Belarusian Railway

Belarusian Railway
Belarusian: Беларуская чыгунка
Russian: Белорусская железная дорога

Map of the system       Minsk branch;       Baranavichy (Baranovichi) branch;       Brest branch;       Homiel (Gomel) branch;       Mahiliow (Mogilev) branch;       Viciebsk (Vitebsk) branch
Minsk Railway station - the largest in Belarus.
Locale	Belarus
Dates of operation	1992–present
Track gauge	1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ^27⁄32 in)
Length	5,491 km (3,412 mi)
Headquarters	Minsk
Website	www.rw.by

Belarusian Railway (BCh) (Belarusian: Беларуская чыгунка, Russian: Белорусская железная дорога)^{[note 1]} is the national state-owned railway company of Belarus. It operates all of the rail transport network in Belarus. As of 2005, the railway employs 112,173 people.

Overview

The company, formed in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is one of the inheritors of the Soviet Railways. It administrates 5,512 km of railway with (1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in) Russian gauge). The railway's most important station is Minsk Terminal, the central station of the capital.

BCh reports to the ministry of transport and as of 2010 was composed of 84 organizations; 46 enterprises, 38 institutions, and 7 factories/plants.^[2] The rail network is divided into 6 departments: named after the regions around Minsk, Baranovichi, Brest, Gomel, Mogilev and Vitebsk.^[3]

Rolling stock

Electric locomotives

• ChS4t; Co'Co' electric locomotive
• VL80, BCG-1; twin unit (Bo'Bo')-(Bo'Bo') locomotives

Diesel locomotives

• M62, TE10, TE116, TEP60, TEP70, ChME3; Co'Co' diesel electric locomotives
• TGK2; two axle diesel shunter

Passenger multiple units

• DR1; diesel multiple unit
• ER9, Stadler FLIRT; electric multiple units

Gallery

Main station of Grodno  Stadler FLIRT in Minsk  Main station of Brest

See also

BCh logo variant

• Minsk Railway station
• Rail transport in Belarus

Notes

1. In the second decade of the 21st century the railway moved from using the Russian language for printed publications, to bilinguality - using Belarusian and Russian.^[1]

References

1. Яўген ВАЛОШЫН (29 January 2011), "Як папулярызуюць родную мову на Беларускай чыгунцы?", news.tut.by (in Belarusian)
2. Общие сведения, www.rw.by (in Russian) (Belarusian Railway), archived from the original on 5 May 2010
3. БЕЛОРУССКАЯ ЖЕЛЕЗНАЯ ДОРОГА: Отделения дороги, www.rw.by (in Russian) (Belarusian Railway), archived from the original on 26 May 2010

External links

• Белорусская железная дорога [Belarusian Railways] (in Russian, English, and German), official website