Mokhovye Hills, Mokhovye Gody platform — the station on the Gorky Railway nearest to the City of Bor. A wooden station building and a high passenger platform (built at a time when electrification of this section was being attempted).
Nearby there is a new, large, and comfortable bus terminal. Local bus services here (unlike in many other districts of the Nizhny Novgorod Region) are very well developed. The narrow-gauge railway to the settlement of Bolshoye Pikino, which operated until mid-2002, has already been completely dismantled.
History
Reason for construction
Founded in 1913 as the terminal point of the Nizhny Novgorod — Kotelnich mainline railway.
The first station of the new mainline railway was named Mokhovye Hills. This name had long existed — the area features large sandy mounds overgrown with sparse coniferous trees and a continuous cover of mosses and lichens.
Progress of works
A curious and now little-known fact: the crossing of the Volga River was originally planned as a tunnel rather than a bridge. In 1914, the then-existing "Special Commission for the Organization of the Nizhny Novgorod Railway Junction" examined both options — a bridge crossing and a tunnel. It was noted that operating a bridge crossing would involve a constant risk of destruction by ice drift. The conclusion was: "It is preferable to arrange the Volga crossing on the Nizhny Novgorod — Kotelnich line as an underwater tunnel."
However, this unusual structure was not destined to be built here: in 1914 war broke out and construction of the mainline railway was halted. It resumed in 1918, already under Soviet power.
The construction project was declared a "shock communist" undertaking. The most active work was carried out on the southern section of the future mainline, on the side of Nizhny Novgorod. In summer, the freight and rolling stock required for construction were transported across the Volga by steamboat. Soviet power abandoned the underwater tunnel project. In its place, construction of a railway bridge began in the 1920s.
According to official records, the Nizhny Novgorod — Kotelnich railway was opened for operation in 1927. Working train services on the first completed sections began considerably earlier. According to some sources, in the second half of the 1920s a mixed freight-passenger train was already running on the Mokhovye Hills — Kotelnich route. It departed from the terminal stations once a week, with a journey time of at least fifteen hours.
According to the "Official Guide to Rail and Other Passenger Services," published by the USSR People's Commissariat of Railways in 1928, from 1 October 1928 a train ran on the Mokhovye Hills — Kotelnich route (departing from Mokhovye Hills station at 17:15 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, arriving at the terminal point at 9:35 the following day). On other days the train ran only as far as Vetluzhskaya station (Mokhovye Hills 17:15 — Tolokontsevo 17:38 — Vetluzhskaya 22:39).
According to the reference book "Railway Stations of the USSR" (published in 1981), the opening date of Mokhovye Hills station is given as 1929. This does not correspond to the facts.
The bridge
In 1931, construction of the railway bridge across the Volga was completed, and train services opened on the new Nizhny Novgorod — Tolokontsevo section. From that moment, the situation changed beyond recognition: Mokhovye Hills station was transformed from the starting point of a major mainline railway into the terminal point of a small dead-end branch line.
A reminder of the distant era when there was no railway bridge across the Volga is the numbering of kilometer markers on the Tolokontsevo — Mokhovye Hills section: contrary to standard rules, it begins not from the starting point of the branch line (Tolokontsevo station) but from its terminal point (Mokhovye Hills station). On the Tolokontsevo — Kotelnich section, kilometer markers were also numbered from Mokhovye Hills (currently from Moscow-Kurskaya station). "In memory" of this, many topographic maps still mark the halt at kilometer 75 (its current name — Zakharovo), located at the 515th kilometer.
Passenger services on the Tolokontsevo — Mokhovye Hills section were maintained after the bridge opened. The railway became the primary means of travel between Borovskaya Sloboda and Nizhny Novgorod (renamed Gorky in 1932). The choice was limited: in summer, one could travel from Gorky to Borovskaya Sloboda by suburban train or water transport; in winter — only by train (the only alternative being on foot across the ice, during the period when the Volga River was completely frozen).
According to the working timetable of suburban trains on the Gorky Railway for summer 1962, five pairs of suburban trains ran on the Gorky-Moskovsky — Mokhovye Hills route. At that time, reconstruction of the bridge crossing over the Volga was already underway. It was being converted from a single-track railway bridge into a two-track combined railway and road bridge.
In November 1965, road traffic was opened on the upper deck of the bridge. From that moment, buses became the primary mode of transport for travel between Gorky and Bor.
The subsequent fate of the branch line
The electrification of the Gorky junction, which was carried out at the same time, in the 1960s, did not affect the branch line to Mokhovye Hills. According to unconfirmed reports, passenger services on it were suspended for an indefinite period some time later.
In the early 1990s, D1 diesel multiple units ran on the Gorky-Moskovsky — Mokhovye Hills route. By that time, overhead line masts had been installed almost everywhere on the branch and the contact wire had been partially erected. However, electrification was not completed.
