И. А. Курбасова Е. И. Силантьева

TEXT С THE MOSCOW —LAKE BAIKAL RAILWAY
(1) The Trans-Siberian Railway always played a very important part in the economic development of our coun­try. During the Great Patriotic War when most of our in­dustry was concentrated in Siberia the Trans-Siberian Rail­way made a great contribution to the victory over the German armies

(2) But operated by steam traction, the line could not carry a large volume of traffic. After the war the modern­ization program was worked out as part of the grandiose plan to transform Siberia into a highly developed indus­trial region

(3) The modernization plan provided for the electrifica- _ tion of the Moscow—Lake Baikal section simultaneously' with its reconstruction. It was a hard job which took a long time. It was in 1961 that electric traction was intro­duced on the line.

(4) Now the Moscow — Lake Baikal Railway is the long­est electrified main line in the world on which powerful electric and diesel locomotives draw long and heavy trains. The electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway east of Baikal continues.