Do I understand correctly that starting from Tuapse the railway turns to the coast and all the beaches, starting from Tuapse to Sochi, border directly on the railway tracks?
Anatoly Almost everything.
In most of Sochi itself, in the center of Lazarevsky, the Adler railway still moves to the side. In many places, the railway is separated from the beaches by a narrow strip of greenery or beach buildings. There are places where the end of the beach abuts an embankment or concrete slope.
Valery Not all. The railway does not lead to Gelendzhik.
Egor The railway towards Sochi worked and works without interruptions. There were interruptions in the Krymsk area in the direction of Anapa and Novorossiysk, but everything is already working.
Gennady Yes, from Tuapse to Adler, see all the beaches overlooking the railway.
But for that matter, local villages and vacationers themselves pollute the beaches much more than the railway. On trains, if there is no dry toilet, Artem toilets are simply closed.
Mikhail To be absolutely precise, then from Tuapse to Mamaika. Basically, the beaches are below, and the railway embankment is above. In many places there are underground passages to the sea. There is nothing wrong with that, on the contrary - swimming in the sea with the sound of wheels is very romantic)).
Victor There are definitely beaches in Adler without a railway. It ends earlier and 2 city beaches are already without it.
Loo (Adyghe. Leup, Abaz. Loo) is a resort microdistrict of the city of Sochi on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus in Lazarevska...
Jul 9, 2013 - I’ll tell you in order where you can spend the night on the road... For example, in Kemerovo we did not dare to stay in a hotel-type house. Dozens of eyes... Record motor rally Murmansk Magadan · The best car for traveling or St. Petersburg - Ulaanbaatar and back to the Ocean...
Do you think the second railway tracks along the Black Sea coast will please vacationers on the beach? | Topic author: Artyom
Igor Vacationers came and left, but people lived. little joy.
Peter I personally would not be pleased.
Yuri Definitely NOT!
Kirill They made me happy
Ruslan they will build the second one and there will be no road near the sea! project for the future of Sochi in the winter theater on the 3rd floor. I cried when I saw it
Arthur, of course... otherwise it’s scary to drive on this narrow-gauge railway...
Peter They may not delight you on the beach, but they will definitely delight your guests! It will be easier to get there!
Edward where else! There is enough dirt from some!
Anatoly For vacationers, as long as there is sea and good weather))))) But for the locals....))))))
Nikolay I’m resting.... I don’t worry about the ways....
Maps of the future Moscow-Kazan high-speed railway have been published - NN.ru
1 Oct 2015 ... As the press service of the Gorky Railway (GZD) reported, participants ... part of the route will pass through the territory Nizhny Novgorod region). ...at the 71st km of the future high-speed railway (on the border of Moscow and Vladimir...
Today we will talk about the history of the appearance of the railway on the Caucasian Black Sea coast. The circumstances and details of this grandiose construction project, which lasted about thirty years, have largely been forgotten, although every day thousands of people, without hesitation, enjoy its fruits. Unlike the construction of the Trans-Siberian, Turksib and BAM, which were widely reflected in the pages of the heroic chronicles of the era, the work on the creation of the Black Sea (later Transcaucasian named after L.P. Beria and North Caucasian) railway, especially in the pre-revolutionary period, is rarely mentioned in history textbooks. However, at one time, this was a grandiose project, the implementation of which required the expenditure of enormous material, human and financial resources.
But first I want to return to the circumstance from which my interest in this voluminous topic arose. I've had it in my collection for a long time old photo Gagra railway station, found on the network. Based on its plot, I wanted to make a photo comparison. And I went to the place to find a similar angle.
Gagra railway station is one of those places in the city where I have not been. Or rather, it was, but a very long time ago, back in my youth. Although there are many vivid impressions left in my memory from those trips, I don’t remember how we rode on the train to Gagra and the station itself. And this seems strange to me now, because I clearly remember many details of the trip: in the bustling crowd we loaded into the PAZ, driving from Gagra to the Fish Factory. My friend and I are sitting on the conductor’s single seat, near the back door, and his father is standing, by the suitcases. At first the bus is packed, but gradually everyone gets off, and only a few people remain with us. My friend’s father is worried, asks me when to go out, and I look carefully out the window, remembering the road along which I had already come to Pitsunda several years before.
But I didn’t even attach any importance to the very fact that we were traveling to Pitsunda from Gagra and then completely forgot. And only many years later I realized with surprise that the place where we boarded the PAZik was the Gagra station.
Perhaps this happened because there seems to be no city as such in the area of the station: this is practically the eastern border of Gagra. Apparently this confused me then. In my opinion, the city station should be located closer to the center, and be closely integrated into the city infrastructure. And here there is only the station square and immediately the highway to Pitsunda.
This location of the station can most likely be explained in this way. The city stretches a narrow strip between the sea and the mountains to the area New Gagra, and this site simply does not have a wide enough space to accommodate a large building, square and numerous sidings. Further on, where the mountains recede and coastline begins to expand, the area was swampy until the sixties. Apparently, this is why the railway embankment itself was laid at a higher level than the highway. And only at the place where the expansion of the Pitsunda lowland begins, the railway line crosses the highway and departs from the mountain, so that after another couple of kilometers it branches off into access roads at the station.
