If we talk about Stalin’s unfinished construction projects, we cannot help but recall the tunnel on Sakhalin Island, the construction of which was stopped after the death of the leader. Recently hajoff I was there with friends, and they even went down into an abandoned mine - all that remains from a special and secret construction.
This tunnel is also notable for the fact that the construction of the first mine was led by a young engineer Yuri Anatolyevich Koshelev, later the head of the Moscow Metro Construction and a prominent underground builder. Yesterday he turned 85 years old. I sincerely congratulate Yuri Anatolyevich and wish him good health.
But first, a short excursion into history.
Tunnel under the Volga in Nizhny Novgorod.
Before the First World War, in 1914, the issue of building a tunnel under the Volga was already discussed. The existing “Special Commission for the Construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Railway Junction” considered both options for the transition - pavement and tunnel. But due to the danger of destruction of the bridge during ice drift, preference was given to a tunnel one - “It is preferable to arrange the crossing of the Volga along the Nizhny Novgorod - Kotelnich line by an underwater tunnel.” But the war began and there was no time for the tunnel. Later they returned to it in 1918, already under Soviet rule, but the tunnel was never built. .
In the book “Underwater Tunnels” (Prof. A.N. Passek, Transzheldorizdat, Moscow 1933) there is a short description of the lining of this tunnel and the technology of its construction.
In a small archive you can find scans of two pages of the book and a large drawing of the organization of the tunneling and lining arrangement.
Tunnels under the Dnieper.
The second attempt to build an underwater railway tunnel was made in Kyiv - “Construction of NKPS No. 1” or Tunnels under the Dnieper. In 1936, construction began on two tunnels - in the northern and southern parts of the city. This construction was more fortunate. In the southern part, they managed to go through several shafts (lower the caissons), build ramp sections and begin digging the tunnel itself. With the outbreak of the war, construction was stopped.
Only one caisson was built on the northern pipe, but it was never lowered. This “concrete submarine” still stands in Obolon.
South pipe
(c) Diagram taken from here
There are tons of websites and information on this construction site, and there are enough artifacts left on the surface to explore.
Here are the links for you to study on your own:
“Tunnels under the Dnieper: not classified as “Secret”” is probably the most complete information.
Stalin Tunnels under the Dnieper: Myths and Reality
Construction of NKPS No. 1
Tunnel under the Amur.
In 1937, construction began on a tunnel under the river. Amur, in Khabarovsk. At the moment this is the only underwater railway tunnel in Russia. Its length is 7198 meters.
There are very few photographs of this tunnel. Probably the largest publicly available collection of them was made by riverpilgrim - “Railway tunnel under the Amur in Khabarovsk”
This tunnel was more fortunate - in 1941, with the beginning of the war, it was almost finished and was completed in an extremely short time. After the end of hostilities on Far East the tunnel was sent for secret conservation, where it remained until 1964, when its civilian operation began.
Tunnel to Sakhalin Island.
I've already told you about this tunnel. Now we can look at unique photographs of the mine that we managed to build.
hajoff The rest of the photos are available on his website.
I have a small selection of material for this project.
http://russos.ru/img/tunnels/sahalin/sahalin.zip - text from some magazine (I don’t have the name of the magazine) about this project, plus great selection historical documents and regulations about this construction.
http://russos.ru/img/tunnels/sahalin/1996_03-sah.pdf - article from the journal Science and Life No. 3 for 1996.
The construction of the first shaft was supervised by the young engineer Yu. A. Koshelev. He remembers the days of his youth with great warmth.
