Raychikhinsk is a town

Types of settlements in Russia

The classification system of the types of inhabited localities in Russia, the former Soviet Union, and some other post-Soviet states has certain peculiarities compared to the classification systems in other countries.-Modern classification in Russia:...

 in Amur Oblast

Amur Oblast

Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. 2002 population—24,498.

Geography

Raychikhinsk lies in the Zeya-Bureya basin in the Russian Far East

Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia and the Pacific Ocean...

, around 40 km from the Amur River and the border to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

. The town is around 165 km east of the regional capital Blagoveshchensk

Blagoveshchensk

Blagoveshchensk is a city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. Population: -Early history of the region:The early residents of both sides of the Amur in the region of today's Blagoveshchensk were the Daurs and Duchers...

.

History

The town is located near a brown coal 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

Gulag

The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...

 system, where up to 11,000 prisoners were kept for forced labour in the mining of coal.

In 1944, the town received town status under its present name.

Economy and Infrastructure

Brown coal mining remains the main economic focus of the town; two open cut mines surround the town almost completely. The town is terminus for a 39 km branch line, which connects to the Trans-Siberian railway

Trans-Siberian Railway

The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...

 at Bureya.