Gagra station appeared in the late fifties. At that time, active resort construction was underway in Abkhazia. From a medical place in Old Gagra (the former Climate Station), and several fishing and collective farm villages, the Gagra resort became a city itself.
Now it is difficult to imagine that in these years, when almost the entire Black Sea coast had already been developed, and the country was gradually switching from steam to electric locomotive traction, the railway was only a few years old when it first came to these parts. Either the significant difficulties in laying the canvas and the cost of the project, or the unspoken resistance within Abkhazia itself, which does not want to change the usual way of life and always gravitates towards some isolation, contributed to this, but the fact remains: during the years of the first rapid development of the Caucasus at the beginning of the 20th century , and then in the shock years of the first five-year plans of the Kuban-Black Sea and Transcaucasian branches railways approached the borders of Abkhazia from the western and eastern sides, but remained a dead end for many more years.
This situation seems all the more strange since the urgent need and economic justification for through railway traffic was clear and expressed repeatedly since the end of the 19th century by many researchers of the Caucasus, Russian entrepreneurs and officials.
... it would be possible to raise the well-being of the city of Sukhum and the entire Sukhumi district by building the Black Sea Railway, at least from the Gagrinskaya climate station to the station of the Transcaucasian Railway, namely to Novo-Senaki. The construction of such a road would serve as a magical means for the revitalization and prosperity of the entire Caucasian Eastern coast of the Black Sea, which is one of the best corners of the world in terms of its climatic and soil conditions. The connection of this area with the general network of railways of the empire can give a powerful impetus to the productive and industrial activity of the entire country and will create conditions when such normal phenomena as supplying the capitals and cities of the empire with horticultural and, in general, agricultural crops from remote places in Europe and little - the Asian coast of Turkey, while in the richest corner of the state in terms of natural gifts, products of local productivity do not find sales or market. ...We must keep in mind that the Black Sea road will save not only the Sukhumi district and the Black Sea province, but also part of the Kutaisi province, which will include such isolated corners as the counties: Zugdidi, part of the Senaki district, the entire Lechkhumi district with the abandoned unfortunate Svaneti. But only the indicated road must pass through Zugdidi, then to Khoni and then towards Kutais... |
At the end of the 19th century, the railway reached the shores of the Black Sea within the Caucasus in only one place - in Novorossiysk. Further south, towards Sochi and Transcaucasia, it was possible to reach only by sea or along the narrow, winding serpentine Novorossiysk-Batumi highway.
In addition to all the other reasons that spoke in favor of the speedy construction of the road, there was also the fact that to Tiflis (Tbilisi) and Erevan (Yerevan) from the European part it was necessary to travel by train through the North Caucasus and Baku, making a considerable detour.
In addition to various options for constructing a trans-coastal road, a less realistic project was also considered - to connect the coast with the North Caucasus with a direct line through the passes with access to the ports of Poti and Sukhum, by building the Elbrus-Black Sea road. This is what K. Machavariani wrote in a descriptive guidebook in 1913:
We say in clear Russian: “Give us the Black Sea Railway for the resorts of the Black Sea coast, for its climatic stations, for the protection of the settlers who have invested their entire fortune here; give us more or less convenient communication, at least by wheel, from Sukhum through the Klukhorsky pass to the North Caucasus.” But they answer us: “What do you need this or that road, live as you lived and use the remote pass road. We don’t care about your patients, about your ruin!” We are deeply confident that the Elbrus-Black Sea Railway would provide a tremendous service not only to the Caucasus, but also to the entire population southern Russia. Such rich regions as Kuban and Terek would find access to the Black Sea and send all their cargo there. And if a commercial port had been established in Sukhum, then one of the richest Batalpashinsky departments could fill this port with its grain. How many livestock North Caucasus perishes along terrible paths before delivering them to Sukhum and different parts of the Kutaisi province. Further along this same road, how many rich mineral ores and mineral springs! What a wealth of the kingdom of vegetation! What wealth for the future mountain resorts! What picturesque corners throughout the enchanting Teberda Valley at a distance of 80 miles! In this vast space there are now, unfortunately, only three settlements, namely: two Karachay auls - Senty and Teberda aul and 12 versts from this aul Krylgan. |
For almost ten years, discussions took place, surveys were carried out and attempts were made to find government funds to begin construction.
The fact is that at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, the construction and operation of railways brought enormous profits, but they required capital investments that were equally unprecedented at that time. Railways were built either by the state or by joint-stock companies created by it, which raised the missing capital with shares. There has also been a tendency to buy out existing private roads for the treasury. This policy has long been a deterrent to the transfer of ownership rights to the construction and ownership of the Black Sea Road into the hands of private capital.
In addition, the emergence of other railways was seriously opposed by the Board of the Vladikavkaz Railway (JSC VlZhD), a private regional monopolist, which by that time had been successfully operating for about thirty years. Initially, it was this Joint Stock Company that was entrusted with the development of the route and construction of the road from Ekatirinodar through Tuapse and Sukhum to Novosenaki. The highest order on this took place on February 21, 1900, following the results of a special meeting convened on the initiative of Nicholas II. At the initial stage, it was planned to build the Armavir - Tuapse and Novosenaki - Sukhum branches.
However, the dates for the already approved construction were pushed back by the Russian-Japanese War, and then by the first Russian revolution. Capital left the coast for several years.
