History of the South Ural Railway. South Ural Railway Strelok station Bologoe South Ural Railway

South Ural Railway

Full name Branch of JSC Russian Railways - South Ural Railway Abbreviated name South Ural Railway Date of formation December 13, 1933 Gauge width 1520 mm Operating length 4545.2 km States Russia Related roads Sverdlovsk
West Siberian
Privolzhkaya
Kuibyshevskaya Subordination to JSC Russian Railways Headquarters Chelyabinsk Chief Victor Popov Website(s) http://yuzd.rzd.ru Awards

South Ural Railway(SUR) is one of the branches of JSC Russian Railways, a railway running through the territory of the Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and parts of the Sverdlovsk region, Bashkortostan and Kazakhstan. The road management is located in Chelyabinsk.

Story

Development of a stone excavation on the Samara-Zlatoust railway. 1888

Zlatoust is the final point on the Ufa - Zlatoust railway section. 1890s

The South Ural Road, the initial link of the Great Trans-Siberian Railway, has gone through a long development process. Start of construction of railways on Southern Urals is inextricably linked with the need to develop the resources of the Urals, Siberia and the need to create new markets. For 20 years, a special commission under the Ministry of Railways considered various railway projects that would connect the European part of Russia with the Urals, Siberia and the Far East. In 1891, a decision was made to build the Great Siberian Route in the direction of Miass - Chelyabinsk - Omsk - Novonikolaevsk (now Novosibirsk - Krasnoyarsk - Irkutsk - Chita - Rukhlovo - Khabarovsk - Vladivostok. Work was carried out at a rapid pace. In 1888, traffic from Moscow to Ufa, September 8, 1890 - to Zlatoust, and on October 25, 1892 the first train arrived in Chelyabinsk.

Due to the large number and variety of artificial structures, the diversion of river beds, the construction of retaining walls, the excavation of rocky soil, and the quality of the work performed mainly by hand, the road is of significant interest from the point of view of the practice of domestic construction and the implementation of Russian engineering. All materials for the track's superstructure were manufactured at local factories.

After the completion of the Samara-Zlatoust Railway in the summer of 1892, construction of a line to Western Siberia from Chelyabinsk to the Ob began. On October 4, 1893, the first train arrived from Chelyabinsk to Kurgan. Then - the construction of a bridge over the Tobol River and a steel route from Kurgan to Omsk. On the Chelyabinsk - Omsk line there were 29 three-axle steam locomotives and 1010 two-axle covered cars and platforms with a carrying capacity of 12-15 tons. The carriages were equipped with hand brakes and wooden brake blocks were used until 1903. The flight from Chelyabinsk to Omsk took place within a month.

Thus, train traffic was opened on the first section of the Siberian Railway. railway with a length of 746 versts, and in October 1896, trains began running in the entire direction from Chelyabinsk to the Ob. After the completion of the construction of the line to Yekaterinburg in 1895, three roads were connected in Chelyabinsk: Ural (later Perm), Samaro-Zlatoust and Siberian. Despite low transportation tariffs, the Trans-Siberian Railway turned out to be highly profitable. Suffice it to say that only the first section - the Samara-Zlatoust road - since 1893, has generated a profit of about 0.5 million rubles. in year. From 1893 to 1903, passenger traffic increased by 2.25 times, and income by 3 times, the amount of cargo transported at high speed by 11 times, and by low speed by 2.25 times.

When designing the railway, the tsarist government did not count on large freight turnover. Immediately after the launch, it turned out that it was necessary to transport 3 times more cargo. All this led to the need to strengthen existing lines by replacing rails with heavier ones, wooden bridges with metal ones, as well as laying second tracks, which began already in 1896 and was subsequently carried out continuously. Thanks to this, cargo transportation in 1914 on the Samara-Zlatoust road reached 5.9 million tons, and on the Siberian road - 5.4 million tons per year.

During the First World War, the Trans-Siberian Railway also fell into a state of complete neglect. After the revolution of 1917 and the expulsion of Kolchak from the Southern Urals, a difficult time came for the railway workers to restore the transport economy. As on the military fronts, workers at railway junctions showed massive labor heroism. In the shortest possible time, during mass cleanup work, they restored not only the rolling stock and track in the Southern Urals, but also provided assistance to other roads. Workers of the Chelyabinsk locomotive depot restored and sent 8 locomotives with crews to Petrograd and Tikhvin. At the same time, the same team equipped the Red Sibiryak armored train for the front, which took part in the battles for the liberation of Kurgan and other stations from the White Guards.

