In the heart of Siberia, deep within the Arctic Circle, Siberia’s Ice Trains operate under extreme conditions, with temperatures plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius and frequent snowstorms. Starting in Tobolsk, the journey heads 1,000 miles north to Novy Urengoy, Russia’s largest gas field. The railway is crucial for exporting condensed gas, and snowplough trains work tirelessly to keep lines open. From Novy Urengoy, the journey continues across the gas fields to Nadym, where a new railway is being built over Stalin’s infamous "Railway of Death." This harsh Arctic wilderness is also home to the nomadic Nenets people. The journey ends at Labytnangi, where a private train line runs to the Bovanenkovo gas field, the world’s northernmost railway.
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TVTranscript
00:01Oh man, this is on the verge of tortures.
00:04These train journeys are among the most epic and hardcore on the planet.
00:08There's like ice picks stabbing at my stomach wall.
00:13Taking people through the world's harshest environments.
00:16No train has ever gone further north than this one right here.
00:21Overcoming technical challenges.
00:23Look at this, I don't want to go over this in a train.
00:26These trains are a vital link to remote communities.
00:30People live along the tracks, so this is their only means home.
00:34Sustaining a region's economy.
00:36There's one of the sugar cane carriages that isn't quite making.
00:41And even changing the course of history.
00:44It's because of this line that the country feels united.
00:48These are the world's tough trains.
00:56Crossing all of Siberia from east to west, this is the Trans-Siberian.
01:06Russia's best known railway, but certainly not its toughest.
01:10Over a thousand miles north of the Trans-Siberian Railway,
01:15I'm traveling deep inside the Arctic Circle on the world's most northerly train line.
01:20And I'm here in the winter when temperatures could drop to minus 50 degrees centigrade or more.
01:26Wish me luck.
01:27This is Tough Trains Siberia.
01:38As well as being the world's largest country, Russia also has the world's biggest gas reserves,
01:44mostly in remote Arctic Siberia.
01:48The gas fields are serviced by the world's northernmost train lines,
01:51but damagingly, there's a gap between east and west.
01:57Today, Russia is taking steps to bridge the gap in one of the toughest environments on Earth.
02:04Curiously, the new railway will follow the route of an abandoned train line
02:08built before the discovery of gas, during Soviet times,
02:11by prisoners of Stalin's forced labor camps.
02:17My journey to the Arctic starts in the old Siberian capital, to Bolsk,
02:21from where I catch a train 750 miles north to Russia's biggest gas field at Novy-Uringoy,
02:28where I see what it takes to keep the fuel trains moving.
02:31There's the gas there.
02:36That's what these guys are working to get out of here.
02:41Regular passenger trains go no further than Novy-Uringoy,
02:44but to continue my journey on the freight-only line 150 miles west to Nadim,
02:50I get to travel on my own private train.
02:54Isn't it amazing that Stalin had this vision to build this railway across the Arctic,
02:58but never got to see it through, and now it's about to be completed,
03:02but for different reasons.
03:03Gas!
03:07Today, from the end of the line at Nadim,
03:10the only way you can get across the 250-mile gap to Labatnangi
03:14is by four-wheel drive on a treacherous ice road that's open only in the winter.
03:20En route, I visit the remote area's only inhabitants,
03:24nomads who herd reindeer and eat them raw.
03:28Mm-mm.
03:32Much more durable with the vodka.
03:34Yeah.
03:36From Ubskaya, near Labatnangi,
03:38I end my trip by heading north 350 miles above the Arctic Circle
03:43to the Bovenenkovo gas field,
03:45the most northerly place in the world reachable by train.
03:48This train line has to keep running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,
03:53to keep the gas fields running.
03:54This really is the toughest of tough trains.
03:57Over a thousand miles south, I'm starting my journey to the Russian Arctic
04:14in the historic former capital of Siberia, Tobolsk.
04:16Back in the 18th century, all of the vast region of Siberia was governed from here,
04:24stretching an incredible 5,000 miles to the east and over a thousand miles north to the Arctic.
04:30Just opposite to Bolsk's Kremlin in the lovely St. Sophia Cathedral, there's a much grimmer survivor from the past here, the Bolsk's prison.