It was my first time in Sochi as a child.
I remember well the way there by train, two days out - how the south was already beginning to be felt, how early in the morning the train dived into the high Caucasus Mountains, winding through gorges, along rivers, going into the shadow of peaks.
Sometimes security booths flashed outside the window, with annoying, momentarily blinding lights, and it became black as a black man’s ass - the train was diving into the tunnel.
Fellow travelers snored, the echo intensified the roar of the wheels, and the spoon clinked in the tin cup holder. The remains of a crucified chicken glittered like foil on the table.
I lay on the second shelf, resting my chin on my hands, and eagerly absorbed what was happening 
Then I remember a miracle - in the Tuapse area, a train suddenly jumped out onto the coast. The sea sparkled and hurt the eyes, the morning haze layered, a harbinger of heat. 
On one side there were mountains overhanging, along the slopes of which various houses clung. 
On the other were beaches, tents, cars with awnings, puny figures of mustachioed men in oversized swimming trunks and generously shaped women wearing milk bags on their immense breasts.
Children were splashing, fires were smoking, and lifebuoys with duckling heads were adorned with a rainbow same-sex flag.
Breakwaters went into the stones, which licked the incursions of water. 
I stuck tightly, now to one window, then to the other.
Like a sponge, I absorbed houses so different from lowland life - made of shields, almost made of boxes, with external ladders, with towels drying in the sun, with those sitting imposingly sybaritizing on the verandas. 
I drank avidly the crazy mountain rivers, with their violent temperament, which either gurgle over the stones, leaving wide clearings in the emerald greenery, or immediately, at high water, flood the entire huge concrete ditch with the elements. 
And of course the sea. 
Since childhood, I have been amazed at the fact that people live everywhere.
I am still amazed by this. 
I still travel around the world to be amazed and amazed - and people live here. And here the settlers settle down, invent their way of life, borrow habits, and change their essence. 
I looked at the city and places that were new to me, and realized that I still didn’t know these people who live here at all, and I didn’t know the character of these places - despite the fact that we are in the same country and speak the same language. 
The road sometimes descended right down to the very shore - I passionately wished that the road would pass in such a way that salty splashes would fly into the window 
In general, many railways of Greater Sochi, the longest Russian agglomerate (not a city, but an agglomerate - the longest Russian city was and continues to be), stretching for 145 kilometers, right up to the border with Abkhazia, is considered both the only route and a curse 
Because the railway runs along the sea almost everywhere, very rarely and briefly running inland, and thus there is not a single beach in the only Russian subtropical where there is no chance to hear the roar of a freight train rumbling past, spreading cement dust on the bronze tan of vacationers 
There was talk about somehow taking this road away from the coast, but how would you take it away?
They were building a branch line to Krasnaya Polyana, through the mountains, so that it would be easy to get to the Olympic Park - and they spent so much money and effort on it that it was easy to go crazy. 
No amount of digging tunnels through mountains and building countless viaducts will compensate for seas without a railway. 
Here, what we have is very complex, what was in construction, what is now in maintenance.
I know from the first sources - by a strange coincidence, my parent had a hand and knowledge in ensuring the electrification of this section of the track when she studied at the University of Transport, engineers of various faculties of which Sochi served.
Here, what was done was titanic work and audacity.
Somewhere these are tunnels, like under the streets and houses of the central part of the city 
Somewhere there are sliding areas where rockfalls and landslides are dangerous.
Somewhere there is a rocky shore, where there is not enough space to walk, or lay railway tracks 
Somewhere you have to cross vast mountain rivers - the Mzymta, one of the widest and most turbulent.
Don’t you notice that it barely glistens in the sun - during times of flood, this entire ditch is filled to the brim, and the water from clear becomes brown and dirty - it pulls with it everything that it collected in the mountains, furiously pouring everything out into the blue sea, clearly coloring it in two colors with clear gradation 
Sochi River (yes, it’s a city named after the river, not vice versa) 
The most picturesque Dagomys River, at the very mouth of which “Venice” is built in close rows - narrow and high houses, the first floor of which is level with the water and with its own pier. 
Or not Venice, but Asian river towns, like somewhere in - it looks like it, right? 
But in general - I am stating common complaints, but they do not apply to me personally - on the contrary, I really like the Sochi railway exactly in the form in which it exists 
It is precisely because of the unique flavor, because of the mixture of a resort and just another city to live in, where its own industrial life flows 
Due to non-printing, due to breaks in the template 
And also because of banal convenience - the Greater Sochi highway probably does not have a single flat section - continuous passes, turns, climbing upwards, with the engine humming loudly, continuous descents in low gears.
Trucks with difficulty turning into the sharp bends of the serpentine road, a wall on one side, an abyss on the other.
This road is not for a weak vestibular apparatus. 
But the railway goes straight along the shortest section. 
In general, inexpensive, in general, if you figure it out. Sometimes it works out cheaper than a bus.
And only brand new “Swallows” are used as electric trains here.
In which there is no smoking, there is a civil toilet, soft chairs, the most fashionable bells and whistles - well, just Europe being Europe 
They also built entire palaces for the Olympics - Adler Station, you know, is not Adler Station, but just a whole building, especially since the sea, mountains, and palm trees are not far from the intoxicatingly luxurious flavor 
Stops are announced in two languages - Russian and English. Cool, cooler only in, where the metro is in three languages - Russian, English and Tatar.
