Belarusian Railway (BCh) ( () / ''Biełaruskaja čyhunka'', ) is the national state-owned railway company of

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

. It operates all of the rail transport network in Belarus. As of 2005, the railway employs 112,173 people.

Overview

The company, formed in 1992 after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, is one of the inheritors of the

Soviet Railways The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. It administers 5,512 km of railway with (). The railway's most important station is Minsk Terminal, the central station of the capital. BCh reports to the

ministry of transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

and as of 2010 was composed of 84 organizations; 46 enterprises, 38 institutions, and 7 factories/plants. The rail network is divided into 6 departments: named after the regions around

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

Baranovichi Baranavichy or Baranovichi is a city in the Brest Region of western Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Baranavichy District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has a population of 170,817. ...

, Brest,

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

and

Vitebsk Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...

Rolling stock

;Electric locomotives * ChS4T; Co'Co' electric locomotive *

VL80 The VL80 (ru: ВЛ80) is a Soviet (and later Russian) built electric AC mainline freight locomotive. The initials ''VL'' are those of Vladimir Lenin (ru: Владимир Ленин), after whom the class is named. History Designed by the (en ...

, BCG-1; twin-unit (Bo'Bo')-(Bo'Bo') locomotives ;Diesel locomotives * M62,

TE10 TE10 () is a diesel-electric locomotive from the Soviet Union. The name of this locomotive (ТЭ10) is from ''тепловоз с электрической передачей, тип 10'', which translates to "diesel-electric locomotive type 10 ...

2TE116 The 2TE116 is a broad gauge double diesel locomotive manufactured by Luhanskteplovoz, used extensively to haul heavy freight trains in the Soviet Union and its successor states, particularly by RZD. Variants are still being sold by Transmash; ...

, TEP60,

TEP70 The TEP70 is a main line single-unit diesel locomotive, rated at , with AC/DC transmission and individual axle traction control, designed to haul passenger trains on the Russian gauge railway network of eastern Europe. As of 2022, it is still in ...

ChME3 The ČKD ČME3 is a six-axle diesel–electric locomotive built by ČKD. The class was used primarily for shunting and mainline duties. With over 8,000 produced during a production run of 31 years, it is one of the most produced locomotives in t ...

; Co'Co' diesel electric locomotives * TGK2; two-axle diesel shunter ;Passenger multiple units * DR1; diesel multiple unit * ER9,

Stadler FLIRT Stadler FLIRT (, ) is a passenger multiple unit trainset made by Stadler Rail of Switzerland. The baseline design of FLIRT is an electric multiple unit Articulated car, articulated trainset that can come in units of two to twelve cars with two t ...

(EP^g, EP^r, EP^m); electric multiple units *DP1, DP3, DP6 Pesa; diesel multiple unit for Minsk-Vilnius services.

Stations

International sanctions

Belarusian Railway was included in the sanctions lists of Canada in November 2022 and Ukraine in January 2023, respectively. Canada also blacklisted Vladimir Morozov, the head of Belarusian Railway, as later did the European Union, Switzerland, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand.

Gallery

Notes

References

External links

*, official website Companies based in Minsk Railway companies of Belarus Government-owned railway companies Railway companies established in 1992 Railway companies of the Soviet Union Belarusian brands {{Belarus-transport-stub