FROM They wanted to knit with the Sakhalin mainland back in Soviet times, but then the crossing was not lucky - Stalin died.
And now they decided to return to the idea of connecting Sakhalin with the mainland. I believe in the project, there is an economic benefit from such a bridge, so it will cost. It is stated that the authorities think first of all about pensioners, citizens of Sakhalin. But this is, to put it mildly, greatly exaggerated. It is clear that the locals will be happy, but there are not so many of them compared to investments in construction. The main thing is that there are agreements from the Japanese on the construction of a bridge to Sakhalin and from their territory (from Hokkaido), as a result, Japan fits into the Trans-Siberian Railway and gets the opportunity to deliver goods by rail to Europe and China. The estimated cost is 400 billion rubles.
The USSR began to build a tunnel to Sakhalin. Research on the construction of the tunnel was undertaken already in the shaggy 1930s.
In 1950, Comrade Stalin came up with the idea of connecting Sakhalin with the mainland by rail. And wrap everything up. It was one of the construction sites of the Gulag of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the Ministry of Railways. In agreement with the USSR prosecutor's office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs released up to 8 thousand people from forced labor camps and colonies, sending them to the Ministry of Railways until the end of their term of imprisonment.
The total length of the tunnel under the Tatar Strait according to the project was 12.9 kilometers. The depth of the tunnel under the bottom of the strait ranged from 30 to 65 m; the lowest point of the tunnel profile was located at a depth of 72.5 m from the surface of the water in the strait.
By the beginning of 1953, the total number of railroad builders on both sides of the strait was more than 27,000 people. After the death of Stalin and the mass amnesty of prisoners, work on the entire project was curtailed. If he had held out for another year, the tunnel to Sakhalin would already have been. 
On the territory of the Khabarovsk Territory, 120 km of a broad gauge railway track was built along the right bank of the Amur from the Selikhin station to the Black Cape station (the road was later used for the export of timber). In the area of the proposed ferry crossing, dams were filled (their remains are still visible), and preparatory work was carried out to build piers. At Cape Lazarev, from where the tunnel was supposed to be laid, a mine shaft was dug, and an artificial island with a diameter of 90 m was poured 1.6 km from the coast.
P. T. Kumanev, who worked as a district mechanic on the second shaft, recalls that two mines were laid on two artificial islands in the strait. A tunneling shield was lowered into one of them, which moved from the island towards the mainland. In the direction of the strait, the sinking went by the caisson method. We walked 500 meters towards the mainland. In the direction of Sakhalin - 700-800 meters.
The total cargo turnover of the projected line in the first years of its operation was envisaged at 4 million tons per year.
Options for resuming construction are now being considered. According to preliminary estimates, the cost of the transport crossing will be about 400 billion rubles and will include 540 km of railway. The estimated cost is virtually the same for both the bridge and the tunnel. Each project has its pros and cons. But given the experience of building the Crimean bridge and the desire to preserve, increase this experience and start building similar bridges abroad, the choice is obvious. The bridge to Sakhalin will be no less difficult. The problem is strong earthquakes, which are not uncommon here.
Of course, the construction of a bridge from the mainland to Sakhalin will give impetus to the development of the Khabarovsk Territory, and the entire Far East. The bridge, most likely, will be only railway. The main thing is not to let the locals build it, otherwise it will cost three times more)))
Now you can get to the mainland from Sakhalin by ferry or plane. The crossing costs about 5 thousand rubles. Air ticket to the nearest Khabarovsk - 6 thousand, to Moscow - about 70.
Photo (C) Wikipedia, sites:
KHABAROVSK, October 29 - RIA Novosti. The decision on whether the railway crossing from the mainland to Sakhalin will become a bridge or a tunnel is planned to be made in November 2019, according to the website of the government of the Khabarovsk Territory on Monday.
Earlier it was reported that a railway crossing is planned to be built across the Nevelskoy Strait between the Khabarovsk Territory and Sakhalin. The construction of the crossing is included in the comprehensive plan for the development of the main infrastructure of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024, but it is planned with additional financial support, confirmation of the forecast cargo base and financing from non-budgetary sources.
