam and stone water raceway were built.

The most beautiful tunnel

Length of tunnel "Berezovskii" is about 500 meters. Its portal is faced in split stone and has beautiful columns.

History of CircumBaikal Railway

CircumBaikal Railway route begins from station Sludanka and ends to station Port Baikal.

The CircumBaikal Railway was built as a part of Trans-Siberian Railway. The first train came to Baikal station in 1898. Railway Irkutsk - Port Baikal remained dead-end line till 1904. After station Baikal trains crossed Baikal by ferry-boat. After construction of rail road Port Baikal - Sludanka, train route was Irkutsk - Port Baikal - Sludanka. From 1904 to 1956 it was the ordinary but beautiful section of Trans-Siberian Railway. In the middle of 60 years construction of Irkutsk hydroelectric power station was begun. Before beginning of flooding by the reservoir waters the rails were dismantled and the section Irkutsk - Baikal passed into nothingness. The new railway from Irkutsk to Sludanka was built.

The railway was constructed under difficult political and nature conditions. Overflows hampered road building. Workers came from a western part of Russia, mainly, poor peasant. There were a lot of Chinese. Political prisoners worked on the most difficult job. Italian and Albanian builders worked as stonemasons. Working day lasted till sun was shining. In the summer time working day was 16 hours. Working conditions were terrible. Builders fell from rocks, perished under crumbling and because of explosion. Most of it was built without any form of machinery, using cold chisel and sledge-hammers. All building material was delivered by water.

Work on the line began in 1891 and lasted 4 years.

On the 21st of December in 1982 the section from Kultuk

station to port Baikal was announced as Architect and landscape reserve and was taken under the State protection.