Island Japan, with the help of Russia, is capable of turning into a continental power. At least, this is exactly the turn used by Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov, speaking about the possibility of building a bridge between Sakhalin and Hokkaido. But if the meaning of this gigantic project for Moscow is to some extent visible, then for Tokyo its effect is far from being so obvious.
Russia and Japan are discussing the construction of a bridge between Hokkaido and Sakhalin, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.
“We seriously suggest that our Japanese partners consider the construction of a mixed road-railway crossing from Hokkaido to the southern part of Sakhalin. At the same time, we are close to starting our part of the work - bringing the railway to the Pacific coast and building the same complex transition from the mainland to Sakhalin. In that case it will give additional features use our railway infrastructure, and Japan will become a continental power,” said the First Deputy Prime Minister, speaking at an economic forum in Vladivostok, Interfax reports.
“Is it possible to do this? Perhaps, with modern technology, it is not even so expensive. And we are seriously discussing this with our Japanese partners,” he added.
Shuvalov is talking about two bridges. One should connect Sakhalin Island with the mainland through the Nevelskoy Strait, the other – Sakhalin Island with the Japanese island of Hokkaido through the La Perouse Strait.
The idea of this project has been discussed for a very long time. The connection of Sakhalin with the mainland was dreamed of even under Stalin. Then these plans looked fantastic, but modern technology has changed a lot. Russia has already built a bridge in Vladivostok to Russky Island and is already very close to the appearance of the Kerch bridge connecting the Crimean peninsula with mainland Russia. Various options for connecting Sakhalin with the mainland were discussed: from the possibility of laying a tunnel or a dam with a navigable channel to a bridge crossing in various combinations.
Why was the decision and construction of the Kerch bridge so quick, but the bridge Sakhalin - the mainland has not yet been built? The problem is in the economy. With the Crimean bridge in this regard, everything is very clear - it will become a real impetus for economic development peninsula, no one doubts the prospects for growth in traffic. And, of course, the connection of Crimea with the rest of Russia is extremely important from a political point of view.
The emergence of the mainland-island transition will no doubt accelerate development Khabarovsk Territory and the Sakhalin region, these are new jobs, tax revenues, etc. Now all goods and food products are delivered to Sakhalin by sea, so their cost is much higher than the average for Russia. However, Sakhalin is not Crimea, the local cargo turnover is much more modest. The appearance of a bridge or a tunnel to the mainland will increase transportation along the Selikhin-Nysh line to 9.2 million tons per year. Given the cost of the bridge, this is not enough.
The bridge itself across the Nevelskoy Strait will cost 286 billion rubles, which is almost 60 billion more than the construction of the Kerch bridge (228 billion rubles). However, this is not the final cost. The project is expected to lay railway from the Selizin station, on the Baikal-Amur Mainline near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, to the Nysh station, located on Sakhalin Island. With this in mind total cost project can grow to 400 billion rubles or even more.
If Sakhalin is connected not only to the Russian mainland, but also to the Japanese island of Hokkaido, then a Japan-Russia-EU transport corridor will be created. In this case, transportation can increase several times - up to 33-40 million tons per year, and this is another story. In this scenario, the project can give economical effect not only for the Sakhalin Region and the Khabarovsk Territory, but for the whole of Russia. And even, perhaps, it will pay off, although in decades.
Technically, the task of building a bridge across the La Perouse Strait, although not easy, can be solved with modern technologies, says Aleksey Kalachev from the Finam Group of Companies. It will be a bridge almost 43 km long, but China has experience in building bridges and is longer. Another thing is that there are no ocean structures of this length in the world, especially in the harsh conditions of the Sea of Okhotsk, Kalachev notes. The average depth in the strait is 20-40 meters, the maximum is 118. In winter, the strait is covered with ice.
But the main obstacle is the high cost. Back in 2013, the Sakhalin-Hokkaido bridge was estimated at 400-500 billion rubles, and now, Kalachev says, probably one and a half to two times more. Considering that the construction of the Sakhalin-Mainland crossing will also be required, the final cost of the project may turn out to be many times higher. That is, in total, more than 1 trillion rubles may be required for two bridges, and Russia will have to take on a significant part.
