Sakhalin Tunnel

The railway line Selichino Sakhalin or the Sachalintunnel (Russian Сахалинский тоннель ) is an unfinished building that should connect after its completion, the Russian island of Sakhalin to the mainland, while passing under the Tatar Strait, or should.

History

Prehistory

The idea of a tunnel under the Tatar Strait emerged in the 19th century, but was not taken at that time for economic reasons in attack. End of the 1930s were carried out on the feasibility of the project investigations. 1950 Stalin mentioned the idea of ​​a rail link to Sakhalin. In conversation were three possible realizations: a railway ferry, a bridge or a tunnel. On 5 May 1950, the construction of a tunnel and the installation of a railway ferry as a replacement solution were adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The project should V.A. serve military purposes. So stationed on the island of Sakhalin parts of the Soviet Army should be better connected to the heartland.

Construction

The construction of the railway line was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, work on the tunnel initially the Ministry of Transport of the USSR. From 1952, the Interior Ministry was responsible for the entire project. In order to accelerate the construction, was no detailed geological survey of the route. Also, in some cases non-impregnated railway sleepers were used. On the island of Sakhalin from the planned route should Pobedino Station (then the northern edge of the Kapspurnetzes on Sakhalin, 10 km north of Smirnych ) be the Cape Pogibi where the tunnel should begin, 327 km long. At Cape Uangi, about 23 km off the actual track, a train ferry should arise. The length of the tunnel under the Tatar Strait should be from the Cape to Cape Lazareva Pogibi about 10 km. On the mainland of the tunnel with a new route along the Amur River at Komsomolsk-on- Amur railway line, the Sovetskaya Gavan - should (now part of BAM) can be connected. By the end of 1953, the project should be implemented and go the end of 1955. The annual freight turnover of the route was estimated to be 4 million tonnes.

The construction of the railway lines to the tunnel was provided primarily by Gulag prisoners. The main bearings were located on the island of Sakhalin in Tymowskoje, on the mainland at De - Kastri. Beginning of 1953, more than 27,000 people worked on the completion of the project. Especially on the island, the work was complicated by the fact lacked any infrastructure and there was a lack of appropriate technology. Because of the tight schedule, the conditions in the camps were worse than usual and not even met the state standards for prison camp.

After Stalin's death, the work was discontinued. The exact reasons for this are not known. Some sources say that as many inmates were released by the regulation adopted on the death of Stalin amnesty that not enough workers were present.

Completed portions of the project

In the course of the project were built on the mainland 120 km of railway line along the right Amurufers Selichino from train station to train station Tschorny mys. This later became the Ministry of Forestry of the USSR ( Minlesprom ) was assumed and used for timber transport, but since decommissioned and mostly dismantled.

For the construction of the ferry terminal on the mainland dams were built that are still available today. At Cape Lazarev, a shaft was excavated for the tunnel and about 1.6 km from the shore created an artificial island. On Sakhalin no new lines were built. Only preliminary work has been done that were later used to build a dirt road from Nysch after Pogibi.

Since 1973, Sakhalin is connected by the train ferry Wanino - Kholmsk to the mainland.

View

Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea of a tunnel lives on under the Tatar Strait. The need for a solid connection of Sakhalin and the Russian mainland was repeatedly voiced by representatives of the Russian railways and by politicians. Concrete steps for the implementation have not yet been made ​​(as of 20xx ).

In November 2008, explained Dmitry Medvedev (President of Russia from 2008 to 2012), he supported a crossing of Tatarensunds. According to recent planning the route will now end at Nogliki, which was connected in the meantime to the railway network of Sakhalin.