How is coal mined? The world's largest coal mine (23 photos)

The Korkinsky coal mine is the first largest in Europe and the second in the world. Depth - about 700 meters. Kilometers of railway tracks, hundreds of carriages, dozens of electric locomotives, Ginata excavators. Next to the quarry there is a shaft that communicates with the lower point of the cut.

40 controller positions in two groups (parallel and series connection of electric motors), 4 reversing positions (“go backwards and accelerate”, “go backwards and brake”, “go forward and accelerate”, “go forward and brake”), two taps - for the locomotive and the train. The bottom row of buttons is a completely homemade control for precise pneumatic braking, a homemade analogue of the replacement valve on metro trains. Not so simple, actually :)

And this is our composition with the breed. Once there was a good signaling system here, but now there are few trains and any copper wires are stolen immediately. Drivers drive mainly “by eye” and according to the instructions of the dispatcher.

An excavator the size of a house. To appreciate the size of this colossus, compare it with the size of a person in the cabin.

Let's return, however, to the cut. Its depth in August 2006 seems to have been 680 meters. At the edge of the “hole” there is a shaft that communicates with the lower point of the cut.

In a large version, you can discern an electrified railway line. It goes to the bottom of the cut, a one-way journey takes 2.5-3 hours.
Now imagine that an electrified railway track is laid along each terrace...

The arrows indicate the train on the standard 1520 gauge and excavators, as in the photos above.

The very bottom of the cut.

Several years ago there was a large landslide, and the railway line on this side of the quarry was removed.

Dangerous flammable gases accumulate in the quarry, and ventilation is difficult. In winter, the mine is idle for several months due to gas pollution. At the bottom, coal is constantly burning, or rather smoldering, and they cannot put it out. The cost of mining in such conditions is almost more than using the mine method, and production is gradually dying down. In the meantime, you can still admire this monument to the struggle between man and nature.