This train boasts none of the comforts of a high speed train, it’s much more economy class. Four times a week and at speeds of an amazing 20 kph, a train makes the rambling journey around the southern tip of this huge lake. It can’t go any faster as the 100 year old track network is far too ramshackle. But this doesn’t bother anyone, because no one here likes to rush about: at the stops, the conductor sells foodstuffs and medicines to the residents of this remote region – there are no shops here. Every now and then tourists with deep pockets from all over the world venture into this entrancing ice landscape. For cash, the villagers will supply them with pickled gherkins and cedar vodka, before the train returns home at a snail’s pace. Stories about the slowest train in Siberia and a lifeline for the people of Lake Baikal.
On The Slow Train Around Lake Baikal
People / Society
- Title: On The Slow Train Around Lake Baikal
- Original title: Mit der Bummelbahn um den Baikalsee
- Film by: Albrecht Reinhardt
- Format: 30', Series
- Long running series: Human Encounters
- Production: WDR
- Year of production: 2008
- Language / subtitle version: German
