Obskaya – Karskaya railway line

Obskaya – Karskaya
Route length:	572 km
Gauge :	1520 mm ( Russian gauge )
Legend Arctic Circle Railway from Tschum 0 Obskaya Arctic Circle Railway to Labytnangi 19th Rasjesd No. 1 32 Charbei 37 Rasjesd No. 2 57 Rasjesd No. 3 (out of order) 72 Longotjogan 76 Rasjesd No. 4 90 Jamto (dismantled) 110 Shchuchya 112 Rasjesd No. 5 128 Rasjesd No. 6 (dismantled) 146 Rasjesd No. 7 (dismantled) 157 Skalnaya 168 Rasjesd No. 8 (dismantled) 189 Pajuta to Nowy Port (planned) 193 Jonsoryacha 200 Rasjesd No. 9 (dismantled) 222 Kanary (Rasjesd No. 10) 224 Yorkatajacha 247 Rasjesd No. 11 (out of order) 267 Khralov (Rasjesd No. 12) 283 Sosyangtosjo 291 Rasjesd No. 13 312 Rasjesd No. 14 (dismantled) 331 Vladimir Nak (Rasjesd No. 15) 333 Juribei Bridge 346 Rasjesd No. 16 (dismantled) 365 Sochonto 376 Rasjesd No. 18 400 Razjesd No. 19 424 Rasjesd No. 20 438 Jassoweito 456 Rasjesd No. 21 (dismantled) 466 Rasjesd No. 22 (dismantled) 486 Rasjesd No. 23 507 Rasjesd No. 24 (dismantled) 525 Bowanenkowo to Tambei / Sabetta (planned) 552 Rasjesd No. 25 557 Razjesd No. 26 572 Karskaya 678 Charassawei (under construction)

The Obskaja – Karskaja railway line ( Russian Желе́зная доро́га О́бская - Ка́рская ) is the northernmost operating railway line in the world: It runs completely north of the Arctic Circle . The railway is used to transport material and personnel in order to develop oil and gas fields in the catchment area of ​​the line, to build a pipeline to Uchta and in future to transport gas condensate to the south.

geography

Geographical location

The new line runs in the north-west of the Asian part of Russia , from the lower Ob to the Yamal Peninsula . The line branches off from the “ Arctic Circle Railway ” at Obskaja station , today's Chum - Labytnangi line , which is operated by the Russian Northern Railway . Obskaya station is 15 kilometers before the end of the route at Labytnangi, and around 10 kilometers as the crow flies from Obskoi River from the Obskoi River.

course

The route leads in a predominantly north-easterly direction along the north-western edge of the West Siberian lowlands and through the eastern foothills of the Polarural . It reaches the Jamal Peninsula and approaches the Baidarata Bay of the Kara Sea , the shore of which it follows about 30 kilometers away. It then swings in a north to north-northwest direction and crosses the tundra plains of the Yamal peninsula until it reaches its current endpoint Karskaya about 50 kilometers north of the settlement of Bowanenkowo .

In its course, the route crosses numerous rivers, which requires 70 bridges with a total length of 12 kilometers.

history

Soviet era

The railway line was designed in the first half of the 1980s after huge oil and gas deposits were discovered on the Yamal Peninsula , in particular the Bovanenkovskoye oil and gas condensate deposit . This is one of the richest in Russia. In 1986 the then state-run Jamaltransstroi (Jamal traffic construction) began construction. The project - similar to the Baikal-Amur-Magistrale (BAM) in the 1970s - was to be made into an " All Union - Komsomol Object ", but this no longer came about due to the incipient perestroika . Completion was originally planned by the early 1990s. With the political and economic crisis in the period of the collapse of the Soviet Union , due to technical difficulties in building the route through practically uninhabited area and due to the postponement of the dates for the development of the Yamal oil and gas fields, construction came to a standstill.