In December 1951 I graduated from MIIT. I was sent to work in Construction No. 6 of the Ministry of Railways on Sakhalin Island... The contingent of builders was difficult. The bulk were those released early. They were also paid wages depending on their output, but strictly on time. The only way they differed from those who came here from the outside was that they were given a written undertaking not to leave. At our facility, out of five foremen, three were from early release... I was appointed foreman of basic work. Twelve brigades were given subordination. We were instructed to build a mine shaft on the seashore with a diameter of eight and a half meters and a depth of about eighty. And when we finished, it was proposed to make cuts and begin tunneling. We completed the excavation of the first shaft in February 1953. I remember this frosty day very well. They installed the last ring all night. At about 5 am we went upstairs. And then we were given a solemn meeting. The head of mainland construction, Nikolai Ivanovich Kotelnikov, a smart, knowledgeable engineer and leader, arrived, as well as Alexey Leontyevich Yaremchuk, our immediate superior, a former metro builder, medal bearer, head of the tunneling team, an excellent master of his craft. Right there at the mine shaft I was given a warrant for a room. But in those conditions it was a very pleasant reward. And the guys received big bonuses. But, of course, the table was set appropriately. I would like to note that labor was highly valued at this construction site. People were taken care of, and there were ten thousand of them, no less... In the spring of 1953, Stalin died. And after some time the construction site was closed. They didn’t fold it, they didn’t mothball it, but they closed it. Yesterday they were still working, but today they said: “That’s it, no more.” We never started digging the tunnel. Although everything was available for this work: materials, equipment, machinery and good qualified specialists and workers. Many argue that the amnesty that followed Stalin’s funeral put an end to the tunnel - there was practically no one to continue construction. It is not true. Of our eight thousand early released, no more than two hundred left. And the remaining eight months waited for the order to resume construction. We wrote to Moscow about this, asked and begged. I consider stopping the construction of the tunnel to be some kind of wild, ridiculous mistake. After all, billions of rubles were invested in the tunnel people's money, years of desperate labor. And most importantly, the country really needs the tunnel...
Yuri Anatolyevich Koshelev began his labor activity just during the construction of this tunnel. Then he worked his way up from an ordinary engineer to the head of the Moscow Metro Construction. He became the head of MosMetrostroy for the first time in 1972 and worked until 1976, when he went to the ministry to lead the “commander in chief” (Glavtonnelmetrostroy). He returned to Metrostroy again in 1986 and led it until 1999, when he retired.
“My life is all metro construction,” he said in one of his interviews. Yu. A. Koshelev started as a shift engineer in TO-6, was the head of the section, for nine years - the chief engineer, for a year - the head of SMU-6. At that time he worked on the construction of Frunzenskaya, Taganskaya (radial), on the caisson section of the running tunnels between the Leninskie Gory - University stations. Exactly personal experience and forced Yuri Anatolyevich, together with Metrogiprotrans specialists, to search for a technical solution that would completely eliminate the caisson. A solution was found - this is the so-called method of excavation in flooded unstable soils with forced water reduction and contour freezing. The work received great recognition, including abroad.
Yesterday he turned 85 years old. His friends, colleagues and students came to congratulate him on this venerable anniversary.
But an incident forced us to return to the topic of the Sakhalin tunnel again. Not long ago, the large landing ship Admiral Nevelskoy was sent from Vladivostok to the Tatar Strait.
For objective reasons, the Kholmsk-Vanino ferry crossing found itself in a critical situation. A large amount of cargo for the islanders has accumulated on the mainland; numerous teams of seasonal workers literally flooded the Vanino port in anticipation of at least some opportunity for Sakhalin.
And then military sailors of the Pacific Fleet came to the aid of civilian ferrymen. The landing ship carried up to 200 passengers and about 20 pieces of equipment in one flight. We must pay tribute to the Pacific people; they coped with the task with dignity, ensuring the transportation of goods and people from the mainland to the island and back.
By the way, the attitude of the military, and in particular the Pacific, towards the construction of the tunnel was the most direct.
Here are the memories of fleet veteran Mikhail Kozlov:
“I worked at the 220th hydrometeorological observatory of the Pacific Fleet. The boss was Y. Kogan, caperang. We worked on special jobs. Then it was a secret (they signed a non-disclosure agreement). Now so many years have passed that it seems possible to talk about it.
So, we were at the test site near Cape Pogibi on Sakhalin. That’s where it began, or rather, it was the beginning of the railway line (or road). Near the shore stood a dilapidated pier with laid rails. Near the shore, on the south side of the pier, there was a prison camp.
When I arrived there, there were no more prisoners there, but the landfill staff lived there (they were brought in in the spring, and taken away in the late fall). To the north of the camp, 100-150 meters away, there was a second camp. It was dilapidated, and nearby there were 5-6 graves with wooden crosses.
The pound road ran directly east from the pier and ended at a large clearing the size of a football field. Behind it began an embankment with one railway track and stretched in the direction of the city of Aleksandrovsk. Perhaps the crews of the steamships “Priamurye” and “Transbaikalia”, which went on voyages along the coast, will help shed light on the mystery of the tunnel...”
Here's another revelation.
In 1993, I had the opportunity to meet with a former military engineer who was directly involved in the construction of the tunnel.