And it is not clear where Russia will be able to get hundreds of billions of rubles for the construction of these bridges, even if the funding is divided in half with Japan. Russia is already spending a lot on infrastructure in preparation for the World Cup and the construction of a bridge to Crimea. "In addition, in the" jug "of the united Reserve Fund and the National Welfare Fund simply does not have such capacities and will not have them in the coming years. All expenditure items have already been scheduled in advance,” says Anna Bodrova from Alpari.
But the most important thing is that
Japan's interest in this project is not as obvious as Russia's.
Japan gets direct rail access to all Eurasian countries. It is expected that this route for delivering cargo to Europe will be twice as short, and delivery times will be reduced by a factor of three. So, by sea, the cargo travels 21 thousand km in 40 days, and, for example, along the Trans-Siberian Railway through the port of Vostochny, the delivery time is reduced to 18 days.
However, it is more efficient to transport large loads and over long distances by sea. “Sea container ship holds from 260 (the smallest) to 18 thousand TEU (standard 20-foot containers). 4 vessels with a capacity of 21,000 TEU each are already being built in the world. And on the longest freight train you will not load more than 140 of these containers. It is faster by train, but by sea it is more and cheaper per unit of goods,” says Alexey Kalachev. Rail freight transport, and even more so road transport, can only be more efficient over shorter distances.
“Japan's cargo turnover with Sakhalin, of course, is more convenient to provide by direct rail than by sea. However, its volume is unlikely to be able to recoup such grandiose costs that this project will require,” Kalachev doubts. Before the implementation of this idea, Japan has not yet matured, he concludes.
“If you have money, such a bridge can be built, and it will stand as majestic as the bridge to Russky Island, for example. But the demand for such infrastructure is very low, and Moscow cannot afford the payment for ambitions, ”Bodrova agrees.
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The idea of connecting Sakhalin with the mainland was born long ago. Back in the early 50s of the last century, a secret decree was issued on the construction of a railway line from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to the village of Pobedino on Sakhalin through a tunnel under the Tatar Strait.
Then the builders even managed to pave more than a hundred kilometers from the Selikhin station to the Black Cape, and at Cape Lazarev they pierced a mine shaft for tunneling. Today, the development of the Far East has been declared a priority in the country for the entire 21st century. There is reason to believe that this time the project will come true. But the question - whether it will be a tunnel or a bridge - has not yet been resolved.
Then, in the 50s, they settled on the tunnel version, given the weakness of the soil. The thickness of silt deposits in the Nevelskoy Strait reaches in some places up to 25-30 and even more meters. For the convenience of navigation, the bridge bed should be at a height of at least 30 meters above sea level. That is, piles with a height of about 70-80 meters will be required, - says the Vice-Rector for scientific work Far Eastern University of Communications, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Sergey Kudryavtsev.
Another problem for designers and builders is increased seismicity. Mikhail Samokhvalov, Associate Professor of the Department of Geotechnics of the Tyumen State University, believes that it is possible to choose the right pile foundation capable of receiving a seismic load for a bridge. But it is difficult to predict how the tunnel will behave under these conditions.
Igor Ganchits, a researcher at the St. Petersburg University of Communications, believes that we are more accustomed to building bridges than tunnels, especially since after the completion of the Kerch project, certain experience and technologies have been gained, capacities have been freed up: people and equipment.
Ekaterina Pestryakova of the Russian University of Transport (Moscow) cites arguments in favor of the tunnel from her supervisor, Doctor of Technical Sciences Evgeny Kurbatsky. Firstly, the tunnel does not create barriers to navigation. Secondly, the construction of the tunnel is cheaper.
After the completion of the Kerch project, certain experience and technologies have been gained, people and equipment have been released
Sectional tunnels are not limited in width. Inside it, you can combine a multi-lane highway and a double-track railway. It is very difficult to build a railway bridge combined with a highway, but here the wind load is crazy, - says Ekaterina.