04:46During the rule of the Tsars, thousands of political dissidents were banished every year to exile in Siberia,
04:59and many of them were imprisoned here.
05:00After the Communist Revolution, the exile of political prisoners and other criminals to Siberia continued much into the 20th century.
05:14Millions were sentenced to hard labor, and worse, into the infamous Gulag.
05:29From holding prisons such as this one, the prisoners of the Gulag were sent all across Siberia and put to work,
05:41often in mines, but also on big infrastructure projects, such as building Stalin's so-called Railway of Death across the Arctic.
05:48The railway that I'm taking to the Arctic from Tobolsk, however, is a more modern line, completed in the early 1980s after huge amounts of gas and oil were discovered in the far north.
06:03Alright, my train is due at 1.38, which is confusing because on the timetable it says 11.38.
06:10Yeah, as it turns out, all Russian trains run on Moscow time wherever they are.
06:17And in a country that covers nine time zones, that's important to know if you want to avoid missing your train or freezing to death while waiting for it.
06:28Alright, here it is. The train that's going to take me up into the cold Arctic north.
06:34Oh, am I ready for this? I don't know. I really don't know. We'll have to see.
06:44My train has come all the way from Moscow, two time zones and 1,500 miles to the west, and it's taken a day and a half to get here.
06:52Which makes the 24 hours or so that my journey north is going to take seem not too bad.
06:57Okay, third class seat 40.
07:09Oh, man. That's not just a body odor, that's a body. Oh, dear.
07:13I could have something to do with it.
07:24Ah, here we are. 40.
07:28Okay.
07:32Let's have to a good start.
07:34Made my first train.
07:37On time.
07:43From Tobolsk, I'm heading 750 miles north to the edge of the Arctic Circle, and the passenger line's final stop at Novy-Urdingoy.
08:01Almost all the passengers on the train are workers heading up to the gas fields.
08:05They come from all across Russia, attracted by the high rates of pay for working in some of the harshest conditions on Earth.
08:14How cold does it get up there?
08:17Well, the most cold temperature is 50.
08:2250 or something.
08:24But I feel like it's normal in such a cold.
08:27There's more than that, but I've worked 50, but I'm normal.
08:31You guys are hardcore here in Russia, huh?
08:34I don't know if I could do it.
08:36I don't know if you could pay me enough to work in those conditions.
08:39I have mad respect for you.
08:43Today, the temperature outside is around minus 20 degrees centigrade,
08:47which is quite easy to forget, as inside the train it's lovely and warm.
08:51The heating system is very effective, but it isn't exactly cutting edge.
08:55So this is how you keep the whole train warm, huh?
08:59Ah, it's hot with water, so that the cars will keep warm.
09:06Look how it's good.
09:08But even when it's 50 degrees, the cars will keep warm.
09:12Simple, doesn't take up a lot of space, and it really does keep the train warm.
09:17Well, there you have it.
09:19It is old-fashioned and traditional, but it works.
09:21It totally works.
09:22Keeps us warm, yeah?
09:23Yeah.
09:25Well, thank you.
09:27That's very interesting.
09:29As the train pulls up for a short stop in what seems like the middle of nowhere,
09:36my cheerful carriage attendant has got some other work to attend to.
09:40Whew!
09:42Stepping out for some fresh air, get a feel for how cold it is.
09:46Gotta say, it's pretty cold.
09:47Why am I the only one out here?
09:51Ah, look at these icicles.
09:53Ah, look at these icicles.
09:59Here's the air here.
10:01If the air from the snow doesn't eliminate the air,
10:04it can clean up.
10:08The air from the snow needs to eliminate the air.
10:10I guess they can become hazards hanging down like that.
10:13I guess they can become hazards hanging down like that.
10:33Aren't you freezing?
10:34It's so cold.
10:35It's cold.
10:36It's cold.
10:37It's cold.
10:38It's cold.
10:39It's cold, man.
10:41You know what?
10:43You know what?
10:44You know what?
10:46Best part about giving a hug is you get one.