Construction resumed

In 1992 Jamaltransstroi was converted into a joint stock company, which initially preserved the condition of the facility. By 1997, over 300 kilometers had been routed, the tracks were laid for around 250 kilometers and provisional freight and passenger traffic to the Pajuta station (km 189) was possible.

When Gazprom's plans to develop Yamal became more concrete after the turn of the millennium, the group decided in 2003, together with the Russian Ministry of Railways (MPS) and the administration of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug , on whose territory the entire route runs, to continue building. This was subsequently mainly financed and driven by Gazprom and built by the Yamaltransstroi, which is controlled by Gazprom. Five stations and twelve passing points (Russian: rasjesd ) were built on the route by 2009, and more later. Some of the alternative points used during the construction phase are now out of service or dismantled again.

Second crisis

In September 2009, Gazprom tried to get rid of the route to the RŽD : The chairman of the board of Gazprom, Alexei Miller , offered it to the RŽD for 130 billion rubles (over 3 billion euros at the time), which corresponded to the funds invested in the construction until then. The then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin endorsed the sale, while the railway boss Vladimir Yakunin refused the takeover, as this amount corresponded to almost half of the total annual investment volume of the RŽD and thus exceeded the available funds. The long-term economic efficiency of the operation of the route is also not to be expected.

completion

The Juribei Bridge was opened on September 24, 2009. Since January 10, 2010, the line could be used continuously to Bowanenkowo , since July 2010 to route kilometer 557, in January 2011 provisionally to the current terminal Karskaya and on February 15, 2011 the official opening of the entire route took place.

business

The railway line is operated by the Gazprom subsidiary Gazpromtrans in non-public transport.

Infrastructure

It is single-track and was built in the broad gauge of 1520 mm common in Russia . The maximum permissible speed is 40 km / h.

For the construction of the substructure and superstructure as well as the bridges, special new freezing technologies were used that prevent the permafrost soil from heating up to such an extent that it thaws and becomes unstable during construction. The longest of the bridges on which the route runs is the Juribei Bridge . It crosses the river of the same name and, with a length of 3893 meters, is the longest bridge north of the Arctic Circle worldwide.

vehicles

Diesel locomotives of various series, such as 2TE10 , 2TE116 , TEM2 , TEM7 and TEM18 , bought or rented by RŽD are used as locomotives . The use of new Russian diesel locomotives of the 2TE25K "Pereswet" series is under discussion. Most recently, 20 Kazakh TE33A were purchased, which have been manufactured under license in Nur-Sultan (Astana until 2019) according to the ES44ACI modification of the Evolution Series by GE Transportation Systems since 2009 .

For passenger customary in Russia sleeper predominantly Platskartny cars (third - class , compartment loose couchette ), individual Kupeiny cars (2nd class four-bed compartments) and dining cars used. Wagons and locomotives have their own blue paint in Gazprom's colors.

traffic

The main purpose of the railway is to transport the equipment and supplies necessary for the development of the deposits as well as the removal of extracted raw materials. It is intended to develop various predicted ore deposits in the Polar Urals. The latter includes, for example, Nowogodneje-Monto , a gold-silver-cobalt-copper deposit in the area of ​​today's route kilometer 18 with gold reserves of seven tons.

At least once a week there is a private train that is used to transport Gazprom personnel. An invitation from Gazprom is otherwise required for the ride, which can be obtained from specialized travel agencies . It is reported that Nenets (the indigenous ethnic group ) living on the Yamal Peninsula are allowed to use the trains. In Bowanenkowo they get free medical help.

Northernmost railway line

The line is the northernmost operating railway line in the world and also the northernmost that is part of a route network. The coal railway near Ny-Ålesund on Spitsbergen, which is even further north, has been out of service for decades.

future

Continuation to Charassawei

An extension of the main line from Karskaya north to Charassawei (approx. 100 km) is under construction, where a port on the Kara Sea is to be built on the west coast of Jamal .

