Norilsk Railway (russian: link=no, Норильская железная дорога) is a single-track railway and formerly the northernmost railway line in Russia.

Main information

The railway is in northern

Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...

, southern

Taimyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula (russian: Таймырский полуостров, Taymyrsky poluostrov) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administrati ...

and connects the mining towns

Talnakh Talnakh (russian: Талнах) was a town located about north of Norilsk at the foot of the Putoran Mountains in Taymyr Peninsula, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. In 2005 the town was merged into Norilsk. Population: It is the site of the mines se ...

Norilsk Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk, ''Norílʹsk'') is a closed city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located south of the western Taymyr Peninsula, around 90 km east of the Yenisey River and 1,500 km north of Krasnoyarsk. Norilsk i ...

and

Kayerkan Kayerkan (russian: Кайерка́н), located in the northern part of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia and in the southern part of the Taymyr Peninsula, was a town under jurisdiction of Norilsk Norilsk ( rus, Нори́льск, p=nɐˈrʲilʲsk, ''N ...

with the port

Dudinka Dudinka (russian: Дуди́нка; Nenets: Тут'ын, ''Tutꜧyn'') is a town on the Yenisei River and the administrative center of Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetsky District of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It used to be the administrative center of Tay ...

on the

Yenisei The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat language, Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan language, Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas language, K ...

. The railway line has a , and was partially constructed by the prisoners of

Norillag Norillag, Norilsk Corrective Labor Camp (russian: Норильлаг, Норильстрой, Норильский ИТЛ) was a gulag labor camp set by Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia and headquartered there. It existed from June 25, 1935 to Aug ...

. Originally, it was narrow gauge, 114 km long, and built in 1936. Later, in 1953, it was rebuilt to Russian broad gauge and expanded to 231 km of track. The railway is owned by the

Norilsk Nickel Norilsk Nickel (russian: ГМК «Норильский никель»), or Nornickel, is a Russian nickel and palladium mining and smelting company. Its largest operations are located in the Norilsk–Talnakh area near the Yenisei River in the no ...

mining company and does not belong to

Russian Railways Russian Railways (russian: link=no, ОАО «Российские железные дороги» (ОАО «РЖД»), OAO Rossiyskie zheleznye dorogi (OAO RZhD)) is a Russian fully state-owned vertically integrated railway company, both manag ...

From 1957 onwards, the railway was electrified with 3kV DC in stages. Electrical Multiple Units of the ER1 and ER2 series were used for suburban passenger transportation.

VL10 The VL10 (ru: ВЛ10) is an electric two-unit mainline DC freight locomotive used in the Soviet Union and is still operated today by the state owned Russian rail company RZhD, Ukrainian Railways and Georgian Railway. The initials ''VL'' are thos ...

locomotives were used to haul heavy freight trains on the railway. In the 1990s, the railway was in serious decline. In 1998 the electric

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superficia ...

was removed and the electric rolling stock sold off. Diesel locomotives haul freight trains since then, passenger service on the railway was discontinued. In the early 1990s, a paved highway connecting Norilsk with Dudinka was completed. The passenger train service on the Norilsk Line ended in 1998. In 2010 in the

Yamal Peninsula The Yamal Peninsula (russian: полуостров Ямал, poluostrov Yamal) is located in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of northwest Siberia, Russia. It extends roughly 700 km (435 mi) and is bordered principally by the Kara ...

Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...

completed its

Obskaya–Bovanenkovo Line The Obskaya–Bovanenkovo Line is a railway line in northern Russia, built and owned and operated by Gazprom. It was opened for traffic in 2010 and was built for the gas fields around Bovanenkovo on the Yamal Peninsula, the Yamal project. In Fe ...

, which is now the northernmost railway in Russia.

External links

Norilsk railway
o
Sergey Bolashenko's railway site
(Russian)

(Russian) {{Coord missing, Krasnoyarsk Krai Norilsk Railway lines in Russia

Track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

Rail transport in Krasnoyarsk Krai 1520 mm gauge railways in Russia Metre gauge railways in Russia

Main information

See also

External links