The girl announces in Russian. In English - a guy with a crazy accent - you can just drive around to listen to his incredible intonations - “next station... (pause) Llaao!” (this is when you pass Loo). Or - "next station - Suochi!" (as if expressively throwing dice with both hands). Or - "next station - Guorny Vuozduh!" - he pronounces it as if at that moment he opens his arms in delight towards the gurgling air. 
Uch-Dere pronounces it as if it were a wise dervish, tugging at his beard and telling the youth some kind of oriental parable.
And my favorite is Dagomys. Oh, you need to hear this. After the “next station” he pauses, and then so contemptuously, syllable by syllable - Yes-go-myss - probably in exactly the same tone Caucasian actors pronounce Hamlet’s monologues on stage or announce the verdict of the village elders - “you stole Givi’s lamb, and now, according to the law of the mountains, you will... Yes-ho-miss!..." 
At the Dagomys station, when you can’t get through, a soldier is bored in the same pose.
For the Olympics, each station was equipped with bins for separate waste collection. 
Lifts for the disabled, call button for lift operators of this unit 
Europe, Europe, damn it.
Although there are also moments that are not Europe, not Europe - firstly, in the off-season there is a very meager schedule - during the day there are whole multi-hour failures.
Arrived somewhere - boom, and hung up.
And it’s okay if you’re stuck at a normal station, but if you’re in the most boring Olympic Park, then turn off the lights 
And also - people travel to Central Sochi every day to work, every day passing the famous Sochi Station, known personally and from Soviet postcards to everyone, in palm trees, with a tower with the signs of the Zodiac 
During rush hour, the train gets so packed that you sit on top of each other. 
And yet - you can seat people in new train, but the cultural level of the contingent remains the same - the train passes through a place of incredible beauty, the sea sparkles outside the window - it’s a blessing to at least sometimes visit this splendor, let alone know the purchase, and live in Sochi permanently
But the locals are already tired of the sea, they don’t see it, and loud conversations rush through the carriage - it’s not customary for southerners to lower their tone - about how Vitya fucked Lyusya, about how they gave an enema at the clinic, and for some reason what came out were not brown poops , but slightly with a greenish tint and puddles of fat - sympathizers immediately connect - yes, yes, it’s the same for me, at first it was a sparse poop, with tomato skins, and today for some reason it’s hard, with a puddle of fat and without tomato skins.
Hot Abkhaz horsemen loudly listen to the Caucasian pop-Armageddon, everyone screams into the telephone receiver, babies scream heart-rendingly, disgustingly lisping aunties poke their thick fingers in their faces, causing them to scream even louder and more desperately. ("Kill-e-e-eat me-a-a-a!...") 
Oh, people, people, people - to live and be every day in one of the most beautiful places on the globe, and not appreciate it at all.
As I recently shared in an interview, when asked if something supernatural, miraculous and inexplicable happened to me - I think the supernatural and inexplicable happens to us every day, and here the question is rather - do we know how to see miracles? There was a rather biting and at the same time apt plot in “ South Park", where Christ came to earth for the second time, but no one notices him. They see it, but don’t attach any importance to it. Everyone is so busy with their own affairs, mourning the past or worrying about the future, that they do not notice the miracle that is happening right here and right now.
With miracles and the inexplicable as well - how much we know how to turn off the overly rationalizing head and turn on the heart and childish curiosity. What is more important for us - to be right in an argument or to be happy?
Towards Sochi. If you are a big fan of looking out of the train window, then it is better to take a seat on the right side as the train moves. The fact is that the railway from Tuapse to Adler (and, moreover, to Batumi itself) almost always runs along the seashore, sometimes almost right next to the water. And on the other side of the road there is either a steep slope or a concrete barrier - protection from rockfalls and landslides. Only sometimes, when the train crosses the mouth of a large river, some distant peak is visible for a few seconds.
Tuapse district
Railway near Tuapse station. Around the corner the sea is about to appear
So, not even a minute had passed before the train, having passed through the Tuapse River, approached close to the sea. Until recently, near the platform Gisel-Dere(this is the second stop) an old dilapidated tanker stood near the shore - all that remained of the French tanker Roussillon, washed ashore by a storm in 1967 (according to other sources in 1969). It was very interesting, having climbed onto it along an earthen embankment, to visit its half-corroded “side” - through the huge holes in the hull the decks and compartments of the ship were visible. I was especially impressed by visiting the engine compartment, or rather what was left of it (from the memories of 1995). The next time I had a chance to visit the tanker was again in March 1999. I no longer dared to climb onto the “deck” - there was a hole in the hole. And with every blow of the wave he trembled all over, as if he were feverish. Just look it's about to fall apart...
According to the latest information, in 2005 the tanker was cut into scrap metal and only the underwater part and the engine sticking out of the water remained.
The remains of the French tanker "Roussillon", washed ashore by a storm near the Gisel-Déré platform
On board a dilapidated tanker near the Gisel Dere platform (photo taken in 1995)
In the depths of a dilapidated tanker. The bottom is rusty and sea water splashes below
After 10 minutes the train stops on the platform Dederkoy. The amazing Dederkoy River flows here, collecting many waterfalls, narrow stone gorges, rubble and landslides along its seven-kilometer length. In the middle reaches of the river there is also a monkey nursery, where monkeys live on semi-free grazing and, according to local residents, sometimes raid vegetable gardens.