10:49As my train continues its journey north towards the gas fields,
11:01we cross paths with one or two passenger trains,
11:04as well as lots of condensed gas tanker trains,
11:07heading south to fuel Russian industry
11:09and the economies of much of the rest of Europe.
11:15We passengers need fueling, too.
11:18Along the way, the train makes a few stops long enough
11:20to allow third-class travelers like myself
11:23to buy some cheap home-cooked food on the platform.
11:27Oh, look at that.
11:28The chicken looks delicious.
11:31Potatoes, sausages.
11:33This is much, much more than I was thinking.
11:35That dumpling looks really good.
11:37Skolka.
11:38Skolpra.
11:39Skolka.
11:40Sausage.
11:41Yeah, that's the one.
11:43Uh-huh.
11:44Plenty of potatoes, yep.
11:46What is that?
11:48Yeah, why not?
11:50Okay.
11:51400.
11:52There we go.
11:54Dinner.
11:55Let's go find some vodka.
12:10The thing about having hot food in front of you
12:13is you just want to eat it right away while it's hot.
12:17And the thing about having a big thing of beer in front of you,
12:20you just want to drink it before it goes hot.
12:24So I couldn't find any vodka, but I did find some nice Russian beer here.
12:31Let's see how that is.
12:33I know what you're thinking.
12:34How is this a program on tough trains, and you've got really good chicken and nice Russian beer?
12:47The truth is, it's going to get a lot tougher as I go north.
12:51Really, this is the calm before the storm, and I'm going to enjoy it while I can.
12:54Indeed, as expected, the weather starts to get worse the further north we travel.
13:08What looks like the beginnings of a snowstorm is setting in as we head into the night.
13:12All right, well, I suppose I should get ready for bed.
13:29The cool thing about this seat is it's awesome, my bad.
13:33It's not quite long enough, but I'll drink enough beer and I'll just pass out anywhere.
13:52I can't turn the lights off in a carriage of 50 people.
14:07I should have brought some earplugs to my covers.
14:22Hours later in the early morning, as we near the gas fields in the train's final stop at Nova Juringoi,
14:29the weather has cleared up, but the snowfall from last night's storm is deep on the ground.
14:33I made it. Gas fields.
14:54Whew, pretty nippy.
14:58Now, this is a very sensitive area.
15:03If you figure nearly three-quarters of the country's income come from gas and oil,
15:08and this is that area.
15:10So, you can't just arrive. You've got to have one of these.
15:14It's a border permit. Seems just like a simple piece of paper.
15:18But without it, you will get arrested if you're caught here.
15:22So, it takes two to three months to apply for it.
15:24Plan ahead, and then you can see what's here.
15:28Just a few miles south of the Arctic Circle, Nova Juringoi today is a big city with a population of around 100,000.
15:41Before gas was discovered in the region, however, nobody lived here at all.
15:45There wasn't even so much as a village.
15:47This town is so new. It was only in 1982, back in the days of the USSR, that the very first train arrived.
16:00And this is it.
16:01Wow. It is gorgeous. And in good condition, too.
16:06I'd love to stick around and look at it some more, but it's absolutely freezing.
16:13I know you can't really tell, but it's got to be like minus 20 right now.
16:19My fingertips are numb. My face is hurting.
16:22I've got to put on some more gear.
16:23Russia today has the world's biggest reserves of gas, worth trillions of dollars.
16:32As a result, the Russian Arctic has been utterly transformed.
16:36It all began here, just outside Nova Juringoi in 1966, when what would turn out to be one of the world's biggest gas fields was discovered in the wilderness.
16:46All right, now I'm properly kitted out, feeling a lot warmer.
16:55Got my thermals on on the top and bottom.
16:58Insulated boots, insulated pants, extra jacket, triple gloves.
17:03A neck gaiter, balaclava in my pocket, my ear flats flipped down, sorted.
17:07When the potential resources of this remote region were originally being investigated back in the 1960s,
17:22this is where the first exploratory drilling hole struck an ocean of gas.
17:27Bingo! No wonder there were celebrations.
17:30For the Soviet Union, this enormous gas field was soon massively important economically.
17:34And today, more than 50 years later, it still is for modern Russia.
