North Caucasus Railway

The North Caucasus Railway (Russian: Северо-Кавказская железная дорога) is a 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) broad gauge Russian railway network that links the Sea of Azov (in the west) and Caspian Sea (in the east). It runs through ten federal subjects: Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, Stavropol Krai, Republic of Adygeya, Karachay–Cherkessia, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Kalmykia. The headquarters are the North Caucasus Railway Administration Building in Rostov-on-Don.

Not to be confused with the Armenian South Caucasus Railway, that belongs to Russian Railways.

Overview

Rostov-on-Don

Russia

1922–present

North Caucasus Railway (USSR, Russian Empire)

1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)

6,315.9 km (3,920 mi)

Press here

The network comprises Grozny, Krasnodar, Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, and Rostov passenger and freight railways, as well as two children's railways (in Vladikavkaz and Rostov). As of 2005, there were 6315.9 km of railtrack and 403 railway stations. The railway is operated by the Russian Railways and employs 80,757 people.

The Black Sea resorts of Sochi, Gelendzhik and Anapa are the principal passenger destinations on the railway. The Sochi line, running for many miles along the coast of the Black Sea, is especially busy in summer with regular extra direct express trains for holiday makers. The oil ports at Novorossiysk and Tuapse are significant destinations for rail freight traffic.

1861 –Aksay (the first rail line in Northern Caucasus)

Shakhtnaya

1871 –Shakhtnaya

Zverevo

1872 Rostov-on-Don–Vladikavkaz

1875 Aksay–Rostov-on-Don

1888 -Novorossisk

Tikhoretskaya

1897--Stavropol

Kavkazskaya

1901 Kavkazskaya–Krasnodar

1911 Bataysk–

Azov

1911 –Yeysk

Sosyka

1911 Armavir–

Maikop

1912 Belorechenskaya–Tuapse

1914 Krasnodar–

Akhtari

1914 –Timashevsk–Kushchevka

Krymskaya

1915 Bataysk–Salsk

1915 –Gudermes

Prokhladnaya

1916 –Vinodelnoye

Palagiada

1923 Tuapse–

Sochi

1927 Sochi––Adler

Matsesta

1928 –Blagodarnoye

Petrovskoye Selo

1931 Vinodelnoye–

Divnoye

1931 Rostov-on-Don–

Khapry

1931 Komsomolskaya–

Neftegorsk

1931 Maikop–

Khadzhokh

1940 –Shedok

Labinskaya

1942 Gudermes–

Astrakhan

1942 Adler–

Sukhumi

1944 Krymskaya–

Starotitarovka

1969 Divnoye–

Elista

1971 Zverevo–

Krasnodonskaya

1977 –Yurovsky

Anapa

1978 Krasnodar–Tuapse

1987 Blagodarnoye–

Budyonnovsk

1989 –Krasnaya Gvardiya

Peshchanokopskaya

In 1937 the North Caucasus Railway was renamed after the Soviet party leader Sergo Ordzhonikidze but soon reverted to its traditional name. It was in the late 1950s that most of the railway network was electrified.

In 1987 the line from Zverevo north to Chertkovo was transferred from the South Eastern Railway to the North Caucasus Railway, with the new connection between the two railways being just north of Chertkovo railway station.