A gray-haired veteran, who did not want to give his last name, with the rank of colonel, said that there is no myth about the existence of the tunnel.
“The tunnel has been built!” - he pronounced these words firmly, proudly recalling that this event happened long before the construction 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.
The 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 tried their best to correct the situation, but the available funds did not allow this to be done. As a result, the construction was mothballed, and after Stalin’s death it was completely abandoned. There was a special government decree on this subject dated May 26, 1953.
And about one more document regarding the tunnel from the military department.
The connection of the mainland with the island of Sakhalin was remembered already during the modern history of Russia.
In the mid-90s of the last century, I had the opportunity to meet Anatoly Chen, the man who hatched 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 being built - a tunnel to Sakhalin. Chen was still trying to push through his project at the highest government levels. Here is just one of the responses to his appeal from the Russian Ministry of Defense:
“In accordance with the instructions of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation dated January 21, 1998, your letter with the project for the construction of a bridge in the Nevelskoy Strait (Sakhalin Region) has been reviewed 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 the island. Sakhalin with the mainland, costs and time for transport 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-economic problems of the Far East will be resolved more quickly.
At the same time, the construction project of this crossing requires a comprehensive examination and technical and economic calculations 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 the military-economic feasibility study of construction. Special requirements of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for the construction of a multi-purpose bridge crossing may be presented during the approval of the design assignment.”
By the way, this document was signed at that time by the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General Pavel Grachev.
And now, obviously, it’s time to take a short excursion into history, which today dates back 65 years. And it began 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 an important state decision was made in March 1950, the first secretary of the Sakhalin Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, D. Melnik, was urgently summoned to Moscow.
Melnik, who was at a loss about such an emergency call to the capital, 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 to Sakhalin?..”
Melnik, as far as the situation allowed, tried to diplomatically explain that this task was extremely complex and would require enormous funds and human resources. But for Stalin, Melnik’s opinion turned out to be unconvincing. Moreover, the decision to build a tunnel was almost ready.
On May 12, 1950, a special construction division of the Ministry of Railways No. 6 was created for the construction of a tunnel to Sakhalin.
It is mainly staffed by professional metro builders.
According to various sources, more than three tens of thousands of qualified specialists worked there. In 1951, three options for laying a tunnel were proposed: the first - from Cape Lazarev to Cape Pogibi. The second is from Cape Sredny to Cape Pogibi. 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 practically invulnerable.
At the end of the 80s of the last century, finding myself 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 the rocky soil under the base of the future tunnel.
He told the border guards about the countless number of people who 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 ready to hit the road.
But they were not destined to set off. Unexpectedly, an order came from Moscow to cancel the planned launch of the tunnel, and the work was stopped.
Frankly speaking, it was difficult to believe in the authenticity of this story.
The old man died, and his memories retold by the border guards were perceived as the plot of a fantastic story.
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It didn’t fit in my mind: how was it possible to hide such a grandiose construction? Even if we take into account that the work was eventually stopped, something must remain on the surface...
Perhaps for the first time in the open press one can see genuine evidence of grandiose construction.
From conversations with old-timers, 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 through, the metro construction workers went to 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 real tunnel should be looked for elsewhere. There was a third option for connecting the mainland and the island - through a bridge crossing.
In the story of the tunnel to Sakhalin there were many blind spots and mysteries; even information that was not in doubt became very contradictory over time.
A publication by A. Polonsky appeared in the press, claiming that the tunnel really existed and was built by exiles. One day, a large group of prisoners escaped from a construction camp. They went north, towards the Bering Strait. But, not knowing the area, the fugitives died in the taiga wilderness.
There were other witnesses of that time, according to whom construction was actually carried out both on the mainland and on the opposite side of the Tatar Strait, at Cape Pogibi, but water poured into the tunnel. Having leaked through the ceilings, it flooded most of the tunnel, people died, and work was stopped.
Some of the researchers on the topic of the Sakhalin tunnel 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 preparation, a kind of platform for the construction of giant dams, from which it was planned to throw a bridge connection to the island. The dams were indeed built.
After publications on this topic, the editor 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 carriages 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 cages, on which rails were laid across the ship, but of normal width (Sakhalin rails are 22 cm narrower).