On April 4, 1920, workers at the Chelyabinsk station's medium-repair locomotive depot solemnly celebrated the release of the Kommunar steam locomotive from repair as their first victory in the fight against the devastation in railway transport (now this locomotive is installed on a pedestal at the railway workers' recreation center in Chelyabinsk). The best drivers of the depot drove a train with bread to the capital in 4 days and were received by Lenin. At that time, trains from Chelyabinsk to Moscow usually took 12 days. The labor feat of the South Urals formed the basis for the organization of high-speed routes with bread from Siberia.

The state policy of disaggregating a number of railways, carried out for the purpose of effective and competent management of Soviet highways, and the corresponding resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of December 13, 1933 allocated a 1000-kilometer section of the Trans-Siberian Railway to the South Ural Railway with management in Chelyabinsk.

At that time, 17 freight and 5 passenger trains departed from Chelyabinsk station per day. The main type of locomotives were steam locomotives of various series and only 38-40% of them were new, powerful for that time steam locomotives of the E, EU, EM series in freight traffic, S, SU in passenger traffic. The movement of trains was hampered by staff and telegraph communication methods, and only on the main route from Kropachevo to Chelyabinsk there was a semi-automatic blocking.

In the pre-war years, the South Ural Railway received second tracks from Chelyabinsk to Makushino, automatic blocking was introduced along the entire main route from Kropachevo to Makushino, more than 900 km of new lines were put into operation, and the repair and operation of powerful steam locomotives of the FD and IS series was mastered. The track length at stations was increased to 850 meters. In 1940, the first land harvesting machine of the road inventor, Viktor Balashenko, appeared.

The South Ural Road received significant technical equipment in the post-war period. The main course was taken to electrify the sections and convert the remaining sections from steam to diesel traction. In 1949, the Zlatoust - Kropachevo section was electrified, in 1955 - Berdyaush - Bakal, a year later - Kurgan - Makushino, and in 1957 - the Chelyabinsk - Kurgan section. In 1961, after joining the Petropavlovsk branch to the road, the last closing section Makushino - Isilkul, 272 km long, was electrified. The reconstruction of the road infrastructure carried out during the post-war five-year plans, combined with the introduction of a set of organizational and technical measures, made it possible to increase traffic volumes from year to year.

Statistics

Today the operational length of the South Ural Railway is 4562 km, the deployed length is over 7500 km. It passes through the territory of the Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Orenburg, partly Samara, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Omsk regions, the Republic of Bashkortostan and Northern Kazakhstan.

On the highway site there are large industrial centers: Chelyabinsk, Magnitogorsk, Miass, Zlatoust, Orenburg, Orsk, Novotroitsk, Mednogorsk, Kurgan, in which enterprises of the mechanical engineering, metallurgical, mining, petrochemical, and construction complexes are concentrated.

, having track development, there are 237 on the road. Of this number, there are 8 extra-class stations, first class - 12, second class - 18, third class - 32, fourth class - 59 and fifth class - 108. Based on the nature of their work, the stations are divided into:

More than half the length of the main line is electrified, the same length of double-track lines, almost 70% of the switches are equipped with electrical centralization devices. The road is equipped with modern electrical and power supply equipment, telecontrol systems, automation and telemechanics. The road's staff numbers over 40 thousand people.

Currently, on the territory of four regions of two states - Russia and Kazakhstan - there is a training and methodological center of the DMK, the Chelyabinsk Institute of Railways, and two technical schools. railway transport, three children's railways (in Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Orenburg) and a museum of the history of military and labor glory (since 1973). The highway has several schools and a wide medical and recreational base.

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The South Ural Railway is one of the largest in Russia. Today, as at the dawn of its history, it is important for industry and passenger transportation.

Facts about SUR

The Yuzhno-Uralskaya has a total length of about 8 thousand km, of which the operational length is 4545 km. Its routes pass through the territory of two countries: Russia (through the lands of Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Samara, Kurgan, Saratov, Sverdlovsk regions, Bashkortostan) and Kazakhstan.

In 2003, the branch of the South Ural Railway became a branch of Russian Railways. Back in 1971, the highway was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.

