The Medal for Construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway

• Time Period: Post-WW2
• Year of Institution: 8 October 1976
• Country: Russia & USSR

The Medal for Construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway (or Медаль «За строительство Байкало-Амурской магистрали», Medal «Za stroitel’stvo Bajkalo-Amurskoj magistrali in Russian) was established on 8 October 1976 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and awarded to workers on the Baikul-Amur Railway (BAM) for 2 years outstanding service between 1974 and 1984.

The medal recognized active participation in the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway, a huge multi year project under the leadership of then-Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev. The Medal “For Construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway” was awarded to active participants in the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway, on the rail section Bam – Tynda – Berkakit, on the second rail section Taishet – Lena, in the production facilities, in the building of housing for the civilian workers, for good work in construction, for high-quality designs and survey work, for honest work at enterprises, institutions and organizations directly supporting the construction efforts and the workers. The medal was usually awarded to workers, engineering-technical workers, and employees who worked on the project in its construction, design, or for its maintenance for at least three years.

The medal’s statute was amended on July 18, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 2523-X.

The Medal for Construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway Design

The medal was 32 mm in diameter, circular, and made of brass, with a raised rim on both sides. It was worn on the left side of the chest.

On its obverse, in the background in the left half of the medal, the relief image of hills and a train going left across a bridge over a river, under the bridge, the relief inscription on five lines «За строительство Байкало-Амурской магистрали» (“For the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railway”), in the right half of the medal, the left profiles of a man and a woman, the man wearing a construction helmet, the woman being closer and slightly to the right.

On the reverse, the Sun over railroad tracks intersected by a ribbon bearing the inscription «БАМ» (“BAM”) framed by a laurel wreath with the hammer and sickle at the top.

The medal was secured to a standard Soviet pentagonal mount by a ring through the medal suspension loop. The mount was covered by a 24 mm wide overlapping silk moiré ribbon with 1 mm wide light green edge stripes, three 3 mm wide central yellow stripes separated by two 0,5 mm grey stripes, bordered by two 6 mm wide dark green stripes.