At Cape Churkina, four unusual types of carriages were loaded onto these rails. Having secured them, we set off. Already at sea, the crew of “Sevzaples” learned that these cars - energy trains - arrived from Zaporozhye. They were equipped with 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 approached its edge. Reloading the wagons ashore turned out to be a labor-intensive task, but everything was thought out to the smallest detail. The “people” was commanded by senior mate Anatoly Dekhta.”
We managed to find another eyewitness account. Author of memoirs V. Smirnov:
“I served in the military on Sakhalin together with my bosom friend Kostya Kuzmin. We had little education: Kostya had 4th grade, I had 5th grade, but at that time this was a lot. Kostya was the driver. One day he went AWOL and was absent for almost a month, for which he received 7 years as a deserter.
And then in January 1951 I receive a letter from him. He writes that he found himself at the great construction site of the century, making a hole in the narrowest place of the Tatar Strait. One day counts as three and a half days.
Kostya wrote that 20 dump trucks drove backwards one by one into the tunnel and drove like this for about 10 kilometers.
In 1953, after Stalin's death, 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 there died.”
Frankly, the topic of building a tunnel to Sakhalin has both supporters and opponents. Or rather, those who believe that the construction of a passage under the Tatar Strait is a myth and there was no tunnel.
Recently, a huge number of documents have appeared in the press, allegedly indicating that construction of the tunnel is being curtailed, but they do not shed any light on the actual state of affairs.
None of the documents directly states “there was no construction of the tunnel.” And therefore it gives reason to consider eyewitness accounts to be truthful. People located in different parts of our vast Motherland cannot make mistakes or make mistakes at the same time.
To confirm these words, I will give just a small example from the Internet that appeared after the publication of one of my articles.
“The other day I had a telephone conversation with Sakhalin. The interlocutor was an old EPRON submarine diver. He said: when leaving Cape Lazarev towards Nikolaevsk, you can see a small lake - this is the entrance to the tunnel. In general, he knows a lot and tells. But my fingers will get tired of typing such series of articles...”
Meanwhile, the connection between the mainland and Sakhalin is increasingly causing concern among local authorities. The current ferry service barely meets the cargo transportation needs of the island and the region. There are only two serviceable ferries and there are no more. Moreover, harsh climatic conditions do not allow continuous transportation of goods and people. The participation of a large landing ship of the Pacific Fleet in providing assistance to the Sakhalin residents is clear evidence of this.
To be fair, we note that in subsequent years the problems of connecting the mainland with Sakhalin Island received attention at the highest level. According to expert forecasts, the volume of transportation between the island and the mainland will increase to approximately 30 million tons per year in the near future.
Only twenty years later (in 1973) the Vanino-Kholmsk ferry crossing across the Tatar Strait came into operation.
Today it remains the only road to the mainland, although it no longer meets the cargo transportation needs of the island and the region. Powerful and unique ferries, the pride of the Far Eastern fleet, are morally and physically obsolete.
In addition, the ferry crossing, due to harsh natural and climatic conditions, cannot ensure continuity of transportation. The warm period in this area does not exceed five months, and frequent cyclones and strong winds, raising waves up to four meters, make it difficult for ships to operate. As a result, despite year-round transportation, ferries actually operate only for six months, which is clearly not enough for a reliable connection between the mainland and Sakhalin.
Half a century later, the Ministry of Railways resumed the development of a feasibility study for the tunnel. There is already a project to create a direct transport connection with Sakhalin, developed in the mid-1990s. a creative team of leading specialists from the Tunnel Association, Mosgiprotrans, Metrogiprotrans and a number of other design and scientific organizations.
Reliable transport connections with Sakhalin are also important because large-scale oil exploration and production work has been launched on the island and its shelf within the framework of the Sakhalin-1, Sakhalin-2 and Sakhalin-3 projects.
According to expert forecasts, the volume of transportation between the island and the mainland may already increase to 30 million tons per year in the medium term. The Vanino-Kholmsk ferry in its current form will no longer be able to cope with such a cargo flow.
It is also important that the railway crossing, unlike the ferry crossing, will reliably connect Sakhalin with the mainland, eliminate the dependence of transport communications on seasonal and weather conditions, and ensure regularity of transportation (storms, strong currents and difficult ice conditions in the Tatar Strait will no longer stop traffic cargo).
Just like fifty years ago, the construction of the railway crossing is facilitated by the geopolitical situation. Only now it is fundamentally different and is not associated with confrontation, as during the Cold War. Now the accelerating factor is the need for integration of Russia and the Asia-Pacific countries.