According to the government of the region, the construction of the Selikhin-Nysh line was discussed at the public council under the Ministry of Industry and Transport of the region.
"Today, the analysis of the selected route of the railway line continues, a detailed study of the territory is underway to make sure that there are no unexplored communications, and the interests of the population are taken into account as much as possible. It is also unclear what the transition will be: will it become a bridge or a tunnel? The preliminary cost of the project is 540 billion, it is planned that construction will begin in 2021," the report says.
It is specified that the line will pass through the territory of the settlements of the Khabarovsk Territory and the Sakhalin Region: the villages of Yagodny, Lazarev, Pogibi, the villages of Tsimermanovka, De-Kastri and Nysh. The total length of the route will be about 585 kilometers.
It is also reported that with the construction of the crossing, there will be a need to adjust the second stage of the reconstruction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), the load on which will increase. It is also necessary to provide a new railway line with electricity. It is possible to build a high-voltage transmission line with the unification of the isolated power systems of Sakhalin and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur.
The issue of building a stationary crossing to Sakhalin has been repeatedly raised since the middle of the 20th century. The tunnel project between Sakhalin and the mainland was conceived back in the 50s of the last century, but then it did not work out. In 2007, the issue of connecting the banks with a bridge or tunnel was raised again. In June 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the importance of the crossing for the people of Sakhalin, and in September he pointed out that the implementation of the project would significantly unlock the potential of the island's ports, but it was necessary to understand the volume of traffic. Design solutions for the construction of the passage to Sakhalin are being prepared by Dalgiprotrans specialists; in the summer they started work in the Ulchsky district of the Khabarovsk Territory.
This long and mysterious history is six decades old. If the events of that distant time had turned out differently, today, perhaps, we would have celebrated the anniversary of one of the most ambitious construction projects on earth. Or rather, underwater.
According to the testimonies and recollections of eyewitnesses that have come down to us, it all started back in 1950. The Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers adopted a closed resolution on survey work on the railway line from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Pobedino on Sakhalin Island with the construction of a tunnel under the Tatar Strait.
Shortly before the adoption of an important state decision in March 1950, the first secretary of the Sakhalin Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, D.N. Melnik, was urgently summoned to Moscow. Confused about such an urgent call to the capital, Melnik was received by Comrade Stalin himself. The leader’s question literally stunned the party leader of Sakhalin: “How do you look at the construction of a railway from the mainland to you on Sakhalin? ..” Melnik, as far as the situation allowed, tried to diplomatically explain that this is a very difficult task, huge funds and human resources will be required. But for Stalin, Melnik's opinion turned out to be unconvincing. Moreover, the decision to build the tunnel was almost ready.
On May 12, 1950, a special construction unit of the Ministry of Railways No. 6 was created to build a tunnel to Sakhalin. It is mainly completed by professional metro builders. According to various sources, more than three tens of thousands of qualified specialists worked in it. In 1951, three options for laying a tunnel were proposed: the first - from Cape Lazarev to Cape Pogibi. The second - from Cape Sredny to Cape Perish. And the third - from Cape Muravyov to Cape Wangi.
In accordance with the approved plan, the tunnel was supposed to start at Cape Sredny and go from the mainland in the direction of Cape Pogibi. Along this route, the length of its underwater part was about 8 kilometers - the narrowest point in the strait.
In addition to economic, the construction of the tunnel was also an important military facility. The highway from the mainland to the island was virtually invulnerable.