Sochi district
Shepsi District
Now we are entering the Sochi region, which stretches along the sea coast for more than 100 kilometers to the very border with Abkhazia, and the first stop here is a fairly large village Shepsi. The river of the same name originates from the slopes of the Peus ridge, a piece of which is visible for a second when the train crosses the river on the bridge. Highest point This ridge is Mount Bolshoye Pseushkho (1100 m) - one of the best panoramic points in the Tuapse region.
After the next stop - platforms Magri— we pass through the first tunnel between Tuapse and Adler, 220 meters long. Next, before the second, very short and visible through tunnel, the train stops on the platform Satellite and from here you can take a walk along forest roads to the upper reaches of the Shuyuk rivers.
The next stop after Sputnik is the platform Makopse, although the river with that name is located one and a half kilometers further - at the platform Friendship. Eight kilometers from the shore in the upper reaches of this river is the village of Nadzhigo, and it is from here that it is easiest to climb Mount Bolshoye Pseushkho.
Lazarevsky district
Passing the platform Change, the train immediately rounds a small cape and now a wide flat place appears in the distance - Lazarevskoye. But it’s still half an hour away, and before that the train passes Vodopadny crossing- perhaps the most deserted station on the Black Sea coast, then crosses the Ashe River along a long metal bridge. This is the first big river after Tuapse - it originates on the slopes of the Main Caucasus Range in the area of Mount Semiglava.
Waiting for the train at the Razezd Vodopadny station. Not a soul on the platforms...
Railway bridge over the Ashe River
Just a short distance from Lazarevskaya, the train passes a closed station Mamedova Gap(at least in the spring of 2010 the train did not stop here), next to which the Kuapse River flows. Along this river you can take a fascinating excursion to the Mamedovo Gorge, which is so narrow in places that the rocks close overhead, forming a tunnel. There are also several beautiful waterfalls there.
Lazarevskoe- the center of the largest district of the city of Sochi - is located at the mouth of the Psezuapse River, the sources of which are located right on Mount Outl. Along this river there is a route through the Grachevsky Pass past the Grachev Venets mountain on the Main Caucasus Range. Driving across the bridge over Psezuapse, you can see these peaks in the distance if you are lucky with the weather.
One stop later there is a platform Thessaloniki. From here you can travel up the Tsushvadzh River to the Solonitsky ridge and Mount Zhemsi, and visit completely wild and remote corners of the Black Sea mountain region in one day.
One of the highest bridges in Russia spans the Zubova Shchel gorge (not far from the Chemitokvadzhe platform)
A dizzying view down from the viaduct to the railway tracks and the bridge over the Chimit River
Black Sea coast of the Caucasus in evening colors (view from the Zubova Shchel viaduct)
Having passed the platform Chemitokwaje, a minute later the train crosses the small stream Chimit (Zubova Shchel). If you look out the window towards the mountain side, you will immediately be attracted by the tall concrete columns stretching into the sky. These are the supports of a high road bridge - one of the highest in Russia. The height of the bridge reaches 80 meters, and the view from there of the coast and the valley is simply magnificent. However, there appears to be no easy way up. We, I remember, had to go deep into the valley for almost a kilometer, where we came to the old bypass route, along which we were able to climb to the bridge.
Central Sochi
After 10 minutes long bridge we cross the valley of the Shakhe River, which is the second largest (after Mzymta) on the Black Sea coast Krasnodar region. It is along this river that several of the most popular tourist routes, since this route is the shortest to the Lagonaki Highlands - one of the most amazing and picturesque mountainous regions of the Kuban.
IN Sochi we arrive 2.5-3 hours after leaving Tuapse. The train travels much of its journey through the city underground through three long tunnels. A little before reaching the station, the train crosses the Sochi River. More than 10 km from here, upstream of the river, on one of its tributaries there is a high waterfall - Orekhovsky. Its height is more than 30 meters and it is distinguished by its high water content. Getting there is very simple: we take a bus to Plastunka, and then walk for an hour.
Khosta and Adler
Between Sochi and Khosta there is a picturesque gorge, at the bottom of which flows the Agura River, known for its numerous waterfalls. Since the train does not stop here, it is better to get there by bus from Sochi or Khosta (Sputnik stop). There is an equipped trail along the river (entrance fee), along which you can also walk to Old Matsesta and even climb to the observation peak Akhun.
Cape Vidny became visible ahead (there was a pun) with the tall modern building of the Elektronika boarding house and with the black eye sockets of the tunnels to the right of it: two nearby - automobile ones and one near the sea - a railway tunnel (in 2010 a second railway tunnel was built). In total, from Tuapse to Adler we travel by train through 8 tunnels. We reach the light on the other side of the cape and find ourselves in a valley pressed towards the sea by the slopes of the spurs of Mount Akhun. The surrounding slopes are built up with residential buildings and sanatoriums, but despite this they seem densely overgrown with tropical vegetation - cypresses, plane trees, palm trees... This Khosta- one of the most pleasant, in my opinion, places on the Black Sea coast. Two ridges on both sides of the town create a special mild climate, thanks to which some prehistoric plant species managed to survive the Ice Age here. These are, for example, yew and boxwood, growing here in the yew-boxwood grove.
