Skip to main content

November 30, 2023

 November 30th, the last  day of autumn, my friend’s birthday and 645th day of war. 


Every morning I watch news on YouTube, and learn the exact # of the days of the war. YouTube channels and bloggers  (the ones that are not shown on the government tv) provide lots of info. 

Today I learned of the explosion on BAM (the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM).


Train, probably in Kazan. I didn't have another picture, LOL. 




In Buryatia, a train carriage caught fire during movement in the tunnel, this is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply, citing the Transport Bulletin.

As reported by Censor.NET (website I found online),  SBU operatives were responsible for an explosion. 

The tunnel where it happened was 15 km long, the longest between the others in BAM.

 But what is BAM anyway?


The Baikal–Amur Mainline ( Байкало-Амурская магистраль, БАМ, Baikalo-Amurskaya magistral', BAM) is a railway line in Russia that traversing Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the 4,324 km (2,687 mi)-long BAM runs about 610 to 770 km (380 to 480 miles) north of and parallel to the Trans-Siberian Railway.


The Soviet Union built the BAM as a strategic alternative route to the Trans–Siberian Railway, seen as vulnerable especially along the sections close to the border with China. The BAM's costs were estimated at $14 billion, and it was built with special, durable tracks since much of it ran over permafrost. 

There are 21 tunnels along the line, with a total length of 47 km (29 mi). 

These are among the longest tunnels in Russia.

There are also more than 4,200 bridges, with a total length of over 400 kilometers (250 mi).


The good article about it there

https://www.midnight-trains.com/post/the-baikal-amur-mainline-a-railway-made-in-the-gulag


While I was writing this post, there was a second explosion on BAM.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/9759813/second-ukraine-bomb-putin-railway-north-korea/




Interestingly, the Internet information about BAM is slightly different in different sources. Unfortunately, I don't have time to double-check everything, I mean the length of all bridges and tunnels. If I don’t publish this post today, I wouldn’t do it at all. The blog and my mood about the blog will be outdated. 


Resources:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old New Year

  Do you know what day is today (Jan 13)?  Russians celebrate the Old New Year on the night of January 13-14. How did it happen that Russians celebrate the New Year twice?  Simply by adopting a different calendar. Of course, it was not really simple, but after the October Revolution (1917), the Bolsheviks switched from the Julian calendar to Gregorian one. Because of this, all the dates moved 13 days ahead. The year 1919 began on January 1st but in accordance with the new Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was 2 weeks behind the Gregorian one, as a result of which the celebration of the new year was postponed from January 14th to January 1st. The Old New year isn't an official holiday. There are definitely no people who would remember the old calendar. Russians, by definition, like to celebrate holidays. The more reasons to celebrate, the better. The Old New Year is usually less festive. There may be no more gifts under the tree.  Many Russians will wait until t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Khvorost, recipe

  Journaling 5* It is getting colder but somehow it doesn’t bother me.  Russians say there is no bad weather but lack of right clothes*.   On my lunch break I watch videos of making simple crunchy cookies Khvorost.  I made them numerous times in Russia for kids.  Here, when I need to bring something to a family party, I like to introduce the Russian dishes.  Quite often it can be a dessert. One day I found out that Daniel's brother-in-law loves Khvorost! He called it “crust” or “frost” ….I don’t remember. In Russia, we call these cookies Khvorost** (“Brushwood”). But anyway, he said that his grandmother baked just such cookies. LOL. I am not a Polish grandma but I am familiar with these cookies. Unfortunately, I lost my Russian recipe. So I had to look for a new one, preferably simple and tasty. After a few tries I found the perfect one. Here is a YouTube video of the recipe I used. It is in Russian, but even by watching I believe you can  understand....
Post a Comment
Read more

Where Are You From? A Question I Know Well

  If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, “Where are you from?” — well, I could probably buy a nice little shelf of new books for the library. But time changed, and I changed with it. Before, I would’ve answered right away. Now, I’m more cautious — sometimes even a bit playful — and ask back, “Why?”. Recently, a gentleman on the phone told me that his question (about the accent) was a compliment. “Oh, well… I’m from Russia,” I said. But in my head I thought, Come on, dude, from what planet are you? I’ve been living in the New Bedford area for almost 12 years. I’ve been working at the library for nearly 10 years. And you’ve never heard of the Russian librarian? (Well, technically I am not a real librarian, just a library assistant, but a good one). Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of Russians here. All are good people with families, friends, and jobs. But somehow it feels like I’m the one who’s most “publicly present.”  Working at the library, I meet so many pe...
Post a Comment
Read more