Kirov Railway

Kirov Railway (Russian: Кировская железная дорога, Kirovskaya zheleznaya doroga, until 1935 Murman Railway) is a 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) broad gauge Russian railway network that links the Murman Coast and Murmansk city (in the north) and Saint Petersburg (in the south). The railway is operated by the Arktika passenger train.

Railway between Murmansk on the Arctic Ocean and Saint Petersburg on the Baltic Sea

Kirov Railway
planned extension Ponoi  Ostrovnoi Kelvy Revda Murmansk Oktyabrski Kola Umba to Nikel & Kirkenes Koashva Vykhodnoy Kirovsk Olenegorsk Imandra Titan Apatity to Konosha Afrikanda Obozerskaya Pinozero to Arkhangelsk Kandalaksha Bolshaya Kyama to Kemijärvi Nimenga Poyakonda Malenga Louhi Kolezhma Kem Virma Belomorsk Vyg Uda Kochkoma Segezha Petrozavodsk Medvezhyegorsk Tokari Kondopoga Svir Petrozavodsk– Kouvola line to Suoyarvi Kuchozero Petrozero to Yaroslavl Ryugozero to Kirov to Sukkozero & Suoyarvi Vologda I Ledmozero II to Konosha Kostomuksha Sheksna Kiviyarvi Cherepovets Russia Finland border Koshta Vartius Komarikha to Oulu Uita Kontiomäki Timoshkino to Kajaani Babaevo proposed Volkhov bypass 3 kV DC 25 kV AC voltage change 3 kV DC 25 kV AC voltage change Lodeinoe Pole Verkhnevolsky Tikhvin Volkhovstroy II to Luga Volkhovstroy I Mga Saint Petersburg

The total distance between Saint Petersburg and Murmansk is 1,448 kilometres (900 mi), the section between Petrozavodsk and Kola having a length of 1,054 kilometres (655 mi). It has 52 stations. The line is of vital military importance because of Murmansk being an ice-free port on the Arctic Sea.

The northern part between Petrozavodsk and Kola was built in 1915–17, due to a lack of workers under assignment of an increasing number of German and Austrian war prisoners.

Originally called the Murman Railway, the line was renamed the Kirov Railway in 1935 in honor of Sergei Kirov, a prominent Bolshevik leader of the Russian revolution, who had been assassinated the year before.

The railway was electrified in 2005.

See also

• Murmansk–Nikel Railway
• List of named passenger trains of Russia