In winter, the Black Sea is deserted, but not at all cold (Khosta, beach near Cape Vidny)
At Khosta station on a cloudy day
Before Adler- the final stop of all trains traveling in this direction - we get there in 15-20 minutes. The city of Adler (again, this is not a completely independent city, but one of the districts of Sochi) is located in a very wide and completely flat valley at the mouth of the large Mzymta River, and this entire valley is densely built up with residential buildings.
And although a high-speed highway with wide straight tunnels has now been built along the Mzymta, there used to be (and still is) an amazing picturesque road, comparable in engineering complexity to the Georgian Military Road. It leads through gorges along rocky cornices and tunnels to the mountain village of Krasnaya Polyana. This village is perhaps the most “mountainous” of all in Krasnodar region. The height of the peaks surrounding it is approaching 2500 meters, and their relative elevation above the valley bottom is about 2000 m. There are many hiking trails and difficult routes around: to the Khmelevsky Lakes, to Mount Achishkho and, of course, up the Mzymta River to where the king reigns. wild nature Caucasian Nature Reserve, where the crystal clear water of mountain lakes reflects the dark turquoise sky, and three-thousand-meter peaks rest their snow-white tops on the clouds...
how to reconcile economic and environmental interests in the coastal strip of the country's main resort
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Tuapse-Sochi-Adler railway was built along the Black Sea coast. It was built, in fact, on the beach strip of the sea and on a narrow strip reclaimed from the mountains. It is difficult for us to judge today whether it is good or bad that the road was built this way, given that in those days the possibilities were small. A crowbar, a shovel, a pickaxe, a wheelbarrow, and sometimes a powder charge - that’s all the equipment. Laying a railway along the seashore was the simplest solution. So they paved it.
Today, the railway line Rostov – Krasnodar – Tuapse – Sochi – Adler is an integral part of the 9th international Cretan corridor, as well as the Black Sea Ring, created within the framework of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. Due to the political problems that arose after the collapse of the USSR in the Caucasus, traditional ties between states and peoples have been disrupted today. In fact, a transport blockade has been established not only of Abkhazia, but also of friendly Armenia, which is forced to look for ways to enter European markets through Turkey. The same trend can be seen in the actions of Georgia. And this is tantamount to the destruction of the common economic space with Russia and can cause serious political and economic damage to our country.
But we will leave the solution to political problems to politicians. Let's talk about transport problems. New tasks require a radical reconstruction of the railway, its technical renovation, and an increase in throughput and carrying capacity. So the Russian Ministry of Railways decided that the Tuapse-Adler railway needs to be completely reconstructed. The work program was approved last year. It was prepared by the construction company Stroymost-1 together with the Giprotransput Institute of the Russian Ministry of Railways and, in fact, revives the reconstruction of this section of the North Caucasus Railway, which was suspended after 1991.
At one time an attempt was made to continue it. But then the feasibility study (feasibility study) for the construction of the second track on the Tuapse - Sochi section, developed by the Kavgiprotrans Institute, and the section “Environmental Protection” prepared by TsNIIS, were subjected to environmental impact assessment in accordance with the law. It must be said that the entire length of the Tuapse-Adler railway passes through the territory adjacent to the beach and belonging to the first sanitary protection zone of the resorts.
An expert commission of the Krasnodar Regional Committee for Nature Conservation, consisting of 24 scientists, reviewed and gave a comprehensive assessment of the project on such items as construction technology, construction of bank protection structures, protection from pollution of ground and surface waters, as well as atmospheric air.
Analyzing the implementation of the reconstruction project of the 1st stage, carried out in the 70s and 80s of the last century, the commission came to the conclusion that many of the design solutions remained on paper, while others turned out to be insufficient. And she made a very serious conclusion: the Tuapse-Adler railway is an object that negatively affects the ecological situation of the Black Sea coast, and the implementation of the project for the construction of a second track leads to pollution and irreversible changes in the environment.
In short, you can’t be on the beach like a railroad.
Indeed, the previous reconstruction caused enormous damage to the shoreline. Today it is a “graveyard” of artificially created bank protection structures destroyed by the elements. First of all, these are reinforced concrete buoys that cut up the coastline and protrude far into the sea. With their help, they tried to prevent the loss of the beach strip, “eaten up” by the sea. The task was to extinguish the energy of the surf waves. Sometimes it worked, more often it didn’t. As a result, the natural seascape is disrupted. Where is the harmony between nature and man, where are the conditions for good rest? In addition, if you calculate how much money has been invested in strengthening the roadbed of the Tuapse-Adler railway, you would get an astronomical number. And day by day it increases. After all, the road must be protected every day from the onslaught of the sea, again and again investing in bank protection structures. Moreover, no matter what “shackles” and “shackles” we come up with, the sea will tear them apart and throw them away.
What to do? The railroad probably needs to be removed from the shoreline. The Black Sea coast of Russia is a unique resort and tourist recreational region - the pearl of the Russian subtropics. But with good intentions, the Ministry of Railways is again planning a grandiose reconstruction program.