Eight thousand meters underwater
In the late 80s of the last century, being in those places at one of the border outposts, I heard a story that a few years ago a lonely old man lived nearby, a former prisoner of one of the camps, who with his own hands was hollowing out rocky soil under the base of the future tunnel. He told the border guards about what a myriad of people worked on the construction site. According to him, in the early 1950s, shortly before the planned launch of the underground railway, locomotives with special trains stood under steam ready to hit the road. But they were not destined to move on. Unexpectedly, an order came from Moscow to cancel the planned launch of the tunnel, and the work was curtailed. Frankly, the authenticity of this story was hard to believe. The old man died, and his memories retold by the border guards were perceived as the plot of a fantastic story. It didn’t fit in my mind: how was it possible to hide such a grandiose construction? Even if we consider that the work was eventually curtailed, something must remain on the surface ...
Frankly, the topic of building a tunnel to Sakhalin excited me. Bit by bit, he began to collect any information, at least somehow connected with it. Over time, it became possible to recreate individual pictures of the events of half a century ago. However, detailed documents of that time could not be found. According to one version, it became known that the construction of the tunnel at the initial stage was carried out by prisoners. When the adits under the base were broken, the metro builders entered the work. According to another version, a second secret tunnel was built to connect the narrowest section between the mainland and Sakhalin Island. Mine adits in the area of Cape Lazarev were made to divert eyes. The original tunnel should be sought elsewhere. There was a third option for connecting the mainland and the island - through a bridge crossing.
Some of the researchers of the Sakhalin tunnel theme consider it a myth. In their opinion, after a detailed study of the terrain, it is not difficult to guess: all the work was just a preparation, a kind of platform for the construction of giant dams, from which it was supposed to throw a bridge connection to the island. The dams were indeed built.
After my publications on this topic in the naval newspaper, the editorial office received a letter from A. Balakirev:
“... In 1932, the motor ship Sevzaples was built in Leningrad. It was conceived as a timber carrier, but during the war it was converted to transport steam locomotives from America to Vladivostok. In 1940, the ship was engaged in the delivery of narrow-gauge steam locomotives and wagons from Japan to Sakhalin Island. I worked on it.
In 1950 we arrived in Vladivostok. I remember they put us in a factory. They installed very strong wooden crates, on which rails were laid across the vessel, but already of the usual width (Sakhalin's are 22 cm narrower).
At Cape Churkin, four unusual types of wagons were loaded onto these rails. Having fixed them, we moved on. Already at sea, the crew of "Sevzaples" learned that these cars - energy trains - arrived from Zaporozhye. They were installed on 2-4 very powerful electric diesel engines. Delivery point - Cape Lazarev.
A few days later they arrived at the place. The pier was not yet ready, but a railway line was approaching its edge. Reloading the wagons to the shore turned out to be a time-consuming task, but everything was thought out to the smallest detail. The “people” were commanded by the senior assistant to the captain Anatoly Dekhta.
I managed to find another eyewitness account. The author of the memoirs is V. Smirnov:
“I served urgently on Sakhalin together with my bosom friend Kostya Kuzmin. Our education was small: Kostya had 4 classes, I had 5, but at that time it was a lot. Kostya was a driver. Once he went AWOL and was absent for almost a month, for which he received 7 years as a deserter.
And in January 1951 I received a letter from him. He writes that he got to the great construction site of the century, makes a hole in the narrowest point of the Tatar Strait. The set-off goes one day as for three and a half.
Kostya wrote that 20 dump trucks each drove backwards in turn into the tunnel and so drove about 10 kilometers.
Two years later, Konstantin was released for good work and sent home.
In his last letter from home, he wrote that the construction site was closed, water poured into the tunnel and everyone died there.
According to some reports, the construction of the tunnel in conditions of special secrecy was started in the early 40s. Even a railway was brought to Cape Lazarev. But when the war began, the railway track was dismantled. The rails were allegedly sent to the western regions of the country to restore the highways destroyed by the Nazis.
Flying over the proposed construction site of the tunnel with helicopter pilots of the border troops, I personally made sure that the embankments from the railway track remained, although time did not spare them: they settled, the earth crumbled, overgrown with shrubs. How much water has flown under the bridge since then...