That is why today experts are actively putting forward realistic plans for the construction of a tunnel or bridge. They are confident: the tunnel will provide Russia with reliable access to three ice-free ports on Sakhalin, and this will improve transport services to Magadan, Kamchatka and the eastern sector of the Arctic, and will reduce existing sea communications by 500-1200 km, which is equivalent to the release of 10 sea vessels in one navigation period.
From a technical point of view, according to experts, the construction of the tunnel does not present any particular difficulties. The width of the strait at its narrowest point is only 7.8 km (for comparison: the width of the English Channel is about 40 km, the Tsugaru Strait in Japan, through which the tunnel is also built, is 54 km).
Construction duration is 2-3 years, estimated cost is more than $3 billion (total project cost is $10-15 billion). The payback period for the tunnel is 8-10 years.
As an alternative to the tunnel, another idea has been proposed - the construction of a complex bridge crossing across the Nevelskoy Strait.
They propose combining railway and road crossings, as well as oil and gas pipelines, in one structure. It was even proposed to place low-speed turbines for wave and tidal power plants in the body of the bridge, as well as use supports for the development of aquacultures of many useful marine organisms.
At the same time, due to difficult climatic conditions, a railway bridge may be less reliable and more difficult to operate compared to a tunnel.
After more than half a century, the mystery of the tunnel to Sakhalin is becoming more and more real. Who knows, perhaps a few years later, driving across the bridge to Sakhalin Island or through the tunnel under the Tatar Strait, we will remember the time when the very idea of connecting the mainland with Sakhalin Island seemed fabulous. But as enthusiasts said in the last century: “We were born to make a fairy tale come true.” I believe this will be the case.
Construction No. 506-507 GULAG - unfinished construction of a tunnel crossing through the Tatar Strait, one of the GULAG construction projects of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Approximate diagram of the route of the Sakhalin-mainland tunnel (source - article from the magazine "Technology for Youth" No. 7`1996)
The idea of building a tunnel to Sakhalin was put forward at the end of the 19th century, but due to economic inexpediency and lack of funds it was never realized. Research on the construction of a tunnel was undertaken in 1929–1930.
On May 5, 1950, the Council of Ministers of the USSR adopted secret decree on the construction of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur – Pobedino railway line on Sakhalin with a tunnel under the Tatar Strait, as well as a ferry crossing as an auxiliary option. A week later, by order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, two numbered divisions were created in the GULZDS system: “Construction No. 506” with a center in Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky and “Construction No. 507” with a center in De-Kastri. Together with the “Construction No. 6 Ministry of Railways of the USSR” established directly for the construction of the tunnel, they formed a system that united enormous material resources, labor and technology. According to the plan, the total length of the railway line was more than 1000 km, the tunnel - about 10 km. It was planned to complete the construction of the railway and tunnel crossing in 1955, and two years earlier to open through temporary traffic using a ferry crossing.
The tunnel was supposed to be used for military purposes - to supply units stationed on Sakhalin Soviet army. The construction of the tunnel crossing was entrusted to the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs (railroad lines) and the USSR Ministry of Railways (tunnel work, also transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1952). Specifications for the design of the tunnel and adjacent railways were approved on September 6, 1950. In order to speed up construction, the route was supposed to be built according to a simplified (in fact, temporary) scheme, for example, in the first stages of construction it was allowed to use unimpregnated sleepers. No detailed engineering and geological surveys have been carried out in the area of the proposed tunnel construction.
On the territory of Sakhalin, the length of the railway line from Pobedino station to Cape Pogibi (the beginning of the tunnel) was supposed to be 327 km. The axis of the tunnel under the Tatar Strait began at the Pogibi crossing, 23 kilometers from it was the Vangi station, from which a branch was planned to the southwest to Cape Vangi, where a pier for the sea railway ferry was being built. In total, nine railway stations were planned to be built on the island part of the highway.
The length of the tunnel from Cape Pogibi on Sakhalin to Cape Lazarev on the mainland was supposed to be about 10 km, its route ran north of the ferry crossing. On the mainland, in the section Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Sovetskaya Gavan, it was planned to build a branch from Cape Lazarev to Selikino station with a branch to a temporary ferry crossing. It was planned to build a traction power station near Lake Kizi.
