Baykal-Amur Mainline (BAM), railroad line linking central Siberian Russia with the Pacific. The BAM parallels the Trans-Siberian RR but passes north rather than south of Lake Baykal. It is 1,928 mi (3,102 km) long, with 1,987 bridges. Its eastern terminus is Sovetskaya Gavan on the Tatar Strait. It was begun in 1938 but was dismantled for parts after World War II. It was restarted in 1974 and officially completed in 1991. Although it operates along its entire length, it is little used, largely because of a lack of funds to maintain it.
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