Rail transport in Belarus
# Rail transport in Belarus

Rail transport in Belarus is owned by the national rail company BŽD / BČ (be: Bielaruskaja Čyhunka / ru: Belorusskaja Železnaja Doroga). The railway network consists of 5,512 km, its gauge is 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) (Russian broad gauge) and 874 km are electrified.

## History

The first line crossing the country was the Saint Petersburg–Warsaw Railway, which started operating in late 1862. This included section and railway station in Hrodna. During the mid-1860s, railway line was built also from Daugavpils to Polatsk and further to Vitebsk. Line Warsaw-Brest, opened in 1866, completed to Moscow in 1871.

## Network

Belarus is crossed, from Brest to Orsha through Minsk, by an international rail line connecting Berlin and Warsaw to Moscow. Other important lines are the Minsk-Gomel (to Kyiv), the Orsha-Vitebsk (to Saint Petersburg), the Minsk-Vilnius and others. Some international trains serving Belarus are the Pribaltika Riga-Odesa, the Minsk-Irkutsk and the Sibirjak Berlin-Novosibirsk (and other Russian destinations).

The national network has no high-speed lines and is not served by high-speed trains.

## Urban railways

Minsk is the only city with a subway system, the Minsk Metro. The network consists of three lines: Awtazavodskaya, Maskoŭskaja and Zelenaluzhskaya. The only cities with tramway systems are Minsk, Vitebsk, Mazyr and Novopolotsk.

## Rail links to adjacent countries

* (Poland) – yes – break-of-gauge 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)/1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
* (Lithuania) – yes
* (Latvia) – yes
* (Russia) – yes
* (Ukraine) – yes (closed)
