Tynda (russian: Ты́нда) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast ( rus, Аму́рская о́бласть, r=Amurskaya oblast, p=ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrat ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, located northwest of

Blagoveshchensk Blagoveshchensk ( rus, Благове́щенск, p=bləgɐˈvʲeɕːɪnsk, meaning ''City of the Annunciation'') is a city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of the Amur and the Zeya Rivers, o ...

. It is an important railway junction, informally referred to as the capital of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. Its population has declined sharply in recent years:

Etymology

The name is of Evenk origin and is roughly translated as "on the river bank".

Geography

The town is located at an elevation of above sea level, near where the Getkan joins the Tynda River, after which the town was named. The Tynda then flows into the

Gilyuy The Gilyuy (russian: Гилю́й) is a river in Amur Oblast, Russia. It is a right tributary of the Zeya, and is 545 km long, with a drainage basin of 22,500 km². The river has its sources on the southern slopes of the Stanovoy Mountain ...

, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Zeya, a few kilometers east of the town.

History

The settlement of ''Shkaruby'' was founded in 1917 on the present site of Tynda, as a

rest stop A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

and winter camp on the route from the

Amur The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China ( Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...

to the newly discovered gold fields on the Timpton River, a tributary of the Aldan. In 1928, in conjunction with construction of the highway to

Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...

, it was renamed ''Tyndinsky'' (). In 1932, plans for what would eventually become the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) named Tynda as a possible future hub station. A long rail line, connecting Tynda with BAM station (known as ''Bamovskaya'') near Skovorodino on the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

was constructed between 1933 and 1937, although this was then dismantled during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the rails reused for other projects closer to the front. In 1941, Tynda was granted

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

status. The revival of the construction of the BAM as an ''All-Union Komsomol Project'' in the early 1970s saw the reconstruction of the rail line between Bamovskaya and Tyndinsky, followed by the construction of the BAM east and west of the town. The settlement and its hub station were placed under the patronage of Komsomol brigades from

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, befitting its status as symbolic capital of the BAM. As its population grew due to the construction, the settlement was granted town status and received its present name on November 14, 1975. The

Amur Yakutsk Mainline The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China ( Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long, ...

(AYaM) also began construction from Tynda, with the section to

Neryungri Neryungri ( rus, Нерюнгри, p=ˈnʲerʲʊnɡrʲɪ; evn, Ньируунгра; sah, Нүөрүҥгүрү, ''Nüörünggürü'', ) is the second largest town in the Sakha Republic, Russia and the administrative center of Neryungrinsky Distr ...

completed in 1977. Since 2019 the AYaM runs passenger services as far as Nizhny Bestyakh on the bank of the Lena River opposite

. The full extent of the BAM opened for full use in 1989, with the exception of the

Severomuysky Tunnel Severomuysky Tunnel (russian: Северому́йский тонне́ль) is a railroad tunnel on the Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM), in northwestern Buryatia, Russia. It is named after the Northern Muya Range it cuts through. The tunnel is long ...

. Tynda went into a decline after the BAM was completed, as the utilization of the mainline turned out to be low. Tynda's population has dropped by over 30% since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, from a high of 61,996 inhabitants recorded in the 1989 Soviet Census, to an estimated population of around 38,000 in 2008.

Climate

Tynda has a subarctic climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dwc'') with severely cold, rather dry winters and warm, very rainy summers.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Tynda serves as the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

Tyndinsky District Tyndinsky District (russian: Ты́ндинский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #127-OZ and municipalLaw #32-OZ district (raion), one of the twenty in Amur Oblast, Russia. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the to ...

,Law #32-OZ even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Tynda Urban Okrug — an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.Law #127-OZ As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.Law #414-OZ

Demographics

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian. The majority of Ukrainians are Eastern Ort ...

, and Belarusians make up the majority of the town's population. Around 1,500 North Korean

loggers Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

worked in the region as of 2007, strictly prohibited from speaking with journalists and residing in isolated camps which are closed to all other people.

Economy and transportation

Tynda is the crossing point for the Baikal-Amur Mainline and

railways. The town's station is one of the most important on both lines and possesses a large locomotive depot. Other than railway-related activities, the town's economy relies largely on the

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

industry, with the ''Tyndales'' corporation based here. The M56 motorway to

also passes through the town. The town is served by the Tynda Airport, located to the north. After being closed for a number of years, air services from

via Zeya resumed in 2007.Interrupted flight
in the Amurskaya Pravda, August 25, 2007 (Russian)

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Tynda is twinned with: *

Wenatchee Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and largest city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and was estimated to have increased to 34,360 as of 2019. Located in the north-central part ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

Official website of Tynda

In pictures: Siberian showcase's decline
{{Use mdy dates, date=December 2011 Cities and towns in Amur Oblast Populated places established in 1917