The completion of construction with the organization of a temporary ferry crossing was scheduled for the end of 1953, and the commissioning of the tunnel was scheduled for the end of 1955. The total cargo turnover of the designed line in the first years of its operation was envisaged at 4 million tons per year. The construction of the railway lines to the tunnel was carried out mainly by Gulag prisoners. By early 1953 total number There were more than 27,000 railway builders on both sides of the strait. Construction, especially on Sakhalin, was carried out in conditions of virtually complete absence of infrastructure and lack of equipment, due to the emergency nature of the work living conditions in the prison camps were unsatisfactory even by Gulag standards.
On the mainland, 120 km of broad gauge railway were built along the right bank of the Amur from Selikino station to Cherny Mys station (the road was later used for timber export). In the area of the proposed ferry crossing, dams were filled (their remains are still visible today), preparatory work on the construction of piers. At Cape Lazarev, from where the tunnel was supposed to be built, a mine shaft was dug and 1.6 km from the shore was poured artificial island with a diameter of 90 m.
On Sakhalin, work was carried out in worst conditions, and not a single kilometer of railway was ever built. Work carried out to prepare the route ( excavation, felling, etc.) made it possible to build the Nysh - Pogibi dirt road, which Soviet time used for wood removal.
The beginning of the dam (now eroded) from Cape Sredny to the artificial island
Currently, the dams that led to the artificial islands have been washed away, the infrastructure and buildings have practically not been preserved. All that remained was the vertical shaft of the technical mine - half flooded and littered.
Artificial island and Sakhalin in the background
Occasionally there are rails, including those marked “KMZ named after Stalin 118kg IV 1950.”
The horizontal shaft portal could not be found. One of the local residents said that it was most likely collapsed by gas workers. It is difficult to say how true this fact is, because... the location of the gas distribution station is quite close to the technical mine
The depth is about 55 meters, the diameter is about 9 meters, the trunk is concreted and lined with cast iron tubes, fastened to each other with twelve bolts.
The weight of each tube is 300 kg, all are marked “EN 5” and number A
In the middle part of the descent there is a pile of bent channels - collapsed structures
Only the upper 20-odd meters are freely accessible. Next comes a layer of clutter with soil and wood and metal debris, resting on an ice cushion. Vertical drainage pipes have been preserved, as well as, in fragments, power supply insulators.
Secret underwater tunnel to Sakhalin
Construction of the Sakhalin tunnel 
Map of the planned construction
The twentieth century was a time of great achievements and upheavals. However, today it is pleasant to think that, despite all the negativity, there was still more positive in that century. Important scientific discoveries, ambitious projects, breakthrough inventions and research, and, of course, major construction projects. One of these could be the construction of a tunnel to Sakhalin in the USSR.
There's still something left
The idea of connecting Sakhalin with the “mainland” in Russia has been around for a long time. The first mentions of such projects, which were not even started, date back to the mid-19th century. They seriously thought about such a project in the 20-30s of the 20th century, but things didn’t work out again. Each time the project was rejected due to unprofitability. 
It was a great idea
IN last time They started talking about building a tunnel in 1950. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin himself took the initiative. A special commission headed by the first secretary of the Sakhalin Regional Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, D.N. Melnik, was sent to the site of future construction. Despite the fact that Melnikov expressed great doubts about the prospects of the project, it was decided that Sakhalin should be connected to the mainland of the country using an underground tunnel. 
A village for workers was built
On May 5, 1950, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a secret resolution on the construction of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Pobedino railway line. It was within the framework of this construction that a tunnel to the island was to be dug. It was even planned to build several imaginary directions, with fake tunnels.
The first and only mine
In September of the same 1950, the USSR Council of Ministers approved technical regulations on the design and construction of the Stalinist tunnel to Sakhalin, as well as projects of the adjacent railway branches. On the Sakhalin side, the length of the tracks was 327 kilometers. The engineering construction was to begin in the area of Cape Pogibi. On the mainland, the railway was supposed to stretch from Cape Lazarev to the Selikhin station, which is located near Komsomolsk-on-Amur. It is not difficult to guess that the tunnel was supposed to connect the closest parts of the island and big land. In this case, its length would be 10 kilometers.
Construction of the tunnel at that time was estimated at 723 million rubles. A huge human resource was involved in the implementation of the project. Prisoners who were released early took part in the construction. hired specialists, directed by distribution and military.
There were problems at the construction site from the very beginning. Due to the rush, the work site did not have adequate housing for workers. As a result, working conditions were far from even satisfactory. Many prisoners and military personnel began to get sick. People began to suffer from scurvy en masse. There were problems with the delivery of equipment and construction materials. 