According to the 1995–96 timetable, five pairs of trains ran on the Gorky-Moskovsky — Mokhovye Hills route, and according to the 1996–97 timetable — four pairs. There was no mention of these trains being "special purpose" or "cancelled." But almost at the very moment the new suburban timetable booklet came off the press, train services to Mokhovye Hills ceased. The reason was the typical one for those times: the route's heavy financial losses. The already-erected contact wire was removed.
The residents of Bor had grown accustomed to the inevitability of losing time in traffic jams, which form very frequently on the approach to the narrow bridge over the Volga. Around ten thousand people travel daily between Nizhny Novgorod and Bor. The buses running on this route are almost always overcrowded — even without traffic jams, a journey on them is far from comfortable.
In 2004, the management of the Gorky Railway heeded the voices of those calling for the restoration of passenger services. After eight years, the timetable at Nizhny Novgorod's Moscow Railway Station once again listed a train to Mokhovye Hills station. This was the first case in the history of the new Russia of passenger services being restored after a multi-year suspension.
Initially (from 30 April to the end of May), the train consisted of two ChME3 diesel locomotives with three passenger carriages "sandwiched" between them. It ran only three times a week, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays (departing from Gorky-Moskovsky station at 18:20, arriving at Mokhovye Hills at 19:07, return journey 19:24 — 20:14). Two locomotives were necessary in order to reduce the dwell time at Tolokontsevo station, where the direction of travel reverses. Whereas the branch line had previously had three intermediate stops (Druzhba, Yurasovskaya, Kvarts Plant), only two now remained: Druzhba and Voyenny Gorodok.
After the new train working timetable came into force (from 1 June), the route became daily. And about a month later, significant changes occurred: instead of one pair of trains, there were three or four (depending on the day of the week), and most importantly — the Gorky depot received excellent, comfortable ACh2 diesel multiple units, freshly overhauled, specifically for this route.
For a time, all ACh2 diesel multiple unit services were classified as commercial, had four-digit numbers beginning with 7, and concessionary fares did not apply — every single passenger was required to purchase a ticket. Conductors worked in the carriages. They greeted each passenger as a guest — said hello, explained the train timetable and stops en route, and asked for opinions about the new route, the rolling stock, and the quality of service. Journey times were reduced to 33 minutes. The fare was 11 rubles (the same as on the bus).
About a month and a half later, all legally prescribed concessionary fares were reinstated on the trains. Passenger numbers increased significantly, but the charm of those first journeys vanished — when a spotlessly clean train with soft seats and courteous conductors carried passengers away from the harsh everyday reality for half an hour.
According to statements made by the Gorky Railway press office in 2004, "the experiment was deemed a success." Train frequencies to Mokhovye Hills may be increased. The question of restoring the contact wire on the branch line to allow the introduction of electric multiple units — more economical than diesel multiple units — is under consideration.
From 2005, in addition to the ACh2 diesel multiple units with trailer carriages, RA1 railbuses manufactured by the Mytishchi Engineering Plant began operating on the Gorky-Moskovsky — Mokhovye Hills route. The number of trains was increased.
In 2006, a decision was made to electrify the section. Contact wire installation was completed within a fairly short timeframe. On 27 April 2007 at 12:34, electric multiple unit ED9-191 departed from Gorky-Moskovsky station for Mokhovye Hills station.
Around the same time, automatic block signaling was introduced on the Tolokontsevo — Mokhovye Hills section, new halts at Neklyudovo and Sportivnaya were built, and a new platform was constructed at Tolokontsevo station.
At Mokhovye Hills station, the contact wire was installed only on the first track, so freight operations are performed exclusively using diesel traction. ChME3 diesel locomotives are used.
As of July 2007, eleven pairs of electric multiple unit trains ran daily on the Tolokontsevo — Mokhovye Hills section. In terms of the density of halts, the section ranked among the highest in the country. With a length of 9 kilometers, it has 4 intermediate halts: Neklyudovo, Druzhba, Voyenny Gorodok, and Sportivnaya. The Voyenny Gorodok halt is located near the intersection with Tolstogo Street, and the Sportivnaya halt is near the street of the same name.
Possible prospects
Should a bridge across the Volga be built that directly connects the city of Bor with the Upper Town of Nizhny Novgorod, passenger services on the Tolokontsevo — Mokhovye Hills section would in all likelihood be discontinued. The distance from Bor to the center of Nizhny Novgorod currently stands at 15 kilometers, whereas as the crow flies the two cities are separated by just one kilometer of water.
The construction of a bridge in the direction of the Upper Town of Nizhny Novgorod — Bor is a matter for the distant future. Such a bridge is unlikely to appear before 2020.
Photographs
- Photo from the website of the Nizhny Novgorod Mountain Club Platform "Mokhovye Hills"
Official address
- 606440, Nizhny Novgorod Region, city of Bor, Nadezhdy Krupskoy Street (?)
- Phone numbers: (83159) 2-26-64, (83159) 2-23-00