Raychikhinsk () is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, located in the Zeya–

Bureya Bureya may refer to: *Bureya (river), a tributary of the Amur in Amur Oblast and Khabarovsk Krai, Russia **Bureya Dam, a hydroelectric dam on the Bureya river **Bureya grayling, a fish found in the Bureya river *Bureya, Russia, an urban-type settlem ...

basin, about from the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

and the border with China, and about east of

Blagoveshchensk Blagoveshchensk ( rus, Благовещенск, p=bləɡɐˈvʲeɕːɪnsk, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of the Amur River, Amur and the ...

, the

administrative center An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

of the

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

. Population:

History

The town is located near a

brown coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...

deposit which had been known of since the late 1800s. Mining began in 1913, with the foundation of the first permanent settlement in 1932, named Raychikha () after a local stream. From 1938 until 1942, Raychikha was host to a prison camp of the

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

system, where up to 11,000 prisoners were kept for forced labor in the mining of coal. In 1944, it was granted town status and given its present name.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with three rural localities, incorporated as Raychikhinsk Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

.Law #127-OZ As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.Law #446-OZ

Economy

Brown coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...

mining remains the main economic focus of the town; two

open-pit mines Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique that extracts rock (geology), rock or minerals from the earth. Open-pit mines are used when deposits of commercially ...

surround the town almost completely. The city's largest enterprise is JSC Amursky Coal (Severo-Vostochny and Yerkovetsky open-pit mines, Kontaktovy plot).

Transportation

The town is terminus for a branch line, which connects to the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway, historically known as the Great Siberian Route and often shortened to Transsib, is a large railway system that connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway ...

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{Use mdy dates, date=March 2013 Cities and towns in Amur Oblast Populated places established in 1932 Monotowns in Russia