By the way, it's time to remember one more revelation. Mikhail Kozlov told it to me at one time:
“I worked at the 220th hydrometeorological observatory of the Pacific Fleet. The chief was Y. Kogan, a caperang. We worked on special jobs. Then it was a secret (they gave a non-disclosure subscription). Now so many years have passed that it seems that we can talk about it. So, we were at the test site near Cape Perish on Sakhalin. That's where it began, or rather, was the beginning of the railway line (or road). Near the shore stood a dilapidated pier with laid rails. Near the coast, on the south side of the pier, there was a prison camp. When I arrived there, the prisoners were no longer there, but the servants of the landfill lived (they brought them in the spring, they took them away in the late autumn). To the north side of the camp, 100-150 meters away, was the second camp. It was dilapidated, and next to it were 5-6 graves with wooden crosses. Directly from the pier to the east was a dirt road and ended at a large clearing, the size of a football field. Behind it, an embankment began in one railway track and stretched in the direction of the city of Aleksandrovsk. It is possible that the crews of the Priamurye and Transbaikalia steamships, which sailed along the coast, will help shed light on the secret of the tunnel ... "
In 1993, I happened to meet with a former military engineer who was directly involved in the construction of the tunnel. A gray-haired veteran who wished not to give his last name, in the rank of colonel, said that there was no myth about the existence of the tunnel. "The tunnel has been built!" - he said these words firmly, proudly recalling that this event happened long before the laying of the tunnel under the English Channel. “Our predecessors were talented. And when it was necessary to defeat the Nazis, and when to create such a unique structure. According to the veteran, unfortunately, a fatal mistake was made in the project. Its authors were flattered by the fact that the distance between Capes Lazarev and Pogibi is the shortest, somewhere around 9 kilometers. And they missed a very important detail - the current in this narrowest place is quite strong. Water gradually began to seep into the tunnel. The builders did their best to rectify the situation, but the available funds did not allow this to be done. As a result, the construction site was mothballed, and after the death of Stalin, it was completely turned off. On this account, there was a special government decree of May 26, 1953.
Half a century later
The connection of the mainland with the island of Sakhalin was remembered already in the time of the modern history of Russia. In the mid-90s of the last century, I happened to meet Anatoly Chen, a man who nurtured the idea of building a highway to Sakhalin.
In 1998, he was the author of the project for the construction of a bridge crossing in the Nevelskoy Strait. In the very place where half a century ago a secret object was built - a tunnel to Sakhalin. Chen even at that time tried to "punch" his project in the highest state instances. Here is just one of the responses to his appeal from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation:
“In accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation of January 21, 1998, your letter with the project for the construction of a bridge in the Nevelskoy Strait (Sakhalin Region) has been considered by the relevant departments of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
We believe that with the commissioning of a multi-purpose bridge connecting about. Sakhalin with the mainland, the costs and time for transportation of goods for national economic and military purposes will be significantly reduced, the stability of transport links in the region will increase, and the defense and economic problems of the Far East will be resolved more quickly.
At the same time, the project for the construction of this crossing requires a comprehensive examination and feasibility studies with the participation of all interested ministries and departments of the Russian Federation, which requires the adoption of an appropriate decision by the Government of the Russian Federation.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation generally supports this project and is ready to participate in it at the stage of a military-economic justification for the feasibility of construction. Special requirements of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the construction of a multi-purpose bridge crossing can be presented during the approval of the project assignment.
Already at the beginning of this century, the leadership of the Ministry of Railways addressed the topic of connecting the mainland and Sakhalin Island. Nikolai Aksenenko proposed to complete the construction of the tunnel. And former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov was a supporter of another solution - to build a bridge to the island.
Not so long ago, during a working trip to the Far East, Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, announced that in the period from 2011 to 2013, construction of a bridge from the mainland to Sakhalin would begin. The project is of a state nature. From the point of view of transport unity, improving the life and work of Russians who live on Sakhalin, the head of Russian Railways noted, he should have the right to life.
