Northern Baikal area - Baikal-Amur Mainline

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Nowadays BAM is being recalled without that prayerful aspiration in words and without enchanting lofty degrees. There appeared essays, economic revelations, and figures that strike the eyes. On the other hand, even if there are ten times as more the cases of errors and unfinished ideas, would only this fact, that there's a problem of people who arrived here for something, who worked here to everybody's surprise, and who are not intending to leave even now, thinking that this land belongs to them, help to solve their problem.

What has BAM been built for? What did thousands of people get over unbelievable hardships constructing the railroad for? Why was it necessary to spend a lot of money and strain the power of the whole country? Was it justified? But if you ask this question to a sailor, spaceman, or Bam-builder, you would probably hear the answer: "The road is life, and life doesn't need justification".

A lot of people have lived their best years here and still live here. Is it necessary to speak about the fact that everything has been for nothing? They were difficult years, months, days, hours, minutes… But they were happy as well, because they were the years of youthful ardor.

While preparing this material we looked over a great number of photos. See, there are lots of people depicted on them with various faces, eyes, and smiles. Some were thoughtful, some were merry, but we have never seen people with malicious eyes and indifferent faces. So, they have spent their years of life for nothing and senselessly suffered? Of course, they haven't!

That's all! The rail-bed has joined
And the last gallery has been laid out
The "golden link" is shining
That's what you've been dreaming about for 10 years

And when the orchestra will thunder
You'll get it that in the showers and dust
We've found the best road of our life
And that was about the time to find to.

We had a multitude of hardships
But now calmly have a look back
The construction would easily go without us,
But we cannot go without it!

We will try to tell you a little about BAM, or rather its Buryat part, where the railroad went through the North Baikal area. This way or another, we are all here connected with BAM, which doesn't exist any more, as it is a part of East-Siberian Railroad now. Still, we proudly call ourselves BAM-residents and will call ourselves this way for the years to come. Though we do criticize and tell funny stories about our previous stage of life, still there's definite portion of pride in the word "BAM-builder".

Here you can find interesting and useful information about BAM railroad.

English version of BAM article. Translated by Andrew Bobylo, Foreign Relations Department Far Eastern Technical University

BAM History Geography Buryat BAM