17:44Over 90% of Russian gas comes from this region.
17:48And whilst much of it is exported through pipelines all the way to Western Europe,
17:52the railway is also vitally important to Russia's economy as a means of transporting condensed gas.
17:57At numerous locations like this around Novi Yuringoi, railroad tank cars are loaded up.
18:06Right now, they're preparing the train by steam cleaning all these tank cars before they're filled with gas condensate,
18:15which is then turned into fuel, like benzene and kerosene, and shipped all the way out to you guys.
18:22Because there's so much snowfall around here, these snowplow trains have to work 24 hours a day just to clear the tracks,
18:41to allow the trains carrying the really valuable gas to get out of here.
18:44Can I get out of here?
18:56Wouldn't want to be in the way of this, it's got blades and towers.
19:23Hearing the deep snowfall takes a toll on the train, a part of the snowplow is broken
19:28by the sheer weight of the snow and has to be fixed.
19:35Looks like this rubber is shredding, so they've got to undo it and replace it.
19:53It's so hard to do anything in the snow here, it's so cold and your hands go numb if you
20:03want access to them, because I can't really grab anything with this stuff, you've got to
20:08take them out and then risk getting going numb again.
20:13There it goes, it's chopped into rubber.
20:20Most of the track can be cleared by the snowplow train, but around the points they don't want
20:25to damage it, so they can use tractors up to a certain point and all the rest has to be
20:29done by hand.
20:30And if you ask me, this is tough stuff anyway in warm weather, but to do it in these extreme
20:37conditions, that's got to be so tough.
20:39This has to be done every time there's a snowfall.
20:42I mean, think about how much work that is, just to keep these trains running.
20:46Yeah, I'm freezing, man, my nose is going to fall off.
20:51I'm a wimp, what can I say?
20:53This is every day for you, huh?
20:55You're not cold?
20:56You're not cold?
20:57No.
20:58Yeah.
20:59When you work, it's not cold.
21:00It's cold, it's not cold.
21:01It's cold, it's not working.
21:02So, it's just a lantype.
21:03Yeah?
21:04Yeah.
21:05Yeah?
21:06Yeah.
21:07Well, I'm not lantype, but I'm not a lantype.
21:08Yeah.
21:09Good point.
21:10Good point.
21:30With the tracks clear of snow, the fuel trains are free to head south with their precious
21:35cargo of condensed gas.
21:38From Novy-Uringoy, the gas trains currently have to travel south via Tobolsk to reach the
21:49industrial markets of Moscow and Western Europe beyond.
21:52But once the gap from Nadim to Labitnangi is bridged, the journey to Moscow and beyond
21:57will be shorter, quicker and cheaper.
22:01For now, the dead-end track from Novy-Uringoy to Nadim is barely used.
22:20There are no passenger trains and just one freight train a day.
22:25But it's the direction I'm heading.
22:27And so I can stop along the way, I'm getting some special treatment.
22:30For this next leg of my journey, I'm on my own private train, how about that?
22:37From Novy-Uringoy, I'm travelling 150 miles or so to what's now the end of the line at Nadim.
22:50But from Nadim, a new line is soon to be built along the route of Stalin's abandoned railway from the 1950s, which will finally link to the line from Labitnangi.
23:09As a result, this quiet dead-end train line should soon become a very busy cross-arctic link, carrying lots of gas tanker trains.
23:23Sergey Kravitz of Yamal Railways, who's in charge of maintaining this section of line, helps me understand more.
23:31So this is actually Stalin's railway of death that the Gulag built, yeah?
23:36Yeah, it's kind of...
23:37Yeah, we're going to be heading by the way we're at the point of the Stalin's road.
23:41Unfortunately, during the time of the USSR, we had to be able to build it in the new way.
23:46In the way we were at Staling's army, we were able to build it in the new one.
23:54In the time of Stalin's army, it was more focused on the war,
23:59the possibility of bringing the military and the possibility of bringing the military in the army.
24:03In the current time, the building is more related to the economic development and development of this region in the economic plan.
24:33A few miles before the end of the line at Nadim, Sergei stops the train to show me where Stalin's abandoned line diverted from the existing track, en route to Salikard and Labednangi.
