Ukrainian saboteurs blow up Baikal-Amur Mainline (Russia)

[randyrippley]

MSN

Ukraine's security service has blown up the Baikal-Amur Mainline

Ukraine's security service has blown up the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), a critical railway connecting Russia and China.

The sabotage occurred during the night of November 29 in the Russian region of Buryatia.

According to exclusive information obtained by Ukrainska Pravda through its sources within the security forces, the explosion targeted the Severomuysky Tunnel, the longest in Russia at over 15 kilometers.

The source revealed that this particular railway route is vital for Russia, serving as the primary connection for military supplies between the two nations.

The detonation reportedly involved four explosive devices strategically placed along the path of a freight train, causing significant damage.

The aftermath has prompted a response from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), reportedly on-site assessing the situation.

Railway workers are frantically attempting to mitigate the consequences of what appears to be a meticulously planned SSU special operation.

Ukrainska Pravda's report quotes an unnamed source within the SSU, stating: "Four explosive devices went off during the movement of the freight train.

"Now the FSB is working on the spot, and railway workers are unsuccessfully trying to minimise the consequences of the SSU's special operation."

 

[duesselmartin]

Be careful with sources of parties in conflict.
Any Independent sources to verify this?

 

[HS2isgood]

The transsib is the main, electrified route, BAM is a secondary

 

[Oxfordblues]

The Baikal-Amur Mainline does not connect Russia with China. That would be the parallel Trans-Siberian Railway to the south with branches to Naushki (for Ulan Bataar, Mongolia), Zabaykalsk (for Harbin, China) and Khasan (for Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea)

 

[MarcVD]

The Baikal-Amur Mainline does not connect Russia with China. That would be the parallel Trans-Siberian Railway to the south with branches to Naushki (for Ulan Bataar, Mongolia), Zabaykalsk (for Harbin, China) and Khasan (for Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea)

Indeed. The BAM has been built north of the transsiberian line in order to maintain railway connectivity through the country in case the chinese would attack Siberia. There are some places where the transsiberian line runs dangerously close to the Chinese border. For example, the transsiberian line passes south of Baikal lake, the BAM runs north of it, some 700 km away.

 

[randyrippley]

Be careful with sources of parties in conflict.
Any Independent sources to verify this?

I can't find any, all reports seem to be from Ukrainian news services. But that's pretty much what you'd expect.......the Russians aren't going to admit it, while there won't be any representatives of the free press around there

 

[artemic]

Deutsche Welle have put out an article about the incident (in Russian) here. RIA (the Russian state-owned news agency) reported on a 'fire' in a freight train.
The newspaper 'Novye Izvestia' stated that a freight train of 50 wagons was the culprit, including 44 diesel fuel wagons - one of which was noticed to be smoking.
The operator RZD said in its Telegram channel train traffic was unaffected as it was diverted to another section with a slight increase in journey time.

I would never wish to doubt the journalistic accuracy of the Daily Express but the statement that the BAM is the only rail link between Russia and China is factually incorrect - however the BAM is used for some freight through the eastern port of Vanino.
I can't imagine this will have a huge impact on rail freight overall as indeed the western section of the BAM has had to close before (for example last August when a section of track a few hundred kilometres west of Severomuysk at Kholodnaya was washed out entirely by a dam breaking on the river nearby), and the whole line is under threat from melting permafrost.

 

[edwin_m]

There's a story on Yahoo from "the new voice of Ukraine", which I assume to be an official or unofficial channel of their government.

In a devastating blow, Ukraine’s SBU destroys key railway tunnel connecting Russia & China

Ukraine’s SBU security service carried out an overnight explosion on a key rail route between Russia and China, law enforcement agencies told NV on Nov. 30.

uk.yahoo.com

The explosion is another successful special operation of the SBU, sources said, though the special service has not yet commented on the event.


"In fact, this is the only serious railroad route between Russia and China," sources said.

“And now this route, which Russia uses, among other things, for military supplies, is paralyzed.”

This is probably closer to the original source than the Express, but suggests the Ukrainians themselves may be somewhat lacking in knowledge of the Russian rail network.

 

[randyrippley]

And now it seems they've attacked another train with a view to blocking the route which bypasses the tunnel

Ukraine’s Security Service blows up another train on Russian railway

Another train carrying fuel has exploded in Russia’s Republic of Buryatia as a result of a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) on the Baikal-Amur railway line.

www.pravda.com.ua

Rail havoc in Russia after second explosion in as many days destroys key ‘Devil’s Bridge’ – NV souces

Another fuel train explosion on Russia’s Baikal-Amur Mainline signals the second phase of a strategic operation by Ukraine’s SBU to disrupt this vital railway route, sources told NV.

english.nv.ua

Ukraine's Security Service blows up another train on Russian railway

Another train carrying fuel has exploded in Russia’s Republic of Buryatia as a result of a special operation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) on the Baikal-Amur railway line.

