Kuibyshev Railway

 

The Kuibyshev Railway is among the country’s largest mainlines. It links European Russia with the economically vital regions of the Urals and Middle Asia. It runs across three republics (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Mordovia) and seven regions (Ryazan, Penza, Tambov, Chelyabinsk, Ulyanovsk and Samara).

The Kuibyshev Railway is one of the oldest Russian railways. Its history dates back to the Morshansk-Syzran line put into operation in 1874. This line was 485 versts (about 520 km) long; it operated 42 steam locomotives, 47 Morse apparatus, 530 freight carriages, 52 passenger cars and 15 baggage cars.

In 1875, the decision was taken to span the Volga River by a bridge at Syzran, a town 40 km from Samara. Nikolay Apollonovich Belelyubskiy, an outstanding Russian scientist and bridge engineer was in charge of construction works. The special importance of the bridge was that this was the only rail link between Central Russia, on the one hand, and Siberia and Turkestan, on the other. As bridge construction was a matter of national importance it was personally supervised by Tsar Alexander the Second. 7 million gold roubles were spent to carry out the project.

The inauguration of the bridge took place on August 30, 1880. Until 1919, its official name was Alexander Bridge. For a long period of time, it was a unique engineering structure – the 1.5 km girder bridge¹ had 13 spans 110 meters each. Since 1957, railway traffic has been carried on the double-track line.

These days, the Kuibyshev Railway as a branch of RZD JSC (Joint-Stock Company) provides sustainable development² of the Volga-Urals economic region. It has five divisions: Samara, Ruzaevka, Penza, Ulyanovsk, Bashkiria. The operating length of the mainline is 11.5 thousand km (the total length of the Russian railways is 85 thousand km), 7.2 thousand km are main-line tracks. There are over 330 stations, including six marshalling yards. The railway operates 23 locomotive and car depots to maintain and repair rolling stock.

Freight traffic is a top priority for the Kuibyshev Railway. Among the most important goods transported are oil and oil products, chemicals, timber, cement, construction materials, automobiles, etc. Annually, over 60 mln tons of freight is carried by the Kuibyshev Railway. The introduction of advanced technologies into rail industry ensures safe and timely delivery of goods.

More than 30 mln people are transported by our railway every year. Passenger traffic is provided by long-distance trains, including named trains, as well as by local trains. Electrical multiple-unit trains (EMUs) are very popular among people living on the territory served by the Kuibyshev Railway. Every year, 25 million people travel by commuter trains.

 

Notes: ¹girder bridge – мост с балочным пролётным строением;

²sustainable development – устойчивое развитие.

 

Ex. 11. Answer the following questions. Be careful: one question has nothing to do with the content of the text. You are free to choose between giving your answer and skipping the question.

1. What republics and regions does the Kuibyshev Railway run across?

2. When was the first section of the line put into service? What towns did it connect?

3. What was the length of the Morshansk-Syzran line?

4. How many marshalling yards were there on this line?

5. When was it decided to build a bridge across the Volga River?

6. Why was this construction a matter of national importance?

7. What was Nikolay Apollonovich Belelyubskiy?

8. Were the construction works sufficiently financed?

9. When was the official opening held?

10. Was Alexander Bridge a unique engineering structure? Prove it.