25:03So this is a fork in the road where the future meets the past.
25:06It's going to completely open up this line to the west.
25:09And then Stalin's dream will be realized.
25:20It's amazing to think in just a few years time there's going to be gas trains galore just going all the way down this line right here.
25:33Just outside Nadim, the combined road and rail bridge under construction across the river is a sign of Russian determination to build the cross-Arctic railway link between Nadim and Salikard as soon as possible.
25:53In addition to providing a shorter route for the gas trains, the new railway will also help generally develop this remote region.
25:59Nadim, which was a small village until the discovery of gas, has grown to become a city of 50,000 people.
26:08But between Nadim and the equally big city of Salikard, 230 miles west, there's not only no train line, but no permanent road or settlement either.
26:17It's wild to think that these apartment blocks behind me are the last form of civilization for over 200 miles this way, not a single village.
26:35I mean, this really is a frontier town. Look at this plane that just flew in. It's got skis on it.
26:40And this great wilderness that it flew over is the territory that Stalin planned his railway to cross.
26:51To travel across this remote wilderness and trace the route of Stalin's abandoned railway, which the new cross-Arctic train line will follow,
26:58I'm joining Vadim Grisenko, a local historian.
27:02Vadim!
27:03Hello, Zey!
27:05Yeah!
27:06Hello!
27:07Are you ready for a adventure?
27:09Yeah, I can't wait!
27:10Have you been traveling somewhere?
27:12No.
27:13Do you want to ride?
27:16Yeah!
27:17That'll be fun, yeah!
27:20Let's just be a real adventure, right?
27:22All right.
27:32Until the new train line is built across this remote region from Nadim, this trip is only possible in winter, over frozen ground.
27:40From Nadim, our journey of 230 miles or so across the wilderness isn't easily drivable in one day all the way to Salikard and Labednangi, given the need to drive safely on the ice road.
27:59So before checking out Stalin's railway line tomorrow morning, we're staying overnight en route with some friends of Vadim.
28:05Hello, Jacob!
28:11Just because there are no permanent settlements in this remote region doesn't mean it's uninhabited.
28:16In fact, it's a stronghold of the Nenets, one of Europe's last nomadic tribes.
28:21Tens of thousands of Nenets live out here in small temporary camps as they migrate across the wilderness with vast herds of reindeer.
28:42This is amazing! Look at this! Wow!
28:55We're lucky this camp wasn't too far from the ice road.
28:59Each Nenet family group settle in a place for just a few days or weeks before moving on to find new pasture for their reindeer.
29:05Igor!
29:09Igor!
29:11Hi, Igor!
29:13Hi, Igor!
29:15You happy to hold?
29:17To welcome us generously to their camp in the traditional way, our hospitable hosts sacrifice one of their precious reindeer.
29:23I love eating meat, but this is the part I don't like to think about.
29:41It just seems wrong to take a life, you know.
29:44This is the liver.
29:46Okay, I thought we were going to maybe cook it a little bit, but it seems to be just eat right now while it's raw.
29:55Mmm.
29:59Mmm-mmm.
30:01It's tough.
30:05I'll be welcoming some of that vodka right about now.
30:08First, first this.
30:11And then this.
30:13Mmm.
30:15Much more doable with the vodka.
30:17Yeah.
30:18Wow, they got a ladle in the blood over here.
30:19Do you guys drink it?
30:20Yeah?
30:21Yeah.
30:23Oh, God.
30:24Why did I ask that?
30:26Yeah?
30:28It's good?
30:29Okay, here we go.
30:31All right.
30:32To health.
30:33That's the vanilla.
30:34All right.
30:35To health.
30:36That's the vanilla.
30:41Oh, man.
30:42That is salty.
30:43That's just like straight salt.
30:58With nightfall approaching and the temperature dropping, we all head indoors to warm up and get ready for bed.
31:04Yeah.
31:12Oh, my goodness.
31:13Wow.
31:15Now you're spoiling me.
31:18Wow.
31:19Who would have thunk it, in the middle of nowhere?
31:22These beautiful reindeer coats.
31:24Oh, this is a life.