As I know, the estimated cost of work over 2–3 years is about 30 billion rubles. For what will they be spent? The main task is to increase the throughput and carrying capacity of this section of the railway. As a result, trains here will run every 6 minutes. Imagine that every 6 minutes passenger and freight trains will rush past beaches and holiday homes with the roar, noise, dust and smell of inevitably flowing sewage, heavily polluting the beaches, the sea, and the entire environment. The safety of train traffic will, of course, be ensured by the planned “reconstruction”. What about the safety of nature?
And most importantly: does this reconstruction solve the transport problems of the South of Russia? No!
Unfortunately, the country's railways today do not meet modern requirements and standards for transportation, especially passenger transportation, in a number of important parameters. In particular, we lag behind in terms of speed, travel time, and comfort of service. The carriages lack modern means of waste removal and conservation (for example, vacuum sewerage), warm showers, and air conditioning is not always available. The condition of the rolling stock, tracks and station infrastructure require significant improvement. And in general, a radical reconstruction of the entire railway sector, its modernization should be carried out on a new technical and environmental basis.
Here's just one example. As already mentioned, the Tuapse-Adler railway runs along the beach strip. Dumping sewage into it is unacceptable. How is this delicate issue resolved? Three hours (!) before the train arrives at the final station of Adler, the toilets are closed. What is a train conductor forced to do? Rise passengers from their beds so that they can relieve their needs in an emergency. This is at 3 - 4 o'clock in the morning! What kind of comfort can we talk about here? How to evaluate garbage thrown out of a train at the entrance to a resort of national importance? And what's the point of scolding the railway! Can Russian railcar manufacturers today supply our railways with modern railcars that meet high environmental requirements? No. We need new standards from the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Natural Resources, we need orders and funds in order to raise the culture of transport.
These problems are not new; they have been discussed more than once in various forums, in periodicals, and in scientific circles. But when will these conversations be of any use?
Of course, this task is incredibly difficult. But we cannot agree with another “reconstruction” on the Tuapse-Sochi railway. Otherwise, time will be lost and money will be wasted to the detriment of the resort and tourism industry in the south of Russia.
By the way, the presence of the railway has already become an obstacle to the investment of large investors in the All-Russian health resort. They say one thing out loud: give guarantees that the railway will be removed from the beach. But even if we start laying an alternative railway route today, it will be possible to remove the rails from the beach no earlier than in 15 years. Are we ready today to remove the Tuapse-Adler railway from the beach? No. We must reckon with the realities; they are such that there is nothing to replace the railway here. She has no alternative.
Therefore, the Tuapse-Adler section will have to be reconstructed in the near future. But what about project examination? The requirements of the examination, and they are fair, must, of course, be fulfilled. And, of course, it is necessary Government program complex reconstruction and construction of transport communications in the South of Russia.
Railway workers also agree with this. The problem of restoring the infrastructure of the Tuapse-Adler railway section is of national importance and must be solved at a modern and high-quality production and scientific level using world experience.
Naturally, a reasonable and objective compromise is needed in determining the railway routes to the Black Sea. To save the sea and beaches, you will have to climb the mountains. And there is no need to be afraid of this. There are a number of promising projects. Here a brief description of one of them: to build a new section Krivenkovskaya - Veseloye on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains. The length of the new railway line is 136 kilometers, it has 33 tunnels with a total length of 62.6 kilometers.
According to the project, a new double-track railway with 8 to 12 separate points originates at the Krivenkovskaya station of the Krasnodar-Tuapse main railway, crosses the Tuapse and Pseushkho rivers, runs in the upper reaches of the Makopse river, crosses the Ashe, Shakhe and Sochi rivers above the village of Plastunka. Bypassing the city of Sochi, it descends into the valley of the Mzymta River and connects with the main railway. At the same time, a new Adler station is being built and the Veseloye station, bordering Abkhazia, is being developed.
TO railway station In the center of Sochi, a 10-kilometer long line is being built with two tracks in an overpass version.
The location of separate points on the highway near mountain villages at a distance of 6 to 18 kilometers from the sea will require the construction of high-speed roads to the coast.
At the same time, the Sochi passenger station will remain with the maximum elimination of secondary and redundant facilities, and Tuapse finds itself at a dead end. It will be a powerful port and marshalling station with corresponding track development.
Capital costs for the implementation of this project were estimated at 9 billion rubles (in 1991 prices).
However, this is not the only solution to the problem. Back in 1964, the Kavgiprotrans design institute developed “Design considerations for strengthening the Tuapse-Adler line.” And then it was proposed to build the Krasnodar-Belorechenskaya-Khodzhokh-Adler railway as an alternative to the Krasnodar-Tuapse railway line with double-track inserts on the existing Tuapse-Adler section. As you know, the second option was adopted. It turned out to be cheaper. It is rightly said: “The miser pays twice.”
The idea of building the Khodzhokh-Sochi railway has not been forgotten. However, there is also one “but” here...
Its route will pass through the territory of the state biosphere reserve, created in 1924 in order to preserve and study mountain forests and alpine zones with the rare animals and plants inhabiting them. Will they be allowed to build? Does existing legislation allow such a step? Yes, it does. But minimal damage to nature can only be caused by the coordinated work of business executives and environmentalists at the project development stage. The Maykop – Khodzhokh – Solokh-Aul – Sochi railway should be hidden as much as possible in tunnels so as not to cross traditional animal migration routes, not to disturb centuries-old forests and alpine meadows, traditional habitats of birds and animals. And of course, it must have a minimum number of separate points in the state nature reserve zone. Technically this can be done.