The Moscow Giprostroymost Institute is developing pre-project solutions under an agreement with Dalgiprotrans. The company is the developer of the main solutions for the construction of the railway line Selikhin (Khabarovsk Territory) - Nysh (Sakhalin Region) with a passage through the Nevelskoy Strait.
According to the chief engineer of the project, Mykola Balaba, the discussion will end at the end of 2019.
Several options for a bridge crossing and at least one option for a tunnel are being developed, which will allow for a feasibility study, he explains. - But those data on the volume of cargo transportation, which are indicated in the ToR, can seriously limit the tunnel option. If we manage with diesel traction on the bridge, then electricity will be needed for the tunnel. Another factor is the cost of operation: it is higher for tunnels, although construction is cheaper.
The work on the project is synchronized with the rebuilding of the unique island railway track at the general Russian standard. Now on Sakhalin the track width is 1067 millimeters, while the Russian standard is 1524 millimeters. The railroad must complete all work in 2019. Until now, all the wagons arriving from the mainland have been "changed shoes" into wheelsets for the narrow-gauge railway, which the islanders inherited from the Japanese. It is clear that the railway workers, investing tens of billions in re-laying, want to see an economic return.
Nature throws many serious challenges to the planners of the transition to Sakhalin
In the 21st century, the idea of a transition is viewed not just as connecting the island to the mainland, but as an international project that, if Sakhalin is connected to Hokkaido, will connect Japan through Russia to Europe. For Japan, then the time of delivery of goods to Europe will be reduced by a factor of three compared to the traditional route through the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal.
There is a tectonic fault in the construction zone, and according to SNiPs, the construction of tunnels in the zone of tectonic faults is not provided. However, the world has long and successfully used cheap and prefabricated tunnels from lowering sections. There are already more than a hundred of them. Comparing both options for the transition, one cannot ignore the difficult ice situation in the Tatar Strait. Aleksey Konovalov, a seismologist, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, deputy director of the innovative enterprise Geophystech from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, believes that the tunnel will bypass this problem.
Ice conditions and weather conditions do not affect the operation of the tunnel, which means that this structure has a higher level of safety during operation. And seismic impacts for underground structures are lower than for ground ones, - the scientist believes. - But I do not remember that at least one tunnel was built in the country in the 9-10-point seismic zone. Some experts suggest using European building codes, but then it should be built according to European technologies and for European earthquakes. But we live in the Far East of Russia, and here the seismic situation is different. Ultimately, I would speak for the tunnel, but taking into account the experience of countries with high seismological knowledge (Japan, China, the European Union, the USA).
Does Russia need another “construction of the century” that will be transported to Sakhalin Island from the mainland across the bridge? There are still no discussions around the new mega-project announced by the country’s top leadership. Although the problem with the project with almost a century of history was not only in money. And now February 2018 is in the yard, and things are still there - there is no real project, funding sources have not been announced. So all the same - are the authorities going to build a bridge and who really needs it - the correspondent of the website tried to answer these questions.
For the first time, they started talking about a transport corridor to Sakhalin at the end of the 19th century - however, due to economic inexpediency, the idea was abandoned. They returned to it already under Soviet rule. In 1950, the intentions were revived by Joseph Stalin - among several options, a railway underwater tunnel with a length of 327 kilometers was chosen. Construction began at an accelerated pace, but along with the death of the leader, the project was closed despite a significant amount of work done.
Officially, the island was connected by water to the "mainland" only in 1973 - this year the Vanino-Kholmsk sea railway ferry was solemnly opened. With the commissioning of this transport artery, a qualitatively new stage in the development of the entire Far East region was marked. Not surprisingly, the organization of the ferry service paid off quite quickly - in just five years. And this is provided that it reached its design capacity only by the end of 1976.
To date, only three dilapidated ferries operate on the line.
