The Russian Railway Museum Opened in St. Petersburg

The opening ceremony of the Russian Railway Museum took place on October 30 in St. Petersburg. The ceremony was attended by President of JSC Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov, Presidential Aide Igor Levitin, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko.

The event is timed to the 180th anniversary of railways in Russia. On October 30, 1837, the first passenger train traveled from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo, and the Tsarskoye Selo Railway laid the foundation for railway travel in the country.

“In memory of this historic date, today we are opening a modern multifunctional museum. Here you can trace the whole history of the railway industry of our country, which is still on the forefront: all new achievements are being implemented, first and foremost, on railways. Of course, we wanted to present a gift to the city and country. I am confident that the exposition will be of interest to everyone,” said Mr. Belozerov.

He added that, during the preparations, the exposition highly impressed foreign specialists.
As one of the events dedicated to the 180th anniversary of railways in Russia, the ceremony of extinguishing the jubilee envelope took place in the museum. It was attended by Mr. Belozerov and Head of the Federal Communications Agency Oleg Dukhovnitsky.

The new museum, located near Baltiysky station, was built using unique architectural and engineering solutions with advanced construction technologies and materials. One special feature of the project is the combination of newly built buildings and structures with the historic building of the locomotive depot of the former Baltic Railway, which has undergone intensive reconstruction.

Conceived as a universal museum, the large-scale railway complex is located on an area of more than 57 000 m2, including both open and covered areas. The basis of its one-of-a-kind collection is 28 000 exhibits of the museum fund, 38 interactive and multimedia installations and more than 100 full-scale samples of rolling stock.

Visitors to the exposition will be able to get acquainted with locomotives, cars and special railway equipment, some of which are the only of their kind left. The special exhibits include the only surviving steam locomotive of the C-series: locomotive C68; the TM-3-12, a unique super-heavy railway artillery system with guns from the sunken Empress Maria battleship; the first split layout in the history of Russia, built on the basis of the Er-791-81 operating locomotive; a service car from the Sino-East Railway, a prerevolutionary car with a unique interior with no analogues in the world; and the mobile Nuclear Shield: a combat railway missile system with a ballistic missile layout.

The museum exposition has a clear chronological structure, giving a detailed picture of the development of railway transport from the moment of its inception until today.

Specialists of the museum developed six thematic routes for visitors, including special programs for children. The new exposition will be a great place for the whole family to visit and will introduce not only the past and present railways, but also the prospects for the development of one of the most important means of travel in the Russian Federation.