This place was filled
The construction was never completed. In 1953, Stalin died. Soon a mass amnesty began, and construction crews lost a huge number of workers. If they managed to build about 120 kilometers on the mainland railway tracks, then on Sakhalin for 3 years the work has hardly budged. In addition to the railway, an artificial island was built, and the first shaft of the future tunnel was dug. And soon the project was completely abandoned as “not meeting the needs of the national economy.” 
Everything is abandoned
From the comments:
*Why not hundreds of millions? Can the author DOCUMENTARY confirm the death of these HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS? CAN NOT. Therefore, we can consider him a blatant liar and a scoundrel, who knows nothing and doesn’t want to know, just to shit himself again.
As the character in “The Master and Margarita” said, “Congratulations, citizen of the lie!”
*The author, of course, is a biased liar. After the closure of the construction site, those released waited for another half a year for it to be resumed because... there was a salary, and fish, and a barracks roof over one’s head, but on the mainland there was uncertainty. If it had not been for the collapse of the tunnel (yes, people died, but not hundreds of thousands), it would have been completed even then (4 km remained), and WILL BE BUILT! As an alternative to the Vanino - Kholmsk ferry crossing. But the Olympics, Championships, and Syria will end.... In Japan, all the islands are connected by underwater tunnels, and you can easily travel from Tokyo to Sapporo.
* Another thing is that expediency should be taken into account... There is oil (offshore) in Northern Sakhalin, but there are no large cities, you need to continue to build the railway along the swamp haze, to the nearest railway station, and there... a narrow Japanese railway. track... Oil is already leaving through the oil pipeline to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. From Okha, oil is already flowing through the oil pipeline to Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The village of Neftegorsk was wiped off the face of the earth by an earthquake in 1995. The climate there is harsh, in summer the hottest is +16 C, and the annual average is about 0 degrees... A godforsaken region. The railway service (the Okha - Moskalvo line and the Okha - Nogliki railway line) was discontinued in December 2006 due to the dismantling of the Okha - Nogliki railway. The Okha - Moskalvo 1520 mm gauge railway line was dismantled in 1999. Conclusion Road to nowhere. The time for a tunnel has not yet come. but the region is NASHENSKY.
* After the death of Stalin and the mass amnesty of prisoners, work on the entire project was curtailed. According to the recollections of one of the young engineers, Yu. A. Koshelev (a recent graduate of MIIT in 1951, who was assigned to this construction site and supervised the construction of the first shaft to the tunnel axis), the situation was as follows:
“In December 1951, I graduated from MIIT. I was sent to work at Construction No. 6 of the Ministry of Railways on Sakhalin Island... The contingent of builders was difficult. The bulk were those released early. They were also paid wages depending on their output, but strictly on time. The only way they differed from those who came here from the outside was that they were given a written undertaking not to leave. At our facility, out of five foremen, three were from early release... I was appointed foreman of basic work. Twelve brigades were given subordination. We were instructed to build a mine shaft on the seashore with a diameter of eight and a half meters and a depth of about eighty. And when we finished, it was proposed to make cuts and begin tunneling. We completed the excavation of the first mine in February 1953...
In the spring of 1953, Stalin died. And after some time the construction site was closed. They didn’t fold it, they didn’t mothball it, but they closed it. Yesterday they were still working, but today they said: “That’s it, no more.” We never started digging the tunnel. Although everything was available for this work: materials, equipment, machinery and good qualified specialists and workers. Many argue that the amnesty that followed Stalin’s funeral put an end to the tunnel - there was practically no one to continue construction. It is not true. Of our eight thousand early released, no more than two hundred left. And the remaining eight months waited for the order to resume construction. We wrote to Moscow about this, asked and begged. I consider stopping the construction of the tunnel to be some kind of wild, ridiculous mistake. After all, billions of rubles of people’s money and years of desperate labor were invested in the tunnel. And most importantly, the country really needs the tunnel...
*On June 15, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during the “Direct Line”, when asked about the construction of a bridge to Sakhalin, answered that the decision to start construction had not yet been made, as well as the option of connecting Sakhalin with continental Russia - a bridge or a tunnel, and also named a preliminary the cost of building the bridge is 286 billion rubles.
On November 22, 2017, Russian Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov announced that the design of the railway bridge to Sakhalin will begin in 2018
Wikipedia