The story of the tunnel to Sakhalin is connected not only with the mysteries of the past, but also with unexpected versions of the connection between the island and the mainland in the foreseeable future. Along with the resumption of tunneling and the construction of a bridge, opinions are being expressed about the creation of a transcontinental highway from Europe, through Russia through Sakhalin, to the island of Hokkaido. This topic is actively discussed today by both experts and amateurs. One can argue with the opinion of the parties, but the fact of the need to connect the mainland with the island is real, and there is no secret in this.
The construction of a bridge to Sakhalin, connecting the mainland of Russia with the island is planned to begin in the near future. Today, design and survey work is being actively carried out at the construction site of the railway connection. The construction of the facility is an important element on the path to strengthening economic and ties with Japan.
For the first time, the transport corridor between the mainland and Sakhalin was discussed at the end of the 19th century. However, due to economic inexpediency, the project had to be abandoned. In 1950, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin spoke about the intention to revive the construction issue of the tracks. Construction ended as soon as it began. After Stalin's death, funding was suspended and the construction of the bridge was frozen.
Officially, the island and the mainland were connected by waterways in 1973. The sea ferry crossing "Vanino - Kholmsk" was opened. To date, only three ferries operate on this line, the condition of which leaves much to be desired.
In 1999, Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko announced the need to build new trunk lines. He was supported in the island region, but the idea did not find support from the administration of the Khabarovsk Territory.
Later, in February 2008, a decision was made to restore the project with the study of possible options for its implementation. The amount of construction exceeded 300 billion rubles. The government's decision was influenced by the announced impressive amount of construction and construction was once again postponed to 2011-2013.
As of April 2013, the railway crossing project has reached the approval stage, but this time there were difficulties with the deadlines for construction.
In the summer of 2015, the problem with the lack of connection gained momentum. Then, in the port of the city of Vanino, more than a thousand passengers could not get to the island due to problems with the ferry crossing. This incident was widely covered in the media and turned out to be not a single one.
Only two years later, the government managed to allocate the long-awaited funding for the project to build a bridge to Sakhalin from the budget.
The planned cost of building a bridge to Sakhalin
Already on November 21, 2017, the government considered a new investment program for Russian railways. For 2018, the planned amount is 579.6 billion rubles.
The idea of creating a transition between the mainland and Sakhalin has been discussed for many years. So, in 2017, this issue was raised again. The head of state himself announced his resuscitation during the Direct Line in 2017.
Presumably, the construction of the bridge will be more rational to carry out through the Nevelskoy Strait. This is the narrowest part between the island and mainland Russia. Here the distance is 7.5 km.
The total length of the connection paths will be 580 km. They will be laid from the Selikhino station near Komsomolsk-on-Amur to the Sakhalin village of Nysh. According to Alexander Misharin, vice-president of Russian Railways, the total cost of the project could be about 400 billion rubles.
In addition, alternative projects for the construction of a tunnel and a dam were considered, the construction of which, according to estimates, would be slightly more expensive. Finally, the type of transition has not yet been decided.
If a decision is made to build a railway bridge, work on the project will begin in the near future.
Contractors are actively working on the Sakhalin Bridge project
The decision to start construction has not yet been finalized. This year it is planned to prepare the main parameters of the transition between Sakhalin and the mainland.
According to Russian Minister for the Development of the Far East Alexander Galushka, work is already underway to design a bridge to Sakhalin to increase cargo traffic to 5-7 million tons per year with the prospect of increasing it to 20 million tons.
The Minister of Housing and Communal Services of Sakhalin Dmitry Zaitsev said that the regional authorities are actively providing information to the Russian Railways contractor in full and the project becomes real for implementation over the next 5-7 years, and the success of the construction of the Kerch bridge has already shown that connecting Sakhalin with the mainland is a matter quite real.
To date, the terms of reference for the design and survey work of this investment project have been prepared.
Along with the construction of a transport connection between the island and the mainland, the government is actively making plans for the future. On November 10-11, 2017, the President of Russia participated in the 25th APEC summit in Da Nang (Vietnam), where the issue of creating an energy "super ring" Russia - China - South Korea - Japan and a transport transition between Japanese Hokkaido and Russian Sakhalin was raised. At the summit, Putin said that he was determined to implement projects that would strengthen our economic and market relations.
