The railway is in northern Krasnoyarsk Krai, southern Taimyr Peninsula and connects the mining towns Talnakh, Norilsk and Kayerkan with the port Dudinka on the Yenisei.

The railway line has a 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) Russian gauge, and was partially constructed by the prisoners of Norillag.

[1] Originally, it was 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) narrow gauge, 114 km long, and built in 1936.

Diesel locomotives haul freight trains since then, passenger service on the railway was discontinued.

[1] In 2010 in the Yamal Peninsula, Gazprom completed its Obskaya–Bovanenkovo Line, which is now the northernmost railway in Russia.