Let us refer to the experience of railway construction in the Swiss Alps. In addition to the existing tunnels, two more are being built across the Alps today. In particular, the Lochberg mountain tunnel under construction in Switzerland, which will connect the Bernese Oberland and Wallis regions, will become an important part of the transalpine railway corridor. The tunnel is planned to be put into operation in 2007. Obviously, the construction violates the pristine nature to some extent, but the road is necessary, and it is being built.
An additional incentive to develop the option of a railway crossing through the Caucasus Mountains from Maykop is the possibility of decoupling heavy passenger traffic from the center of the country to the south and the movement of freight trains going to the port of Tuapse. To do this, it is necessary to additionally build a line Belorechensk - Ust-Labinsk - Korenovsk with a length of 110 - 115 kilometers. Passenger trains to Sochi will bypass Krasnodar-1 station, whose capacity is very limited.
What are the arguments in favor of removing the Tuapse-Adler railway from the beach strip? Firstly, this solves environmental and economic problems. Secondly, the costs of maintaining the track, artificial structures, including bank protection, and carrying out anti-landslide, anti-mudflow and rock protection measures are significantly reduced. Thirdly, the Tuapse station is exempt from the transit of many passenger trains traveling to Sochi, Georgia, and Armenia. Conditions are being created for the passage of additional cargo traffic directed to the port, the site for the reconstruction of the Tuapse station and its track development is expanding. Fourthly, it becomes possible to convert sections to alternating current Hot key– Krivenkovskaya – Tuapse and Belorechenskaya – Krivenkovskaya – Veseloe. Then the entire North Caucasus Railway will have alternating current, which will thereby eliminate the inconvenience associated with maintenance, repair, and operation of the small fleet of DC locomotives at the Tuapse depot.
The country's railway transport is currently experiencing a stormy time of change. Revolutionary changes are taking place, and in significance, scale, and results they can be comparable to the radical transformations of the last century.
What should reconstruction address first? The main problem of current railways is the low speed of trains. There are many reasons for this.
In particular, historically it has happened that both passenger and freight transportation are carried out simultaneously along the same track. At the time of the small size of the movement at the beginning of the twentieth century, this could be tolerated. But what to do today, when intense passenger and freight traffic is concentrated in the same direction? A striking example of such a movement is the North Caucasus Railway. Sochi station at peak holiday season receives and dispatches more than 50 pairs of passenger trains per day. How to combine cargo traffic in the direction of Transcaucasia with them?
Much has already been done on the North Caucasus Railway. Thus, the “expanding” of the Rostov railway junction, the laying of bypasses from Bataysk, bypassing the Rostov-Glavny station, sandwiched on all sides, towards Taganrog and towards Novocherkassk, were of great importance. The complete electrification of the North Caucasus Railway and the reconstruction of the track facilities, the introduction of new means of communication, signaling, centralization and interlocking (CSB), and dispatch centralization literally transformed the highway.
Now, in the short term (two to three years), three problems need to be solved. The first is to ensure uninterrupted delivery and export of goods in the ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse on the Black Sea and Yeisk, Azov, Temryuk, Taganrog on the Azov Sea. The second is to open train traffic in the southern direction and ensure the operation of the ninth Cretan corridor through the Adler (Veseloye) station. Third, to establish high-speed passenger trains to the Black Sea coast.
The global trend is to increase traffic speeds to 300 - 350 kilometers per hour. For such a huge country as Russia, the creation of a network of high-speed railways will solve many transport problems, including for tourism, because the assessment of the time factor in a modern civilized society is intensifying and becoming more and more an economic category. After all, one fast train removes several freight trains from the schedule. As a result, both passenger and freight traffic suffers. What should I do? We need special routes for high-speed trains.
Construction of such a road from the center of the country to Sochi along the already mentioned alternative route crossing the main Caucasus ridge in the Maikop - Khodzhokh - region
Agonaki - Solokh-Aul with access to the Black Sea coast in Sochi is of great interest. Not being a competitor aviation transport, the Moscow-Sochi high-speed line with comfortable rolling stock will attract the attention of a large contingent of passengers, and its profitability will certainly be ensured.
By the way, in Western Europe by 2010 it is planned to build 26,000 kilometers of high-speed railways that will connect all the capitals of Western European countries. It should be noted that the experience of building, for example, the high-speed railway Madrid - Seville - Cordoba has changed the ratio of passengers between various types transport in favor of the railway.
It is necessary to attract investment in the implementation of high-speed transport projects in Russia. Coming on new basis not only to build railway infrastructure, but also to revive a number of new industries in various industries. And this, undoubtedly, will ensure the rise of the Russian economy, its competitiveness and industrial employment of the population, will give a new impetus to the development of scientific research on a modern scientific basis in the field of development of the upper structure of the track, new types of locomotives and cars, dynamics of rolling stock, computer and microprocessor technology, new braking devices, diagnostic tools, etc.
There is every reason to believe that the 21st century will go down in history as the century of radical reorganization of mainline railways on a new, more progressive basis under the sign of a significant increase in train speeds, as the century of the creation of a global Euro-Asian railway network.
Georgy GURA,
Academician of the Russian Academy of Transport.
Sochi.
