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Russian Railways respikes over 50 km of Sakhalin rail network to Russia’s broad gauge 1520 mm track in 2018

In 2018, Russian Railways has respiked over 50 km of Sakhalin’s rail network to Russia’s broad gauge 1520 mm track.

As a result, the annual plan for respiking the island’s narrow gauge to bring it into line with the mainland’s broad gauge standard of 1520 mm was completed on time.

The work was completed very quickly, in just six weeks.

The plan to lay 29 km of track on the Ilyinsk-Arsentevka section on Sakhalin in 2018 has also been completed, thus connecting the railway lines of the island’s east and west coasts.

In addition, work was finished on the section between Chekhov and Tomari stations earlier in the summer season.

In total, 52.4 km of track has been laid so far in 2018.

OJSC Russian Railways plans to convert fully Sakhalin’s 806-km railway system from its narrow 1067 mm gauge to Russia’s broad gauge of 1520 mm by 2020.

To avoid interruptions to services, narrow-gauge rolling stock is being used on the widened track sections which combine both track gauges of 1520 and 1067 mm.