Time passed, and with it the transport demands of the island region grew. In 1992, the head of the Sakhalin Railway, Vasiliev, publicly announced the problems - in his opinion, the issue of building a highway between the island and the mainland should have been raised again. In 1999, the Minister of Railways Nikolai Aksyonenko announced the need to develop the project. The initiative was supported in the island region, however, the head of the Khabarovsk Territory, Viktor Ishaev, reacted coldly to it - and he is known as a strong statesman and would not simply “bring down” a promising direction.
The situation was reported in the newspaper "Khabarovsk Express"- Igor Farkhutdinov, the current governor of the Sakhalin region, commented on it in an interview. According to the official, his colleague from the neighboring region was embarrassed by the cost of the project, announced by Aksyonenko - as the governor said then, twice. He also noted that Ishaev is not the only skeptic, many heads of regions were alarmed. According to Farkhutdinov, during the construction of the bridge, Far Eastern Railway tariffs will inevitably increase, and few people want this.
This is the way the new railway line should go
It would seem that the start of work on the project is about to begin, but this never happened. Everything is limited survey work at the proposed crossing point, which took place in 2000. As a result, Minister Nikolai Aksyonenko resigned, Governor Farkhutdinov died in a plane crash in 2003, and the idea was shelved. It took the authorities five whole years to return to the consideration of the burning issue.
Hope appeared in February 2008, after a meeting that took place in the administration of the Sakhalin Region. Then it was decided to update the transport crossing project with the study options implementation. 14 design organizations have joined the case. Even the estimated cost of construction was announced - the amount came out impressive, about 300-330 billion rubles. However, everything was put in place by the visit to the Far East of the then president of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin.
This project, of course, is of a state nature. It is important both from the point of view of the transport unity of the country, and from the point of view of improving the working conditions of Sakhalin residents. I am sure that this project should have the right to life. But now the authorities have decided to assign the implementation of this project to 2011-2013. Before, hardly anything can be decided, - then the East of Russia portal broadcast Yakunin's words.
As of April 2013, the railway crossing project was going through the approval stage. It should be noted that the contractors then considered three options - a tunnel under the Nevelskoy Strait (length 12.4 kilometers), an embankment dam with a navigable channel (length 16 kilometers) and a bridge crossing (6.6 kilometers). As a result, we settled on the latter - we decided to build a bi-directional railway bridge with a double sloping traction. In many respects, this option was due to a lower cost than the previous two. Only bad luck - no one said about the timing! Again turned empty chatter?
The problem of transport communication between Sakhalin and the mainland again severely identified itself in the summer of 2015. At that time, the attention of all regional and federal media was attracted by the situation with the accumulation of more than a thousand passengers in the port of Vanino, who, due to problems with the ferry crossing, could not go to the island for a long time. To resolve the situation, the authorities even had to ask for help from the military - desperate people were delivered to their destination by the large landing ship of the Pacific Fleet "Admiral Nevelskoy". At the same time, at the country level, everyone became aware that such traffic jams in the port are not uncommon.
Queues to get on the ferry to Sakhalin appear every summer
But the problems with passenger transportation to Sakhalin turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg. The issue with the ferry crossing is very urgent - sea cargo ships are seriously dilapidated, their number is over last years reduced to three. And all this with a general increase in the volume of traffic, which by 2015 reached one million tons of cargo per year, which is almost the maximum. In addition to the factors mentioned above, one cannot but take into account the vagaries of the weather, on which the functioning of the ferry service directly depends, and hence the supply of the island region.
The President's plenipotentiary spoke about the need to do something with the current situation. Russian Federation Yuri Trutnev. True, as a solution, he focused on the modernization of the sea route. And the matter actually moved - two new vessels with an unlimited volume of navigation were laid down at the Amur Shipbuilding Plant. Did this mean that the project of the bridge to Sakhalin was given up? Not at all - it became known in 2017. President Vladimir Putin has already personally announced his intentions for all to hear.
For the first time, the head of state announced the "reanimation" of the project during the June "direct line" in 2017 - answering one of the questions of the residents of the country. At the same time, the president also announced the estimated cost of the "construction of the century" - about 286 billion rubles. However, as it turned out later, only the railway crossing itself from the mainland to the island would cost this money. The full cost of the project, including the construction of infrastructure and a new railway, was later announced by Vice-President of Russian Railways Alexander Misharin - about 400 billion rubles.
