On February 17, 1985, the crew of Soviet freight train No. 1702 reportedly encountered a luminous spherical object while travelling from Petrozavodsk toward Kostomuksha through Karelia. Locomotive driver Sergey Orlov and assistant driver Viktor Mironov described an object that appeared to move alongside and ahead of their train, accompanied by unusual changes in speed. A railway station employee was also reported to have observed a luminous object near Novye Peski station. A transcript of the locomotive crew's interview, reportedly recorded on March 4, 1985, provides an important source for the case. Later accounts claim that the object appeared to influence the movement of the train, but the original technical records needed to independently verify these claims have not been established as publicly accessible. A proposed alternative explanation identifies Venus and changing viewing angles along the railway as possible causes of some observations.
The Train 1702 Incident is a reported UFO encounter associated with a Soviet freight train travelling through Karelia on the evening of February 17, 1985. The train was travelling from Petrozavodsk through Suoyarvi toward Kostomuksha and reportedly consisted of a two-section diesel locomotive hauling 70 empty freight wagons. The locomotive crew was identified as driver Sergey Orlov and assistant driver Viktor Mironov.
According to the published account, at approximately 20:35 Moscow time, Orlov noticed a luminous object moving parallel to the railway beyond a line of trees. The object was described as bright and approximately spherical. Accounts differ in their descriptions of its apparent size, with some comparing it to a football and others giving much larger estimates. The crew reportedly observed the object change position relative to the train and appear to move ahead of the locomotive. A beam or cone of light directed toward the ground is another recurring feature of the account.
The most extraordinary claim is that the train continued moving and subsequently changed speed despite the driver reportedly reducing or disconnecting traction and applying the brakes. Later retellings describe the object as if it were pulling the train, including during an uphill section of the route. The crew also reportedly experienced a sudden deceleration after the object approached the locomotive. These are witness claims, not independently established evidence that an unidentified object exerted a physical force on the train.
At approximately 20:35, Orlov reportedly contacted Novye Peski station by radio to describe the unusual object. A station employee subsequently reported seeing a luminous sphere near the approaching train. Some accounts attribute to the employee an observation of an orange or red feature associated with the light. There is a significant identification discrepancy in the later literature: a detailed case history identifies the station employee as Zoya Grigoryevna Panushkova, while a December 2003 Pravda.ru report names her as Lidiya Kozhina. The original records need to be checked before this discrepancy can be resolved. Another railway employee, locomotive driver Gennady Dushin, is reported to have heard the radio communication at Imatozero and recorded its time. A separate account mentions a locomotive driver named Klimchenkov as another observer, but the available identification is insufficient to establish a reliable full-name witness profile.
The object was reportedly observed over much of the journey toward Zastava and the subsequent railway section. Accounts place the end of the observation at approximately 21:45, when the luminous object allegedly moved away and disappeared beyond the forest. The reported overall duration is approximately 70–75 minutes, although some retellings give different durations or distances. A later newspaper account also claims that the train saved approximately 300 kilograms of diesel fuel during the encounter. This fuel-saving figure has not been independently verified through an accessible original railway operating report.
A particularly important source is a 15-page transcript attributed to G. V. Sorokin, described in published bibliographies as a record of an interview with Orlov and Mironov conducted on March 4, 1985, at the Union of Journalists of Karelia in Petrozavodsk. The transcript is available online as a Russian-language PDF. The case was subsequently discussed in the Soviet magazine Tekhnika Molodezhi, issue 8 of 1989, and in later newspaper reports, including a Trud article published on August 6, 2003, and a Pravda.ru article published on December 23, 2003. The transcript is an important source for the crew's reported testimony, but it is not itself an official technical investigation or proof of the extraordinary claims.
A conventional explanation has also been proposed. A later analysis of the case suggests that the crew may have mistaken Venus, then exceptionally bright in the evening sky, for a nearby moving object. According to this interpretation, the changing geometry of the railway, the observer's viewing angle, atmospheric optical effects, and the headlight of an approaching train could explain aspects of the reported movements and illumination. This hypothesis offers a possible explanation for some observations but has not been demonstrated to account conclusively for every detail of the testimony.
No independently verified original locomotive speedometer chart, complete railway technical investigation file, or authentic photographic or video evidence of the object has been established as publicly accessible for this archive entry. The case therefore remains a historically traceable UFO report with identifiable witnesses and an interview transcript, but disputed extraordinary claims and a plausible conventional explanation. It should not be presented as confirmed evidence that a UFO physically pulled a freight train.
| Date: | 1985-02-17 |
| Location: | Imatozero–Novye Peski railway section, Petrozavodsk–Suoyarvi route, Karelia, Soviet Union (present-day Russia) |
| Country: | Soviet Union |
| Category: | UFO |
| Credibility: | Disputed |