A project of an absolutely planetary scale - this is how President Vladimir Putin described the construction of a bridge from the mainland to Sakhalin, and from Sakhalin to Hokkaido. The decision to build a bridge to Sakhalin has practically been made, said Yury Trutnev, his plenipotentiary in the Far Eastern Federal District. It is planned to bring the railway to the Pacific coast and build a crossing to Sakhalin, Interfax quotes First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. The second part - the bridge from the southern part of Sakhalin to Hokkaido - Russia offers Japan to build together, he continues, we are talking about a "mixed road-railway crossing."
Even after the Crimean project, the bridge to Sakhalin is surprising: it will be built in the middle of “nothing,” says a federal official. In addition to the crossing in the area of the Nevelskoy Strait, which is only 7 km long (the narrowest isthmus in the Tatar Strait), it is necessary to build access roads to Komsomolsk-on-Amur and the Nysh station on Sakhalin, Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov explained to TASS: only 500 km of railway .
Sokolov estimated the construction of a bridge with access roads at 500 billion rubles. in 2013 prices. This is approximately 615 billion rubles. in 2Q 2017 prices, PwC partner Dmitry Kovalev calculated. Initially, the amount was lower: in June, Putin estimated the cost of construction “lower than the Kerch bridge, about 286 billion”, stipulating that the estimates are preliminary and do not include access roads. The cost of the Kerch bridge is 223 billion, but with the cost of security, land purchase and entrances to the bridge - more than 300 billion.
The representative of Rosavtodor is categorical: Putin earlier (it was not possible to get a comment from his press secretary yesterday) had in mind the railway bridge, not the road bridge. “We are adjusting the feasibility study (feasibility study), it is ready,” Alexander Misharin, First Vice President of Russian Railways, told TASS. The adjustment will be completed in December, says a person close to Russian Railways. Representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways declined to comment further.
The cost of building a bridge and 500 km of a double-track railway is up to 500 billion rubles, estimates Mikhail Blinkin, director of the Institute for Transport Economics and Transport Policy at the Higher School of Economics. Given the difficult conditions - a difficult climate, high seismic activity, poor infrastructure development or its absence - the amount is quite adequate, says Dmitry Baranov, a leading expert at Finam Management, it may be necessary to create a consortium.
The Kerch bridge, with which Putin compared the bridge to Sakhalin, is structured as a state order, the only contractor is Stroygazmontazh by Arkady Rotenberg. Stroygazmontazh could also take on the bridge to Sakhalin - it will need to take on the capacities that will be freed up after the completion of the Kerch bridge, a consultant on infrastructure projects argued in June. It is premature to talk about the participation of Stroygazmontazh in the construction of a bridge to Sakhalin before the project appears, its representative says, in addition, the company is focused on the construction of the Kerch bridge, this is a priority project.
The railroad will pay off only if the complex project goes to Hokkaido, Blinkin notes. The corridor will be of particular importance only if the passage to Hokkaido is built, Sokolov also admits, this will be the construction of the next decade.
2.5 million people live in Crimea, and 500,000 live on Sakhalin, and there is no such need for the mobility of people and goods - it is expensive, meaningless, in a sparsely populated region, says Infranews CEO Alexei Bezborodov, with this money you can connect with each other, bypassing Moscow, many regional centers, by improving the economic interaction of the regions. The amount of 500 billion rubles. significantly more than many federal budget expenditure items in 2017, including for healthcare, is comparable to spending on education. There is no economic sense in building a bridge, agrees Natalya Zubarevich, director of the regional program of the Independent Institute for Social Policy. Japanese business traditionally uses tanker transportation, she argues, especially since a bridge is simply not needed to Sakhalin, where it would be more useful to develop a ferry connection with the island and roads in the north of Sakhalin. This is primarily a political project - to connect Sakhalin with the mainland, she concludes.