31:27I feel like a king.
31:30I'm going to sleep well tonight.
31:31In the morning, our Nenet hosts are up early to take their reindeer off for the day to
31:43find good pasture, while we continue our journey along the route of Stalin's abandoned railway.
31:50Parallel to the ice road, a few dilapidated railway bridges are the first signs we see
31:55of the train line that once ran across this remote wilderness for just a few years in
31:59the early 1950s.
32:06So why did Stalin want to build his railway out here?
32:09You know, this was before gas was even discovered out here.
32:14Well, there were two main reasons.
32:17One is the economic reason.
32:19It was necessary to use the northern space, and for its own, a railway road.
32:23Well, and secondly, there were probably also military strategies
32:27that with the nuclear era in 1945, it was necessary to look at the concept of building
32:32military and air bases in the circumpolar region, which also could help the railway road.
32:39Ah, I see.
32:41Along this stretch of Stalin's so-called railway of death, the best preserved reminder of
32:54what took place here back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, during the days of the Communist
32:59GULAG, is labor camp number 93.
33:02Zay, but there is deep snow, so I would like to go to the snowboard.
33:15Let's get out of the snowboard.
33:17Let's get out of the snowboard.
33:18Okay.
33:19Remarkably, this camp was just one of around 150 camps along the 800-mile-long train line,
33:26which overall, at the height of railway construction, housed an estimated 80,000 prisoners.
33:34It's so weird.
33:35It's just like this.
33:36Zay, we're going through the window, we're going to get into the kitchen.
33:37Ah, they're preparing food for the prisoners.
33:38They're preparing in these large walls.
33:39Look at this.
33:40Totally frozen.
33:41These are big pots.
33:42How many people were being made?
33:44Well, depending on my opinion, there was 300 prisoners, 300 people.
33:47What a lot.
33:48Were they eating it?
33:49How many people were being fed here?
33:50I think it was 300 people.
33:51I guess it was a lot of people.
33:52It's very weird.
33:53So weird.
33:54It's just like this.
33:56Zay, but we're going to get into the kitchen.
33:57We're going to get into the kitchen.
33:58We're going to get into the kitchen.
33:59Wow.
34:00We're going to get into the kitchen.
34:01There's a lot of food for the prisoners.
34:02We're going to get into the kitchen.
34:03Look at this.
34:04They're completely frozen.
34:05These are big pots.
34:06How many people were being fed here?
34:07Well, according to my opinion, according to the barracks,
34:08there were about 300 prisoners.
34:10Three hundred people.
34:11What a lot.
34:12What a lot. Were they eating well, or just, like, bare minimum?
34:17Well, in general, the officers were not hungry, but the food was one-on-one.
34:27We head on through the huts where the prisoners slept.
34:30Amongst the 300 or so prisoners in this camp,
34:33and the 80,000 or more who worked elsewhere on Stalin's railway,
34:37only a small percentage were hardened criminals.
34:39Over half had been sentenced for petty crimes,
34:44such as stealing a loaf of bread, punishable by two years or more hard labor.
34:49Other than those, up to a quarter of the prisoners were so-called enemies of the people,
34:54dissidents charged with political crimes against the communist regime.
35:04And here's the memorial cross for the builders of the railway.
35:09Stalin wanted his railway built in record time,
35:15and for those prisoners who were judged not to be working hard enough
35:18or who broke the strict camp rules, the punishment cells awaited.
35:25This is the prison within the prison, huh?
35:28This is the hell within the hell.
35:30It's freezing in here.
35:36It's minus 25 degrees Celsius right now, and it's not even as cold as it gets.
35:41I know it gets down to, like, minus 60, minus 65.
35:59We've got an open window here.
36:01How did they not freeze to death?
36:03I know.
36:04I know.
36:05Well, the thing is that there was a glass on the walls.
36:07It was, first.
36:08And, second, here was a fire.
36:10It was hot.
36:11It was cold, and the heat was cold.
36:12It was cold, and the heat was cold.
36:13It was cold.
36:14It was cold.
36:15It was cold here, but it wasn't as much as a person who was dead.
