Kirov Railway

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

Kirov Railway (Russian: Кировская железная дорога, Kirovskaya zheleznaya doroga, to 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, see List of named passenger trains of Russia.

The total distance between Saint Petersburg and Murmansk is 1,448 km, the part between Petrozavodsk and Kola has a length of 1,054 km. 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 named Murman Railway, the line was in 1935 given the name Kirov Railway, 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.

Kirov Railway

See also