Source: Ukrainska Pravda sources in law enforcement agencies

Details: The source said this explosion was the second stage of a special operation carried out by the SSU to disable this important railway line. The Russians also use it for military logistics.

The first freight train exploded directly in the Severomuysky Tunnel.

The Russians began to use a detour route going through the so-called Devil's Bridge to keep moving. This is what the SSU
anticipated: when the train was passing along this high 35-metre bridge, they activated explosive devices that were planted in it.

According to Russian Telegram channels, six fuel tankers went on fire after the explosion. A fire train was needed to extinguish it.

Quote: "Russian special services should get used to the fact that our people are everywhere. Even in distant Buryatia. "

 

[BRX]

So, the two attacks are on two parallel stretches of the BAM (one in the tunnel, one on the "Devil's Bridge"):



And all this is located where the arrow number 4 is on this map:



The traditional Trans-Siberian route is not affected, so clearly the headlines about the only connection between Russia and China being severed are nonsense.

 

[edwin_m]

The traditional Trans-Siberian route is not affected, so clearly the headlines about the only connection between Russia and China being severed are nonsense.

BBC are picking up the story and appear to be equally incorrect.

Ukraine says it blew up railway in eastern Russia

Explosions are said to have hit trains on the Baikal Amur mainline 500km from the Chinese border.

www.bbc.co.uk

Russia has reportedly begun an inquiry into a "criminal case of terrorism" after the attacks on the Baikal Amur line running to the border with China.

 

[ainsworth74]

The irony of course being that the BAM is the railway the Soviets built due to a fear that a Chinese invasion would quickly sever the Trans-Siberian therefore isn't well connected to China!

 

[BRX]

BBC are picking up the story and appear to be equally incorrect.

Ukraine says it blew up railway in eastern Russia

Explosions are said to have hit trains on the Baikal Amur mainline 500km from the Chinese border.

www.bbc.co.uk

Looking at a map to see where something is, you'd think, would be fairly basic level journalistic fact checking.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Looking at a map to see where something is, you'd think, would be fairly basic level journalistic fact checking.

To be fair, it's not the easiest of things to pin down, unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Open Street Map and Open Railway Map come up in Russian (or Chinese / Cryllic Script etc) rather than English. When you zoom in to read place names you lose regional context, when you zoom out to gain regional context some rail lines are removed. I assume, like OS mapping, the scale for lines being viewable is set somewhere. Tracking down the Trans-Siberian is difficult enough with its various current permutations and historic ones too.

There are just two locations where a large bad act would sever all rail communications between Europe including Russia and Asia including China. All roads may lead to Rome but all east-west railways pass through Taishet (Russia) (on the Trans-Siberian) or Kuytun (China) (on the Trans-Kazakhstan). There are multiple spellings of those places too!

 

[BRX]

If you google the name of the tunnel you can find a Wikipedia page about it which tells you what line it's on. It's not very difficult. I think it took me about 2 or 3 minutes. Doesn't seem like it should be beyond the resources of the BBC.

 

[nwales58]

To be fair, it's not the easiest of things to pin down, unless you have a lot of time on your hands. Open Street Map and Open Railway Map come up in Russian (or Chinese / Cryllic Script etc) rather than English.

Tip: switch to ‘Transport Map’ rendering to see names in Roman script, of larger places at least.

Does not solve the zoom level problem though.

 

[randyrippley]

The Baikal-Amur Mainline does not connect Russia with China. That would be the parallel Trans-Siberian Railway to the south with branches to Naushki (for Ulan Bataar, Mongolia), Zabaykalsk (for Harbin, China) and Khasan (for Pyongyang, Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea)

The maps available online seem to suggest there are three lines linking China to the eastern Trans-Siberian, then further links north to this route. It's entirely feasible that the majority of traffic was heading that way as its a newer route

And by the way - for those complaining about the title of this thread, it's copied from the original newspaper report

 

[rg177]

I've edited the title to clarify which line this is...

 

[357]

This is probably closer to the original source than the Express, but suggests the Ukrainians themselves may be somewhat lacking in knowledge of the Russian rail network

Fortunately the people planning and carrying out these operations are not the people who write news reports.

 

[edwin_m]

Fortunately the people planning and carrying out these operations are not the people who write news reports.

But if they actually were trying to disrupt supplies from China and North Korea they'd have been better hitting somewhere further south. It's not obvious how stopping one route to the Pacific coast helps Ukraine's war aims.

 

[357]

But if they actually were trying to disrupt supplies from China and North Korea they'd have been better hitting somewhere further south. It's not obvious how stopping one route to the Pacific coast helps Ukraine's war aims.

I'm sure it's a long time until we will know the full facts, if ever.

Maybe it's a combination of "this is a location we can hit" and "this will show the russians how deep we can penetrate".