Continuation to Sabetta

At the end of 2015, the Yamal-Nenets and Yamaltransstroi Autonomous Okrug signed a PPP agreement for the planning, construction and financing of a branch line of around 170 km to Sabetta . Liquefied natural gas is to be shipped from there and there are also several natural gas reservoirs there. The year 2019 was named as the completion date; the contract has a term of 21 years until 2036. The costs are to be 113 billion  rubles (approx. 1.4 billion euros when the contract is signed).

The line is to branch off from the existing line in Bowanenkowo and lead via Tambei to the new port of Sabetta on Obbusen on the east coast of Yamal. The line is to be built on a single track, but the double-track expansion will be kept open. It should be designed for a speed of 50 km / h.

After the contract expires, the railway infrastructure will become the property of the Autonomous Okrug and possibly be transferred to the RŽD.

The economic importance of this extension results from the discovery of crude oil, which has a high proportion of paraffins and is therefore unsuitable for being transported via a pipeline .

option

A further extension of the route from Pajuta to Nowy Port on Obbusen on the east coast of Jamal is planned for the future ; there is a deposit of valuable highly paraffinic petroleum, Novoportovskoye , which cannot be transported by pipelines ; the route would allow year-round transport (a good 200 km).

literature

• Lukas Burtscher: Obskaja - Karskaja. On the way with the northernmost train in the world . In: Fern-Express 1/2016, pp. 28–31.

Web links

• Jamaltransstroi website (Russian, photos of route construction )
• Yamal. Structure of the mega-project on the Gazprom website (German, English, Russian)
• Photos of the route and operations in the parovoz.com photo gallery (Russian, partly English)
• Obskaya – Bovanenkovo ​​Railroad (English)
• 360 ° - GEO report on arte: The polar orbit . Info and trailer at www.geo.de ; Full length film ( memento from April 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on www.youtube.com

Remarks

1. ↑ According to Burtscher, p. 29: 50 km / h.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} jst: New railway line in northern Russia. In: Eisenbahn-Revue International (6/2010), p. 272.
2. ↑ Article in the press review of the RŽD from April 2, 2007 (Russian)
3. ^ S. Tarchow: New railway lines in the post-Soviet space in Geografija , 3/2000 (Russian, wrong coding)
4. ↑ ^{a b} Railroad Significance for the Yamal Megaproject Implementation on the Gazprom website (English, Russian).
5. ↑ Message  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of the Interfax agency from September 24, 2009 (Russian)  
6. ↑ Article in the newspaper Vedomosti from November 26, 2009 (in the press review of the railway technology manufacturer Transmashholding , Russian)
7. ↑ Gazprom press release of January 10, 2010 (Russian)
8. ↑ Obskaja – Karskaja route became 32 km longer  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   in Gudok on July 20, 2010 (Russian).
9. ↑ ^{a b} gazprom.com: Regular operation of Obskaya - Bovanenkovo ​​railroad to Karskaya terminal station launched , press release of March 1, 2011, accessed on August 25, 2011.
10. ↑ ^{a b c d} Burtscher, p. 28.
11. ↑ ^{a b c} 360 ° - GEO report on arte: The polar orbit (see web links ).
12. ↑ Memorial plaque on the bridge  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Photo, Russian)  
13. ↑ Burtscher, p. 29.
14. ^ Announcements from the Sewer-Press agency ( Memento of the original dated December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from October 21, 2009 (Russian) 
15. ↑ Signpost near the Juribei Bridge  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Photo)  
16. ↑ ^{a b} bac / rp: New railway line on the Russian Yamal Peninsula . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International 7/2016, p. 356 f.
17. ^ Article in the International Railway Journal , accessed January 4, 2016
18. ↑ На Ямале дан старт строительству железной дороги "Бованенково - Сабетта" on правительство.янао of the Russian Autonomous districts. December 30, 2015, accessed January 31, 2016