2TE116U diesel locomotive with freight train goes along the Tsimlyansk Reservoir - an artificial lake on the Don River. Completed in 1952, the reservoir is one of the largest in Russia, providing power and irrigation to the Rostov and Volgograd regions. Crops grown around the lake include wheat, rice, cotton, maize, alfalfa, fruit, grapes, and vegetables. The reservoir, together with the Volga-Don Canal and the lower course of the Don, provides an important waterway between the Volga River basin and the Sea of Azov. Under the waters lies the ancient Khazar fortress town of Sarkel.
Along with the Volga-Don Canal, the reservoir forms part of a waterway for the shipping of raw materials from the upper Don and Volga-Caspian basins to the lower Don River - Sea of Azov basin and vice versa.