 

[185]

BBC now reporting TWO explosions, one on a bridge, one in the tunnel, deep inside Russia. (iplayer - 1039 BBC News Channel)

 

[randyrippley]

But if they actually were trying to disrupt supplies from China and North Korea they'd have been better hitting somewhere further south. It's not obvious how stopping one route to the Pacific coast helps Ukraine's war aims.

It means the Russians have to deploy troops the whole length of both lines to prevent a recurrence. Troops which now cannot be moved to Ukraine.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

It also means that traffic from the BAM will be diverted to the Trans-Siberian until the line is cleared, causing congestion and delays. The Ukrainians will hope that this slows down deliveries from North Korea.

 

[Vespa]

Destroying tunnels and bridges is far more disruptive than tracks which can be repaired quickly, tunnels and bridges are much harder to fix, forcing Russian troops to redeploy is another side benefit taking troops away from Ukraine.

A lot of Ukrainians speak Russian making it easier to infiltrate and blend in, ethnic Russians Ukrainians have also gone over to the side of Ukraine, Putin's conduct have pushed them over, not many Russians speak Ukrainian making it harder to infiltrate Ukraine.

This is part of an overall strategy to distabilise Russia in an SOE style operation, Russia have taught Ukraine how to do "Maskirovia" well during their years of Soviet/Russian rule.

 

[Calthrop]

Mention of the Baikal -- Amur Mainline always brings to mind for me, my all-time favourite travel writer, Dervla Murphy (died at a great age, in May last year): whose wide-ranging travels told of in her books, included a couple of sojourns during the early 2000's (when things in Russia generally, were rather less ugly than now) in Siberia. Somewhat to her surprise, she fell in love with the area and its people; and, though not a student of railways as such, she had a liking for them -- and quite extensively per her writings, she became a considerable devotee of the BAM: impressed with its scenic splendours, and the feats of engineering and sheer toil which had been necessary for rail-building through same -- and with its diligent and efficient operation, and its taking-seriously of its service to its public, at a time when many features of life in Russia were distressingly "on the skids".

If Dervla were still with us, one wonders what her reaction would have been, to the exploit discussed in this thread. Most likely, her sympathies as regards the present conflict would have been with Ukraine rather than Russia (though with this lady, one could never be completely sure); but one sees her feeling some grief at the harm done to this rail route which she held in high regard -- with this deed's not having any obvious very high degree of relevance to events taking place several thousand miles away.

 

[BRX]

I travelled the trans-siberian in the early 2000s.... and thought I might like to return and do the BAM some day. Sadly, don't know if that will now be possible in my lifetime.

 

[MarcVD]

I travelled the trans-siberian in the early 2000s.... and thought I might like to return and do the BAM some day. Sadly, don't know if that will now be possible in my lifetime.

Same for me. Did the transsib with my wife and a couple of close friends back in 2011. In preparation for this trip, I took russian language evening courses... and continued them for 7 more years. Went back in 2017 to travel by train to Uzbekistan. And then... the end. I'm nearly 65, even if peace comes back tomorrow, it will take at least 10 years to rebuild enough confidence to ensure safe tourism travel again. At that time I will be too old. So I will probably never be back there...

 

[Chester1]

I travelled the trans-siberian in the early 2000s.... and thought I might like to return and do the BAM some day. Sadly, don't know if that will now be possible in my lifetime.

Same for me. Did the transsib with my wife and a couple of close friends back in 2011. In preparation for this trip, I took russian language evening courses... and continued them for 7 more years. Went back in 2017 to travel by train to Uzbekistan. And then... the end. I'm nearly 65, even if peace comes back tomorrow, it will take at least 10 years to rebuild enough confidence to ensure safe tourism travel again. At that time I will be too old. So I will probably never be back there...

The UK and other western countries may maintain travel warning indefinitely. Iran has been off limits for a decades apart from a brief period after nuclear deal in 2015. If the Foriegn Office advises against non essential travel then regular UK travel insurance is invalid and UK airlines and mainstream tour operators won't operate to that country.

I suspect Russia is going to be off limits to all but the most intrepid rail enthusiasts for a generation. If there is a peace and Putin's regime survives Russia isn't going to revert to China's status i.e. safe for most westerners while not being friendly to the west.

 

[artemic]

The Russian state rail operator RZD's official Telegram channel (in Russian) now reporting the Severobaikalsky tunnel has reopened to traffic, including a video ostensibly showing a freight train passing into the tunnel earlier: https://t.me/telerzd/4128 (Note that the Russian railways run on Moscow time even in the depths of Siberia)

❗️Train traffic on the Itykit - Okushikan section of the East-Siberian Railway has been fully restored

At 18.20 Moscow time a freight train passed through the Severomuysky tunnel.

More than 120 people and special equipment were involved in resuming railway communication, as well as eliminating the consequences of the incident.

Train traffic was not interrupted; it was organized along a bypass section with a slight increase in travel time. All passenger trains are on schedule.

If true this would suggest either they've "patched up" the tunnel rather quickly or the explosion wasn't as large as thought...