Key stations of the Southern Railway: Chelyabinsk-Glavny, Magnitogorsk, Kurgan, Orenburg, Troitsk, Orsk, Berdyaush, Orenburg, Kartaly, Petropavlovsk. are located in Buzuluk, Kurgan, Verkhniy Ufaley, Zlatoust, Troitsk, Kartaly, Orsk, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk and Petropavlovsk, motor-unit - in Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Sakmara region.

More than half of the railway line is electrified, electrical centralization devices are installed on 85% of switches. Also, along its entire length, the railway is equipped with energy, electrical, automation, telemechanics, and telesupply systems.

In the north, the South Ural Railway connects with the similar Sverdlovsk, in the east - with the West Siberian, in the west - with Kuibyshev, in the southwest - with the Volga, in the south - with the railways of Kazakhstan.

Statistics

South Ural Railway in numbers:

Number of employees (as of 2016): 40,951 people.
Passengers transported (2016): suburban routes - 6.7 million, intercity routes - 6.8 million people.
Cargo transported (2016): 295.4 million tons.
The total area of the serviced railway track is more than 400 thousand m2.
72 stations with 169 shunting locomotives, of which 14 operate on electric traction, the rest on thermal traction.
219 stations have an automatic control system.
The South Ural Railway has 247 track development points. Of these, 173 are intermediate, 34 are cargo, 21 are traveling, track posts, 13 are precinct, 5 are sorting and 1 passenger.
According to the class, 247 stations of the South Ural Railway are divided into: 9 extra-class, 10 first class, 18 second, 34 third, 63 fourth, 92 fifth, 21 without class.
On the entire highway site there are 20 track distances, 12 - power supply, 10 - centralization, blocking and signaling, and there are also IF ISSO (distance of engineering structures), DICDM (diagnostics and monitoring of infrastructure devices).
12 11 of them are mechanized.
The railway has 4 carriage depots and 6 locomotive depots.

The following elements are also relevant to SUR:

Chelyabinsk Institute of Railways.
DMK Training Center.
Two technical schools of railway transport.
Three children's railways (Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Orenburg).
Medical and health recreation centers.
A number of foster schools.
Museum of the History of South Ukrainian Railways (Chelyabinsk, Tsvillinga, 63) and an open-air museum of railway equipment.

Industry and Southern Railway

South Ural Railway stands out not only because it is located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, but also because of its industrial focus. 65% of trains passing here are freight trains. In 2015, cargo turnover was 163.8 billion tonne-kilometres.

Each of the regions through which the South Ural Railway passes is distinguished by its nature of cargo:

Kurgan region - metal structures, industrial raw materials, equipment, flour.

Construction materials, chemicals, petroleum products, non-ferrous ores, refractories, ferrous metals.

- ferrous metallurgy products (the overwhelming majority of cargoes from the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works), refractories, industrial raw materials, construction materials, food, incl. flour.

Department of the South Ural Railway

The main management building is located in Chelyabinsk, on Revolution Square, 3.

The leadership is currently represented by the following persons:

Popov Viktor Alekseevich - head of the South Ural Railway.
Sergeevich - first deputy.
Selmenskikh Alexander Viktorovich - 1st deputy. on finance, economics, administrative coordination.
Khramtsov Anatoly Mikhailovich - chief engineer.
Smirnov Anatoly Vasilievich - chief auditor for the safety of train movements.
Zharov Sergey Ivanovich - deputy. on social issues and personnel.
Dyachenko Mikhail Evgenievich - deputy. on safety.
Antonov Sergey Pavlovich - deputy. on interaction with government structures.

The beginning of the history of the railway

The history of the South Ural Railway is closely connected with the construction of the Great Siberian Road. The work was carried out at an enviable pace:

1888 - the Moscow-Ufa train was launched.
1890 - the Ufa-Zlatoust direction was opened.
1892 - arrival of the first train in Chelyabinsk.
1893 - the Chelyabinsk-Kurgan route was opened.

After the opening of the Kurgan-Omsk section in 1896, the Trans-Siberian Railway began to function at full capacity. 29 steam locomotives and over a thousand covered cars and platforms ran here. Freight turnover exceeded the expectations of the tsarist government, which made it necessary to build a second line of tracks. So, in 1914 it was 5.4 million tons. However, the Chelyabinsk-Tomsk flight at that time lasted a whole month.

During the First World War, the highway was completely abandoned.

A new page in the history of South Ural Railway

The revival began in 1917 after the expulsion of Kolchak by the Red Army. It was carried out at an amazingly fast pace. The Ural workers not only quickly restored the moving track, but also provided assistance to other roads.

