Moscow-Saint Petersburg Railway
The Moscow to Saint Petersburg Railway is a 649.7 km railway running between the two largest Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg through four oblasts: Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad. It is the leading traffic artery for the whole of the north-west region of Russia.
Since 1931, a famous train, called the Krasnaya Strela ("Red Arrow"), operates on this line, leaving Moscow (Leningradsky Rail Terminal) at 23:55 daily, arriving in St Petersburg (Moskovsky Rail Terminal) at 07:55 next morning and vice-versa. Major stations situated on the railway include (south to north) Klin, Tver, Bologoye, Malaya Vishera, Chudovo.
History
The railway is the second oldest in the country, after a short line connecting St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. This railway was a pet project of Pavel Melnikov (1804–1880), a minister who superintended its construction and whose statue may be seen near the Leningradsky Rail Terminal in Moscow, which is the southern terminus of the line.
The idea of a railway connecting the two capitals gave rise to a prolonged controversy with some reactionary officials predicting social upheaval if the masses were allowed to travel. It was decided that only the affluent would be allowed to use the line; every passenger was to be subjected to strict passport and police control.
Nicholas I of Russia, after whom the railway and the termini were named until 1923, issued an ukase ordering its construction on 1 February 1842. It was built by serfs at a cost of heavy loss of life, a fact bemoaned by Nikolai Nekrasov in his well-known poem The Railway.
The line was finally opened after almost 10 years of construction and a great deal of financial machinations, on 1 November 1851. The first passenger train left St Petersburg at 11.15 and arrived in Moscow at 9pm the next day - 21 hours and 45 minutes later.
The Tsar's Finger
One popular myth details how the line is completely straight apart from a 17km bend near the city of Novgorod. This urban legend states that when planning the project, Tsar Nicholas accidentally drew around his own finger on the ruler, breaking the straight line on the map. Another version is that there was a small notch in the ruler. The planners were afraid to point this out and so the railway was built with the defect. Another version says that Russian steam locomotives of the time were not powerful enough to climb the Verbinsky gully and so the by-pass was built.
In 2001, after 150 years of continuous use, the bend was finally straightened out reducing the entire length by 5km. At that period, a high speed rail line (the first in Russia) was planned to be constructed along the same route, but the project was eventually laid off due to voiceful ecological protests and concerns about the fragile environment of the Valdai Hills.