36:16And, in general, we were looking for the people who were alive and healthy,
36:17because they were needed as a car as a car.
36:18But, as it turned out, Stalin's train line was never completed.
36:32When he died in 1953, the half-finished line was abandoned by the new Soviet leadership,
36:38who were unconvinced by the value of building a railway across virtually uninhabited wilderness.
36:48Oh, look at what's happening.
36:53Look at this.
36:56Completely derailed.
37:00It's kind of a metaphor of broken rails, broken dreams of Stalin.
37:07Being up close like this really makes you appreciate what it must have been like to build it, right?
37:13You can see the construction of it, the nails.
37:15And, I keep thinking, like today, it's considered a nice day.
37:19The sun's out, there's no wind, but it's still minus 24 degrees.
37:23It's really, really cold.
37:25But, in the dead of winter, trying to construct all this?
37:30Such a shame.
37:32And, you think of all that work, all that suffering, nothing.
37:37As my journey along Stalin's Arctic Railway comes to an end, it's shocking to think that the 80,000 or so prisoners working on the train line when it was abandoned were just a small percentage of the millions of people during Stalin's rule who were imprisoned in forced labor camps all across Siberia.
38:04More than 200 miles across the wilderness, the ice road finally brings us back to modern civilization and the city of Salicard, home to around 40,000 people.
38:23It's the furthest north I've come so far.
38:27Slap bang on the Arctic Circle.
38:37I'm sure there must be a tradition to celebrate crossing the Arctic Circle.
38:41But even if there's not, I'm indenting it.
38:52Wow.
38:53I feel five degrees warmer already.
38:55Not in the Arctic Circle.
38:57In the Arctic Circle.
39:02Warmer still.
39:03Not in the Arctic Circle.
39:04In the Arctic Circle.
39:06Just kidding.
39:07Of all the natural barriers in the path of the new Trans-Arctic Railway linked to Moscow, the greatest construction challenge to be overcome is the more-than-a-mile-wide River Ob, which flows past Salicard, when it isn't frozen solid for half a year.
39:25But once the planned bridge over it is built in a few years' time, Stalin's dream will finally be realized, since on the far bank of the river, there's a train station at Labednangi.
39:36This is where Russia's existing rail network begins again, and where you can catch a passenger train south to Moscow.
39:48This is actually it.
39:49But I'm not heading home yet.
39:51For the final leg of my journey, I'm heading even further north.
39:56Hundreds of miles inside the Arctic Circle on the world's most northerly railway, which is this way.
40:03Just down the road from Labednangi, Opskaya is the starting point of a brand-new private train line that services the huge, newly-opened Bovenenkovo gas field.
40:16The railway is run by Gazprom, which controls around 90% of Russian gas reserves, and is the world's biggest gas company.
40:24This is the train, but before I get on, I've got to go to a security check, like an airport or something.
40:31You know, check my bags, check me.
40:33Hi, security.
40:35Hi, security.
40:46Gazprom runs three or four passenger trains a week up to the Bovenenkovo gas field.
40:51And as everybody on the train is heading up there to work, it turns out alcohol is forbidden.
40:56.
40:57WOT yuriskes, alcohol.
41:11We
41:23Darn it.
41:32I can see why for safety reasons alcohol is strictly prohibited up at the gas fields.
41:36But I was really looking forward to celebrating in style getting to the northernmost train
41:41station in the whole world.
41:42I mean, come on!
41:44I'll find something to celebrate with.
41:46You watch.
41:53Look how posh.
42:08Makes sense.
42:09It's privately owned by one of the richest companies in the world.
42:14Ah, nice and warm.
42:19This is my home for the next 26 hours.
42:29From Opskaya, the train travels 350 miles further north above the Arctic Circle and will take
42:35all night and tomorrow to reach the end of the line at the Bovenenkovo gas field.
42:44All right.
42:55Whoa.
42:56Look at this.
43:00Are you sure I woke up?
43:05This feels like I'm dreaming.
43:08This is really bizarre.
43:09Not a single tree anywhere.
43:13That is so wild.
43:15I've heard about this, never seen it like this.
43:19Nothing but permafrost for miles.
43:23Nothing.