In 1920, the first steam locomotive "Kommunar" was repaired, which transported a train with bread to Moscow in 4 days (previously the journey took up to 12 days).

In 1934, the modern section of the South Ural Railway was formed. Later, additional lines were completed, second tracks were installed, and part of the highway was equipped with automatic blocking. Powerful steam locomotives SO, IS, FD arrived at the site. The reconstruction that took place in 1940 increased cargo turnover by 2.4 times.

During the war years, Southern Railway workers helped the front by building armored trains, ambulance trains, and bathhouse cars. After the Victory, electrification of the road began, diesel traction was introduced in a number of sections, and new branch lines were completed.

The Southern Railway, which has a history of more than a century, today is an important section of the Russian Railways both for the transportation of passengers and for the transportation of goods, because it passes through the territory of the industrial donor regions of our country.

The South Ural Railway passes through the territory of seven constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as through the territory of the state of Kazakhstan. The road management is located in Chelyabinsk. This route connects the Far East and Siberia with the central regions of the country.

At the end of the 19th century. Chelyabinsk was connected to Ufa and Samara only by a horse-drawn road, along which mail, cargo, passengers were transported through the Ural ridge, and political exiles were escorted to Siberia. There was also a river route along Ufa and Belaya.

In May 1870, survey work began on the section from Samara to Orenburg, the results of which were submitted to the government for consideration. And in 1871 it was received highest resolution for the construction of a line from Samara to Orenburg.

On February 22, 1874, construction began on the Orenburg Railway from the right bank of the Volga at the Batraki station through Samara to Orenburg with a bridge across the Volga and a branch to the pier in Samara. Work proceeded simultaneously in several areas, which were put into temporary operation as soon as they were ready. Peasants from the Simbirsk, Samara and Orenburg provinces were involved in the construction of the railway.

Constant traffic on the Batraki - Orenburg line, stretching 507.3 versts, was opened on January 1, 1877.

They started talking about building a road from the Volga to the Southern Urals back in the late 70s. Large industrialists and merchants of the Urals were interested in the untapped riches of Siberia and new markets for raw materials that were located in the East. But numerous railway projects remained unclaimed for a long time. The Tobolsk governor stated on this occasion: “The Tobolsk province and its neighbors will more likely suffer than benefit from the railway; monitoring the preservation of order in the region will become impossible and supervision of political exiles will be difficult, due to the ease of their escape.”

For 20 years, a special commission under the Ministry of Railways considered various railway projects from Moscow to the Urals and Siberia. In 1884, a decision was made to build the Great Siberian Route, of which the South Ural Railway later became an integral part.

In 1885, construction of the South Ural Road began with funds from the treasury. The construction was supervised by railway engineer K. Ya. Mikhailovsky, his assistants were P. S. Zhukov and P. S. Mukhlinsky.

The excavation work turned out to be difficult - the builders used explosives to make excavations in the rocky soil. Everything was done by hand - with a pick and a spade. To move soil during the construction of embankments, as well as to remove rocky blocks from excavations, only stretchers and, where possible, horse-drawn carts were used.

The region was rich in turbulent, fast rivers and mountain streams, so stone retaining walls were built to protect the railway tracks. In some cases, it was necessary to divert Ural rivers by constructing a new channel for them. This is how the rivers Sim, Ai, Yuryuzan and Bolshoi Berdyaush were diverted. When constructing the channel of the latter, the builders made a hole in the rock more than 20 meters deep and over 300 meters long.

In total, about three hundred different artificial structures were built on the Ufa - Zlatoust line - bridges, pipes, drainage systems, reinforcing dams and retaining walls. Large iron bridges were erected across the Sim and Yuryuzan rivers, the author of which was the famous Russian engineer, Professor A. Belelyubsky. These bridge structures became an indicator of the high engineering art of that time. The span structure of each of them rests on an artificial abutment at one end and on a rock at the other.

On the initiative of K. Ya. Mikhailovsky, workshops were created in Chelyabinsk that supplied the construction site with parts of bridges, parts of residential and office buildings, etc.

The highway was built in record time. On September 8, 1888, train service was opened from Samara to Ufa, on September 8, 1890 - to Zlatoust, and on October 25, the first train arrived to Chelyabinsk. The road began to be called Samara-Zlatoust. The route crossed the Ural ridge and went to Western Siberia, connecting it with rail tracks to Moscow and St. Petersburg.

