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 foundation 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 site of the tunnel construction 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 secrets 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.
I have a new interest - a tunnel to Sakhalin. In official sources, they write about him that he was not completed and the construction was curtailed after the death of Stalin. What Wikipedia writes about the tunnel (and it writes whatever it wants):
The Sakhalin Tunnel is an unfinished construction of a tunnel passage through the Tatar Strait, one of the construction sites of the Gulag of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Railways of the USSR.
Current state
Project to connect Sakhalin Island to the mainland by a permanent rail link provides for the laying of rails from the Selikhin railway station, located on the Baikal-Amur Mainline near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, to the Nysh station, located on Sakhalin Island. The total length of the railway line is 582 kilometers. The passage from the mainland to Sakhalin has three options for construction: a tunnel under the strait with a length of 12.4 kilometers, an embankment dam - 16 kilometers with a navigable channel, a bridge crossing - 6.6 kilometers. So far, the deadlines for completing the creation of the transition go beyond 2015, however, depending on the economic situation, they can be reduced, in particular, if Japan supports the project.
I know for certain that this railroad does not exist. She's broken. This is known for one simple reason, when we went to excavate a time capsule in the unfinished city of Bonivour (you can read about it here and here), we saw this "railway" - only the overgrown embankment from the former narrow gauge railway remained. Therefore, the concept of "Current state" is incorrect.
But yes, there was a piece of iron, a snapshot of 1986.
And this picture was taken by a traveler from Komsomolsk-on-Amur Evgeny Sokolov in 2010. I don’t have a picture of the remnants of the piece of iron, I need to snowball ask, she took a photo on our expedition.
So, yesterday the newspaper "Border of Russia" fell into my hands, there one researcher expresses the idea that the tunnel was built after all, but due to an error in the project, it was flooded. I don't have a scanner, so I just re-photographed the pages of the newspapers. When the file is fully opened, it is readable.
In general, it's time to collect another expedition :)
UPD If anyone is too lazy to open photocopies and read the fine print, below is the reprinted material.
The mystery of the tunnel to Sakhalin: MYTH or REALITY?
Mine adits in the area of Cape Lazarev were made to divert eyes. The original tunnel should be sought elsewhere.
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 grandiose construction projects on earth. More specifically, 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 practically 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. However, detailed documents of that time could not be found. 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, 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.
In the story of the tunnel to Sakhalin, there were many "blank spots" and mysteries, even information that was not in doubt became very contradictory over time. A publication by A. Polonsky appeared in the press, who claimed that the tunnel really existed and was built by exiles. One day, a large group of prisoners escaped from the construction camp. They left to the north, in the direction of 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 the construction was really carried out both on the mainland and on the opposite side of the Tatar Strait, on Cape Perish, but water gushed into the tunnel. Leaking through the ceilings, it flooded most of the tunnel, people died, and work was stopped.
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.
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 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. Perhaps the crews of the steamships Priamurye and Transbaikalia, 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 secrets 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.
Yuri Trakalo
If we talk about the unfinished Stalinist construction projects, then one cannot help but recall the tunnel on Sakhalin Island, the construction of which was stopped after the death of the leader. Recently hajoff was there with friends and they even went down into an abandoned mine - all that was left of 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. He turned 85 yesterday. I heartily congratulate Yuri Anatolyevich and wish him good health.
But first, a little 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 Arrangement of the Nizhny Novgorod Railway Junction" considered both options for the transition - bridge and tunnel. But because of the danger of the destruction of the bridge during ice drift, preference was given to the tunnel one - "It is preferable to arrange the Volga crossing along the Nizhny Novgorod - Kotelnich line with an underwater tunnel." But the war began and it was not up to 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 small 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 penetration and lining device.
Tunnels under the Dnieper.
The second attempt to build an underwater railway tunnel was made in Kyiv - "Construction of the NKPS No. 1" or Tunnels under the Dnieper. In 1936, the construction of two tunnels began - in the northern and southern parts of the city. This building was more fortunate. In the southern part, they managed to go through several trunks (lower the caissons), build ramp sections and start driving the tunnel itself. With the outbreak of war, construction was stopped.
Only one caisson was built on the northern pipe, but it was never lowered. Until now, this "concrete submarine" is in Obolon.
south pipe
(c) Diagram taken from here
There are a lot of sites and information on this construction site, and there are enough artifacts left on the surface to study.
Here are links for self-study:
“Tunnels under the Dnieper: without the “Secret” stamp” - probably the most complete information.
Stalinist 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 public selection of them made riverpilgrim - "Railway tunnel under the Amur in Khabarovsk"
This tunnel was more fortunate - in 1941, with the outbreak of war, it was almost completed and was completed in the shortest possible time. After the end of hostilities in the Far East, the tunnel was sent for secret conservation, where it remained until 1964, when its civilian operation began.
Tunnel to Sakhalin Island.
I 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 available on his website.