43:26For mile after mile, hour after hour, far above the tree line, we continue on through a surreal,
43:31almost unchanging landscape.
43:41It's nice being on the open and all, but you start just craving something to look at.
43:46And when the stations come up, it's like, oh, finally something, a bridge, oh, something.
43:54Can you imagine how tough it would have been to build a train track out here and to operate
44:00the train constantly year round?
44:02It's not just workers this train line's bringing up to the gas fields.
44:07It's all the construction materials, supplies, food, anything.
44:11There's nothing out here.
44:16But surprisingly, a few miles up the track, the train does cross paths with something living
44:21out here.
44:22Reindeer.
44:23There are thousands of reindeer crossing right now.
44:30Look at all of these.
44:31All the way from there, all the way around.
44:34Everybody's coming out to see and take pictures.
44:36I'm going to do the same.
44:38I was wondering why we were slowing down, and I kept hearing the horn.
44:49They're trying to tell them, get out of our way or we're going to have to hit you.
44:52Look at all these.
44:54Wow, it's beautiful.
44:58Living together with the reindeer out here, of course, are some nomadic reindeer herders,
45:03living a life as far removed from the modern so-called civilized world as it's possible
45:08to imagine.
45:09It's unbelievable to think that in this vast, icy, open, unforgiving, freezing environment,
45:19these nenets choose to live out here.
45:22I mean, this train is tough, but those guys are super tough.
45:26In contrast, up at the gas fields, my fellow passengers are well-housed in central
45:33heated apartments.
45:34But to be fair, they're also very tough, working up here in winter in all weather conditions.
45:40I bought a hat, you know, and it has the option to come down.
45:59But all the Russian men say, no, you leave it up, it's tougher.
46:06So your ears do get cold, but you don't want to admit it by flapping the flap down.
46:11You want to be strong like a strong, tough Russian man.
46:15You're not even cold a little bit until it's extremely cold.
46:20I fell off, and it's all over.
46:27So you stay warm by doing exercises?
46:29Yes, yes.
46:30It's all possible for Russian men.
46:31Tough people, the Russians.
46:33And their trains, too.
46:34But I guess you must be to keep going up here in the frozen wastes of Arctic Siberia.
46:39What a beautiful sunset.
46:43It's like I'm riding over a sea of snow and ice.
46:48I feel really lucky I've gotten to do this journey.
46:52Equally as lucky with the weather.
46:54Really, I've imagined myself just arriving in a blizzard, being so far north.
47:00Must be nearly there.
47:03The final stop is just after dark.
47:06Imagine.
47:09No train has ever gone further north than this one right here.
47:14And I'm on it.
47:15That's pretty cool.
47:17Can't wait to get there.
47:23Once night falls, the train approaches the end of the track at the huge Bovenenkovo gas field,
47:29where I'm ending my journey.
47:39And touchdown!
47:41Woohoo!
47:43We made it.
47:44The end of the line.
47:47It's cold.
47:59It's incredible to think how much the discovery of gas has transformed the Russian Arctic.
48:06As a result, the train network in this region is expanding all the time.
48:10And Stalin's dream of a trans-Arctic railway is soon to be a reality.
48:15For me, my dream was simply to get to the most northerly point in the world reachable by train.
48:21And now I'm here.
48:23So, I think it's time to celebrate.
48:26I might not have my bottle of vodka, but I still have this.
48:30It's water, I promise.
48:31Nesta Rovia.
48:32Cheers.
48:33Cheers.
48:34Well, we will give them to you, Bow nächste.
48:35Yes.
48:36Cheers!
48:37Amen.
48:38Hey-hey, mate.
48:39Hi-hey.
48:40We are great.
48:41enedor has inspired a helicopter time to practice.
48:43Let's laugh!
48:44Yes!
48:45Thank you!
48:46Please give me some difficulties.
48:47Yes!
48:48Thank you so much for beingสwh allocation.
48:49Did you wait for us now?
48:50Did you say something want to come on the river across the river?
48:51The way we extend to that river?
48:52Okay, thank you.
48:54The way we extend to the river right?
48:57We are doing great miljard to bring freshwater!
48:58And find great activities.