After inspecting the railway, the government commission of the Ministry of Railways noted that numerous technical difficulties were resolved with talent and high professionalism. Unlike the main lines of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which were built according to simplified technical conditions, the Ufa-Chelyabinsk section was completed technically impeccably, without making allowances for the difficulties of the mountainous terrain and the speed of work. On October 22, 1892, permanent traffic was opened on the Zlatoust-Chelyabinsk section with a length of 150 miles.

On January 1, 1893, the Orenburg road was added to the Samara-Zlatoust road, and the road began to be called the Samara-Zlatoust road with the Orenburg branch. Thus, the length of the road was 1410 versts, its western border was the Batraki station, and its eastern border was the cities of Chelyabinsk and Orenburg.

In June 1893, construction began on the main section of the Great Siberian Route - from Chelyabinsk to the East. For the construction and operation of the future road, metal and fuel were required. This gave impetus to the development of the metallurgical and fuel industries in the Southern Urals. The Ust-Katavsky, Zlatoustovsky, Simsky, Yuryuzansky and Katav-Ivanovsky factories produced rails and fastenings to them, as well as iron bridge structures. Thus, the entire industry of the Southern Urals worked for railway construction. To provide the road with rails and metal, the Yekaterinburg-Chelyabinsk line was built in 1896, connecting the Trans-Siberian Railway with the metallurgical plants of the Northern Urals.

In 1896, a special resettlement point was built in Chelyabinsk, through which about a million landless peasants from the central provinces of Russia passed over 10 years.

To deliver grain and agricultural products from Troitsky and Kustanai districts, the private Poletaevo-Troitsk-Kustanay railway was built in 1913.

By the end of 1916, the West Ural Railway from the station came into operation. Druzhinino to st. Berdyaush is 253 km long. It was built by a group of industrialists with Russian and French capital and connected factories located on the western slope of the Urals with rich mines and the Kizelovsky coal basin in the north of the Urals.

The South Ural Railway was formed in 1934 by dividing the Perm Railway and merging a number of lines passing through the territory of the Southern Urals.

The road received significant development in the 30s, when the lines Chelyabinsk - Sinarskaya (Kamensk-Uralsky), Kartaly - Akmolinsk were built.

During the Great Patriotic War, a large number of industrial enterprises relocated to Siberia and the Urals. The volume of transportation was many times higher than the volume of the pre-war years.

In 1981, with the commissioning of the Sakmarskaya - Muraptalovo and Krasnogravdeets - Novoperelubskaya lines, the formation of the boundaries of the South Ural Road was completed.

The South Ural Road, the initial link of the Great Trans-Siberian Railway, has gone through a long development process. The beginning of the construction of railways in the Southern Urals is inextricably linked with the need to develop the untold riches of the Urals, Siberia and the need to create new markets.

The first section of the railway in the Southern Urals was opened on January 1, 1877 during the construction of the Samara-Zlatoust railway.

The main sections of the Samara-Zlatoust railway were built in 1876-1914, the first of which was the Orenburg - Kinel section. The test train arrived at the Orenburg station from Samara on October 22, 1876. On January 1, 1877, the movement of postal, passenger and freight trains was opened along the line from the Batraki station (shared with the Morshansko-Syzran railway) to Orenburg, where by this time a locomotive depot and a station had been built.

The opening of the Orenburg Railway contributed to the development of trade between Russia and Central Asia. In 1877, 2 mail-passenger and 2 goods-passenger trains ran on the Orenburg road.

Further construction of the Samara-Zlatoust highway took place on the section Kinel - Ufa - Zlatoust - Chelyabinsk. Traffic to Ufa was opened on September 8, 1888 (the Samara-Ufa Railway was put into operation). On September 8, 1890, the Ufa - Zlatoust line was added to the road. From that time on, the road began to be called Samara-Zlatoust.

In 1892, the Zlatoust-Chelyabinsk section, commissioned on October 22, was added to the road. After the completion of the Samara-Zlatoust Railway in the summer of 1892, construction of a line to Western Siberia from Chelyabinsk to the Ob began.

On October 25, 1892, the first goods and passenger train from Moscow arrived at the Chelyabinsk station. On January 1, 1893, the Orenburg Railway was attached to the Samara-Zlatoust Railway. The road management was transferred from Samara to Chelyabinsk. The Samara-Zlatoust Railway became the main section of the future Trans-Siberian Railway.

