Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad

The Saint Petersburg-Hiitola railroad is a 170 km long railway with 1520 mm gauge located in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad Oblast (Karelian Isthmus) and Republic of Karelia, which links Finlyandsky Rail Terminal to Hiitola through Devyatkino, Vaskelovo, Sosnovo, Priozersk and Kuznechnoye. Originally built by Finnish State Railways in the Grand Duchy of Finland, the railway was part of a trunk line from Vaasa by the Gulf of Botnia to Saint Petersburg. In 1940 in the Moscow Peace Treaty the territory was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union. The railroad is now operated by the Russian Railways. The railroad is used by passenger trains between Saint Petersburg and Sortavala. The track between Hiitola and Sortavala is part of the Vyborg–Joensuu railroad completed in 1894.

History

The railway connected Hiitola on the Vyborg–Joensuu railroad with Finland Station in Saint Petersburg, bypassing the Riihimäki–Vyborg–Saint Petersburg trunk line of Finnish railways. Construction of the railroad had been completed by January 1917, although some works continued until 1919. Only one track has been constructed from Rautu (Sosnovo) to Hiitola, which is used in both directions. [This makes the traffic logistically inefficient, although there are a number of short multi-track sections at some key stations (Petäjärvi, Gromovo, Myllypelto, Priozersk, Kuznechnoye).] The part of the railway south of Raasuli (Orekhovo) was on the Russian side of the Finnish-Russian border, but was operated by the Finnish State Railways.

In 1918, after Finnish independence and during the Finnish Civil War, communications between Finland and Soviet Russia ceased. In spring 1918 troops under Georg Elfvengren blew up the track to prevent supplies reaching Red Guard units operating near Rautu. [http://kannas.nm.ru/priozersk_district2.htm История некоторых населенных пунктов - Приозерского района Ленинградской области] ru icon] [ [http://terijoki.spb.ru/history/templ.php?page=pykkenelf_fi&lang=en Kannaksen sankari] fi icon] The railway was cut between Nuijala (67th km) and Lembolovo and 1.7 kilometers of track was removed on the Finnish side. [ [http://runeberg.org/pieni/3/0644.html Rautu] - Pieni Tietosanakirja, page 1171 fi icon] The Leningrad – Lembolovo part became part of Soviet railways.

In 1940, after the Winter War and again in 1944 after the Continuation War Karelian Isthmus with the railway was ceded to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty, Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty.

In 1939, as the war had begun, the population along the railway was evacuated, mostly to Pieksämäki. In 1941 some of them returned. In June 1944 during the final stages of the Continuation War, a train of Karelian evacuees was bombed by the Soviet Air Force in Petäjärvi.

Train stations

The construction year and original Finnish/Karelian name are given in brackets. Stops of the diesel-engined train are bolded.

*Saint Petersburg – Finlyandsky Rail Terminal (1870)
*Kushelevka
*Piskaryovka (1914)
*Ruchyi (1917)
*Murino
*Devyatkino (1917)
*Lavriki (1932)
*Kapitolovo (1957)
*Kuzmolovo (1929)
*Toksovo (1917)
*Kavgolovo (1929)
*Oselki (1929)
*Peri (1924)
*39th km
*Gruzino (1917)
*47th km
*Vaskelovo (1917)
*54th km
*Lembolovo (1916)
*Orekhovo (1916, Raasuli)
*67th km (Nuijala)
*69th km
*Sosnovo (1916, Rautu)
*78th km (Mäkrä)
*Petyayarvi (1916, Petäjärvi)
*Losevo (1916, Kiviniemi)
*Gromovo (1916, Sakkola)
*Sukhodolye (1916, Haitermaa)
*Otradnoye (1916, Pyhäjärvi)
*Myullyupelto (1916, Myllypelto)
*Sinyovo (1916, Näpinlahti)
*Priozersk (1916, Käkisalmi)
*148th km (Granitnoye) (1916, Kapisalmi)
*152nd km (Bogatyri) (1916, Paukkunen)
*Kuznechnoye (1916, Kaarlahti)
*159th km
*168th km, Kulikovo (1892, Kirkko Hiitola)
*Khiytola (1892, Hiitola)

Electrification

:1951: Finlyandskiy Rail Terminal – Piskaryovka:1958: Piskaryovka – Peri:1959: Peri – Vaskelovo:1959: Vaskelovo – Sosnovo:1975: Sosnovo – Priozersk:1976: Priozersk – Kuznechnoye

Branches

The Finlyandsky Rail Terminal also serves the railroads heading toward Zelenogorsk and Vyborg, among others. Further, after Piskaryovka, the road branches into three ways, two others heading south and east. After Murino there is a link to Pargolovo (Vyborg direction), along which a section of the Saint Petersburg Ring Road has been constructed.

By 1930 in Finland a railroad linking Viipuri (Vyborg), Heinjoki (Veshchevo), Ristseppälä (Zhitkovo) and Valkjärvi (Michurinskoye) had been built, which was expected to be continued to Rautu (Sosnovo). However, in the 1950s Soviet authorities demolished the track between Zhitkovo and Michurinskoye, and the rails between Veshchevo and Zhitkovo were also dismantled in 2001. However, the roadbed from Veshchevo to Sosnovo has remained until now.

As of 2007, projects are being discussed to construct a cargo railway along the northern shore of the Vuoksi River from Losevo to Kamennogorsk to ship crude oil to the sea port of Primorsk bypassing the Saint Petersburg – Vyborg line. An alternative is reconstruction of the Sosnovo – Michurinskoye – Zhitkovo – Vyborg railway.

The old Karelian railroad links Vyborg and Kamennogorsk (in turn linked by railway to Imatra, Finland) to Hiitola.

Besides, a number of blind military and industrial railroads a few km long branch off from this line (e.g. a track between Orekhovo and Lembolovo westwards, between Gruzino and 47th km eastwards, between Otradnoye and Myllypelto westwards, at Priozersk eastwards to the Priozersk Pulp and Paper Mill, as well as at Kuznechnoye to the shore of Lake Ladoga).

Trains

from Kuznechnoye. Besides, it is a popular passenger line.

Passenger trains

Electric

::(elektrichkas):Saint Petersburg – Vaskelovo (about 1 h 25 min with all stops as of 2007):Saint Petersburg – Sosnovo (about 2 h with all stops as of 2007):Saint Petersburg – Priozersk (about 2 h 50 min with all stops as of 2007):Saint Petersburg – Kuzhechnoye (about 3 h 25 min with all stops as of 2007):Devyatkino – Vaskelovo (about 50 min with all stops as of 2007):Devyatkino – Sosnovo (about 1 h 20 min with all stops as of 2007):Kuznechnoye – Sortavala (about 25 min from Kuznechnoye to Hiitola with all stops as of 2007)

Diesel-engined

:Saint Petersburg (Ladozhsky Rail Terminal) – Hiitola – Sortavala – Kostomuksha (about 3 h 35 m from Saint Petersburg to Hiitola)

Accidents

In 1983 in Sosnovo there was a cargo train crash resulting in a large oil spill.

ee also

*Vyborg-Joensuu railroad

References

External links

* [http://terijoki.spb.ru/railway/rw_dir_priozersk.php Вокзалы и станции Приозерского направления] (Stations on the Priozersk railroad) ru icon Images