The Sestroretsk spur line was laid by request of the Russian Ministry of Defence for communication of the Sestroretsk armory with the strategic Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railway in

1871 Events January–March * January 3 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Bapaume – Prussians win a strategic victory. * January 18 – Proclamation of the German Empire: The member states of the North German Confederation and the sout ...

. The line was opened on 2 November 1871, when the first train proceeded on the route from Beloostrov to

Sestroretsk Sestroretsk (; ; ) is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Sestra River and the Sestroretskiy Lake northwest of St. Petersburg. Po ...

Timetable

In 1872 the schedule of trains of the Sestroretsk branch was published in the city directory. From Beloostrov went three pairs trains: in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. The time taken for the 6.6 kilometre journey was 25 minutes, giving an average speed of less than 16 kilometres per hour.

Miller's line

A study in 1872 had shown the line was unprofitable and in 1873 the administration decided to close it. These plans became known to entrepreneurs in Sestroretsk and they bought the line from Finnish railways. The new line was the private "Societies of the Sestroretsk railway" and was named

Miller's line Miller's line was a passenger railway line in Russia from 1873 to 1886, run by the Finnish State Railways. The line ran from Beloostrov to Sestroretsk, and was the site of the world's first functional electric railway. Organisation The priv ...

after Michael Ivanovich Miller. Miller's line was not fully independent, as the

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

was rented from Finnish railways.

References

{{Lines seaside direction (Saint Petersburg - Sestroretsk) Railway lines in Finland Railway lines in Russia Electric railways in Finland Electric railways in Russia 5 ft gauge railways in Finland