First effect

Thus, train traffic was opened on the first section of the Siberian Railway, 746 miles long, and in October 1896, trains began running in the entire direction from Chelyabinsk to the Ob. After the completion of the construction of the line to Yekaterinburg in 1895, three roads were connected in Chelyabinsk: Ural (later Perm), Samaro-Zlatoust and Siberian. Despite low transportation tariffs, the Trans-Siberian Railway turned out to be highly profitable. Suffice it to say that only the first section - the Samara-Zlatoust road - since 1893, has generated a profit of about 0.5 million rubles. in year. From 1893 to 1903, passenger traffic increased by 2.25 times, and income by 3 times, the amount of cargo transported at high speed by 11 times, and by low speed by 2.25 times.

Labor heroism

On April 4, 1920, the workers of the locomotive depot for the average repair of the Chelyabinsk station solemnly celebrated the release of the steam locomotive "Kommunar" from repair as their first victory in the fight against the devastation in railway transport (now this locomotive is installed on a pedestal at the Railway Workers' Palace of Culture in Chelyabinsk). The best drivers of the depot drove a train with bread to the capital in 4 days and were received by Lenin. At that time, trains from Chelyabinsk to Moscow usually took 12 days. The labor feat of the South Urals residents formed the basis for the organization of high-speed routes with bread from Siberia.

Effective management

At that time, 17 freight and 5 passenger trains per day. The main type of locomotives were steam locomotives of various series and only 38-40% of them were new, powerful for that time steam locomotives of the E, EU, EM series in freight traffic, S, SU in passenger traffic. The movement of trains was hampered by staff and telegraph communication methods, and only on the main route from Kropachevo to Chelyabinsk there was a semi-automatic blocking.

In the pre-war years, the South Ural Railway received second tracks from Chelyabinsk to Makushino, automatic blocking was introduced on the entire main route from Kropachevo to Makushino, more than 900 km of new lines were put into operation, and the repair and operation of powerful steam locomotives of the FD and IS series was mastered. The track length at stations was increased to 850 meters. In 1940, the first land harvesting machine of the famous inventor of our road, Viktor Balashenko, appeared. The Stakhanov-Krivonosov movement, which unfolded throughout the country, played a major role in improving the functioning of transport. The first followers of Pyotr Krivonos were heavyweight drivers Ivan Blinov from Kurgan, Pyotr Agafonov and Ivan Martynov from Chelyabinsk, who became the first order bearers of our road.

Development during the war years

During the Great Patriotic War, when a significant part of industrial enterprises were relocated from the western regions to the Urals and Siberia, the transportation of passengers and cargo increased sharply. It was urgently necessary to resolve the issue of a sharp increase in the transport and throughput capacity of the road. Despite the enormous difficulties experienced by the country, the State Defense Committee adopted a resolution to convert the most difficult mountain section of Chelyabinsk - Kropachevo, 320 kilometers long, to electric traction. Electrical equipment for 10 traction substations and engineering and technical personnel were removed from the Kirov Railway, which was located in the zone of hostilities. On November 2, 1945, driver V.N. Ivanov drove the first freight train weighing 1,200 tons along the electrified section Chelyabinsk - Zlatoust on the electric locomotive VL19. This marked the beginning of the electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Assessing the special role of railway transport, the government allocated 250 million rubles for the development of the road during the war years. Road workers made a significant contribution to the victory in the Great Patriotic War, showing examples of labor feat and courage. The driver of the Chelyabinsk locomotive depot, Agafonov, organized a locomotive convoy named after the State Defense Committee, which during the three years of the war carried more than 2,000 heavy trains and transported one and a half million tons of cargo in excess of the norm, saving about 5 thousand tons of fuel. The same columns were organized by drivers Blinov and Ugryumov at the Kurgan depot, Teftelev in Troitsk, and others. The first war winter was especially difficult, when many railway workers volunteered to go to the front. Teenagers and women came to transport, and pensioners returned. Women stood at the machines and began working as machinists. During the war years, 8 armored trains, 3 bath trains, and dozens of ambulance trains were manufactured, equipped and sent to the front.

Post-war reconstruction

Today's day

Today, the South Ural Railway, whose total length is over 7.5 thousand kilometers, is one of the largest railways in the country. It serves the territories of 7 constituent entities of the Russian Federation: Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Orenburg, partially Kuibyshev, Saratov, Sverdlovsk regions, the Republic of Bashkortostan and Northern Kazakhstan. On October 1, 2003, the South Ural Railway became a branch of the Russian Railways company.