Circum-Baikal Railway

The Circum-Baikal Railway runs 89 kilometers along the edge of Lake Baikal through mountainous terrain. The route includes 38 tunnels, 18 galleries, and 248 bridges that navigate different obstacles.

The section was built starting in 1899 as part of the Trans-Siberian Railway to go around the lake. Workers used explosives and hand tools under harsh conditions to carve through the rocky landscape.

The railway serves as an open-air museum, showing how engineers solved problems with stone structures and tunnels in the early 1900s. Visitors can observe the creative ways workers adapted their building techniques to the steep shoreline.

Trains run four days a week from Slyudyanka station to Port Baikal. Visitors should arrive early to purchase tickets at the station and secure a good seat for the journey.

The Polovinniy tunnel cuts through 777.5 meters of solid rock and stands as the longest on the entire line. This passage was one of the most difficult sections to build and shows the scale of engineering challenges faced.

Location: Irkutsk Oblast

GPS coordinates: 51.72865,103.72159

Latest update: December 6, 2025 21:21