I have a small selection of material on this project.
http://russos.ru/img/tunnels/sahalin/sahalin.zip - text from some magazine (I didn't keep the name of the magazine) about this project, plus an excellent selection of historical documents and resolutions about this construction site.
http://russos.ru/img/tunnels/sahalin/1996_03-sah.pdf - article from Science and Life magazine No. 3 for 1996.
The young engineer Yu. A. Koshelev supervised the construction of the first shaft. He recalls 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 majority were those released on parole. They were also paid a salary depending on the output, but strictly on time. The only thing that differed from those who came here from the outside was that they gave a written undertaking not to leave. At our facility, out of five foremen, three were out of parole... I was appointed master of the main works. Twelve brigades were given command. We were instructed to build a shaft on the seashore with a diameter of eight and a half meters and a depth of about eighty. And when we finish, it was proposed to make cuts and start tunneling. We completed the sinking of the first shaft in February 1953. I remember that cold day very well. Mounted the last ring all night. At 5 am we went upstairs. And then we had a solemn meeting. Nikolai Ivanovich Kotelnikov, the head of the mainland construction, arrived - an intelligent, knowledgeable engineer and leader, as well as Alexei Leontyevich Yaremchuk - our immediate supervisor, a former metro builder, order bearer, head of the tunneling team, an excellent master of his craft. Right there, at the shaft of the mine, they handed me a warrant for a room. But under the circumstances, it was a very pleasant reward. And the guys got big prizes. But, of course, the appropriate table was set. I would like to note that labor was very much appreciated 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. Some time later, the building was closed. Not turned off, not mothballed, namely closed. Yesterday they were still working, and today they said: "That's it, no more is needed." We never started tunneling. Although everything was available for this work: materials, equipment, machinery and good qualified specialists and workers. Many argue that the amnesty that followed after Stalin's funeral put an end to the tunnel - there was practically no one to continue construction. It is not true. Of our 8,000 parolees, no more than 200 left. And the remaining eight months were waiting for the order to resume construction. We wrote about it to Moscow, asked and begged. I consider the termination of the construction of the tunnel some kind of wild, ridiculous mistake. After all, billions of rubles of people's money, years of desperate labor, were invested in the tunnel. And most importantly, the country really needs a tunnel...
Yuri Anatolyevich Koshelev began his career just at the construction of this tunnel. Then he went from an ordinary engineer to the head of the Moscow metro construction. For the first time, he became the head of MosMetrostroy in 1972 and worked until 1976, when he left for the ministry to lead the "commander in chief" (Glavtonnelmetrostroy). He returned to the metro construction 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 he was the chief engineer, for a year he was the head of SMU-6. He worked at that time on the construction of Frunzenskaya, Taganskaya (radial), on the caisson section of the distillation tunnels between the Leninskiye Gory and Universitet stations. It was personal experience that made Yuri Anatolyevich, together with the specialists of Metrogiprotrans, look for such a technical solution that would completely exclude the caisson. A way out was found - this is the so-called method of sinking in watered unstable soils with forced dewatering and contour freezing. The work received great recognition, including abroad.
He turned 85 yesterday. His friends, colleagues and students came to congratulate him on this honorable anniversary.
The twentieth century was a time of great accomplishments and upheavals. However, today it is pleasant to think that, despite all the negativity, there were still more positive things 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.
The idea to connect Sakhalin with the "mainland" in Russia was a long time ago. The first mentions of such projects, which were not even started, date back to the middle of the 19th century. They seriously thought about such a project in the 20-30s of the 20th century, but again things did not work out. Each time the project was rejected due to unprofitability.
The last time they talked about building a tunnel was 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 the 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.
On May 5, 1950, the USSR Council of Ministers issued a secret decree on the construction of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Pobedino railway line. It was within the framework of this construction that they had to dig a tunnel to the island. It was even supposed to build several imaginary directions, with fake tunnels.
In September of the same 1950, the USSR Council of Ministers approved the technical regulations for the design and construction of the Stalinist tunnel to Sakhalin, as well as projects for the adjacent railway lines. From Sakhalin, the length of the tracks was 327 kilometers. The engineering construction was supposed 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 the mainland. In this case, its length would be 10 kilometers.
The 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, parolees, hired specialists sent for distribution and the military took part in the construction.
There were problems at the construction site from the very beginning. Due to the rush, the work site was not properly equipped with housing for the workers. As a result, working conditions were far from even satisfactory. Many prisoners and the military began to get sick. People began to suffer en masse from scurvy. There were problems with the delivery of equipment and building materials.
The construction was never completed. Stalin died in 1953. Soon a mass amnesty began, and the construction crews lost a huge number of workers. If on the mainland they managed to build about 120 kilometers of railways, then on Sakhalin for 3 years of work almost did not budge. In addition to the railway, an artificial island was poured, and the first shaft of the future tunnel was dug. And soon the project was completely curtailed, as "not meeting the needs of the national economy."
The Soviet Union left behind a huge legacy. Unfortunately, most of the ambitious projects and construction projects have long since sunk into oblivion. In continuation of the topic, we look that make you think.
