How shippers pave the way to Asia bypassing the blurry BAM

Flooding in Buryatia, which washed away the tracks of the East Siberian Railway north of Lake Baikal, stopped freight traffic at BAM for a week. Passenger trains bypass along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and after the restoration of the highway, passengers are transferred by buses between the terminal stations of the affected haul. The authorities of Buryatia estimate the damage from cargo demurrage at billions of rubles, but large shippers are still finding workarounds, redirecting cargo to the Trans-Siberian Railway and to the ports of Primorye.

In the Severo-Baikalsky region of Buryatia, due to abnormal rains on August 19, the Kholodnaya River overflowed its banks. It washed away the bridge on the BAM and the embankment adjacent to it on the Nizhneangarsk-Kholodnaya section of the East Siberian Railway, and the dam was destroyed. From 10:20 local time, traffic on the stage is blocked.

In total, about a kilometer of the canvas and ten poles of the contact network were damaged. “Quickly eliminating the consequences of the erosion of the railway is hampered by the continuing high level and speed of the flow of the river that has overflowed its banks,” the source said. Russian Railways. In total, it is necessary to restore 1.8 km of the canvas, 1.2 km of the contact network, 20 supports and a bridge crossing.

JSC Russian Railways introduced restrictions on the acceptance of goods in the east direction – preliminary for a week, however, the monopoly allows an earlier lifting of the ban.

Loading (except for perishable goods and foodstuffs) is prohibited at Vanino, Vanino-exp., Dyuanka, Dyuanka-exp., Sovetskaya Gavan Gorod and Sovetskaya Gavan Gorod-exp. until August 26th.

Head of Buryatia Alexei Tsydenov in his Telegram channel said that the damage to the economy from idle cargo would amount to “billions of rubles.” But the shippers interviewed by Kommersant generally found a way out and send cargo to the Trans-Siberian Railway and to the ports of Primorye.

So, in NTK (the railway operator of SUEK and EuroChem), Kommersant was informed that they redistributed freight traffic against the background of restrictions imposed in the direction of Vanino, where the Daltransugol terminal owned by the company is located. “We exported coal to Daltransugol from four regions: Kuzbass, Khakassia, Buryatia and the Khabarovsk Territory,” they say. Transsib), in particular, to our terminal “Small Port” in Nakhodka. We will send cargo from Buryatia and the Khabarovsk Territory, as before, to Vanino.” The company expects that restrictions in the direction of Vanino will be lifted “in the near future” and cargo flows will continue as before.

Mechel explained to Kommersant that Yuzhny Kuzbass for the period from August 20 to 26, due to the erosion of routes in Buryatia, will reorient the transportation of coal from the BAM to the Trans-Siberian Railway towards Primorye, as well as to the metallurgical enterprises of the Russian Federation located to the west. A convention was also introduced at Nakhodka and a number of other points at the end of the Trans-Siberian until August 26, however, as Russian Railways explained, loading is limited due to the failure of unloading by sea terminal operators and the accumulation of wagons and, judging by the text of the convention, it does not apply to large coal terminals in the region .

The movement of passenger trains was initially organized by a bypass route along the Trans-Siberian Railway. Thus, trains traveling from east to west were re-formed at the Kichera station and sent around along the Tynda-Bamovskaya connecting branch. The trains going from west to east were reformed at the Severobaikalsk station and launched along the Trans-Siberian Railway through Taishet, Irkutsk and Chita.

Work on backfilling the damaged dam to return the Kholodnaya River to its course began on 20 August. According to Mr. Tsydenov, 226 people and 64 units of equipment were involved in them.

The road between Severobaikalsk and Kichera was restored on August 21, and Russian Railways organized the transportation of passengers between the stations by buses.

“Trains will now reach the stations that limit the section,” the company explained. “This is much faster than bypassing the Trans-Siberian Railway.” The company planned to transfer 250 passengers per day.

At the same time, JSC Russian Railways began laying a new track next to the damaged line: “Without waiting for the water to subside completely, they began to drain the soil and form an embankment.” About 200 people, as well as 40 dump trucks, 7 bulldozers and a grader, are involved in the cleanup of the consequences of the washout from Russian Railways. Mr. Tsydenov clarified that in addition to the forces of Russian Railways, 10 dump trucks, an excavator, a 72-ton bulldozer were attracted, and later 15 more dump trucks and an excavator joined.

This is not the first major flood in Eastern Siberia affecting rail infrastructure. So, in 2019, two waves of devastating floods in the Irkutsk region affected including Tulun and Nizhneudinsk, through which the Trans-Siberian Railway passes. The costs of Russian Railways to eliminate the consequences then amounted to 1.4 billion rubles.

In 2021, heavy rains and floods in the Trans-Baikal Territory led to the destruction of the railway bridge on the Kuenga-Ukurei section of the Trans-Baikal Railway, traffic along the Trans-Siberian Railway was stopped in both directions (see “Kommersant” dated July 23, 2021). A new railway bridge to replace the collapsed one was put in place in 2022. Over 1.4 billion rubles were allocated for the construction, 2.4 km of track were laid, 70 contact network supports were installed.

Natalya Skorlygina, Evgeny Zainullin