MYTH OR REALITY?

Important for the whole of Russia!

Vladimir Shapoval,
First Deputy Governor
of the Sakhalin Region

        The problem of creating stable all-season transportation between the Sakhalin Island and Russia's mainland has a long history and the issue was almost resolved in the early 1950s. The main goal was to carry domestic cargo and passengers as well as to open new transportation links with the Asian Pacific region (with Japan primarily). On May 5 1950, The USSR Government officially opened the construction of a railway line between Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Cape Lazarev and the Sakhalin Island with a tunnel crossing the Nevelsky Strait. The work stopped in 1953 yet the project is as relevant now as it was back then:

1. The Sakhalin region's economy and trade relations are dependent on a sea train-ferry crossing between Vanino and Kholmsk. Before 1994, 10 ferries were in operation with a capacity to transport 26 cars on each trip. At present only 5 are in operation. Both the ferries and the entire ferry system have become physically and morally obsolete. They also depend on weather and ice conditions in the Tatar Strait. The present ferry will exhausts its resources in approximately 2005-2008 after which the Sakhalin Island will have no stable transportation.

2. The creation of a direct and stable all-season railway network between the Sakhalin Island and the mainland is of enormous geopolitical significance for Russia and could have a decisive influence on the future development of the entire Sakhalin region and Far Eastern Russia. A direct rail link would also activate the Sakhalin's relations with Central Russia and the Asian Pacific countries (primarily Japan and China).

3. Two factors must be considered for a comprehensive and objective assessment of the economic, social and political consequences of the construction of this railway line between Komsomolsk-on-Amur, De Kastri, Cape Lazarev, the Sakhalin Island and the Island of Hokkaido: a long-term program for the social and economic development of the Sakhalin region and the Khabarovsk district, and the development of oil and gas extraction in the entire Far East. The Ministry of Communications under orders from the Russian Federation Government commissioned a study called "Technical and economic prognoses on Far Eastern transportation relations and the construction of a direct railway link between the mainland and the Sakhalin Island". The estimated cost of developing this study is 418 million rubles to be accomplished in a 1.5-2 year period. It would take less than 6-7 years to construct a tunnel (bridge crossing) and fortify the Sakhalin road section. Based on its scale and economic impact, the creation of a land corridor between Japan, Russia and Europe could become the most important major project of the 21st century.