The fact that there will be a crossing, Vladimir Putin recalled at the Eastern Economic Forum. In November 2017, it became known about the far-reaching plans of the Russian government - on the eve of the APEC forum, an article appeared on the official website of the Kremlin, which cited the president's words about the bridge between Sakhalin and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. It should be noted that the negotiations between the countries on this issue were previously mentioned by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov. True, no specific developments in this matter have been presented so far - many skeptics consider such a megaproject "utopian". However, his hopes Russian government lays down a lot.
Vladimir Antonovich Krapivny, a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Industry and Transport of the Khabarovsk Territory, spoke about the stage at which the idea of connecting the mainland and Sakhalin was being implemented. According to the specialist, who for a long time served as chief engineer of the Far Eastern Railway, today the terms of reference for design and survey work have been prepared investment project"Construction of the railway line" Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Selikhino - Nysh ". Selikhino, in this context - the junction station, from which the tracks will lead to the Nysh station on Sakhalin Island.
Vladimir Krapivny
There are no specifics yet. Until now, options are being considered for both the tunnel and the bridge crossing. Both of them are calculated in value terms. These options have already been considered at the expert council of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, they have found understanding, - shared Vladimir Krapivny.
In addition, as the expert also noted, three options for transport links for the transportation of goods from central Europe and Russia to Japan. Thus, the export option provides for more than 25 million tons per year, transit within the country and import - 4.7 million tons, as well as transportation of domestic cargo across the country in communication between the mainland and Sakhalin along the new Selikhino railway line through the Nevelskoy Strait - 9 million tons .
In order to plan in detail the project of the line from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Nysh station, to make the necessary adjustments to the main decisions and special specifications, there is money. Financing for the next two years for these needs is provided for in the plans of the Russian Railways company, though Vladimir Krapivny did not mention the amount of funds. The speaker emphasized that these expenses are necessary, since without updating the legal and financial and economic foundations, to provide finished document to the authorities government controlled it is forbidden.
In this situation, it is necessary today to form working group from among specialists, scientists and heads of involved ministries and departments of the government of the Khabarovsk Territory, in order to develop the initial data for the design and detailed planning, as well as surveying the territory for those objects that are already indicated in today's terms of reference. These are civil and social facilities, - Krapivny expressed his proposal.
Vladimir Antonovich separately drew attention to another problem, no less important than the construction of a new railway line and the passage through the Nevelskoy Strait. And it is directly related to cargo transportation. We are talking about the need to adjust the second stage of the reconstruction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. After all, the load on it will certainly increase. The scale can be estimated already now, even taking into account their overestimation.
In general, an interesting situation is developing - Vladimir Krapivny also told about it. Today, the prospects for the development of the Vanino-Sovgavansky transport hub provide for the construction of powerful sea terminals for the processing of bulk cargoes through residents. So, at the request of companies that are ready to build them, declared volumes exceeding 100 million tons per year. The government of the Khabarovsk Territory claims 108 million tons. At the same time, according to the applications of cargo owners, the volumes are no more than 44.6 million tons - a discrepancy of more than two times. As Krapivny said, this imbalance must be dealt with at the federal level.
These figures are confirmed in the program for the reconstruction and modernization of the BAM and the Trans-Siberian Railway. But it's not that. If there is a flow from the new railway line to Sakhalin through Selikhino and back to BAM, and it will go - and this is up to 30 pairs of trains per day, plus 50 pairs of trains per day from the Vanino transport hub, then a disappointing conclusion suggests itself. The single-track direction from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to the border of the Far Eastern Railway will not cope, - the expert shared.
It is clear that it is necessary to start building a second track, but that's not all. It is almost impossible to transport the declared volumes on diesel traction. Accordingly, it is necessary to resolve the issue of electrification of the entire Baikal-Amur passage. Now there is a proposal to electrify a separate section of Volochaevka-2 - Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Vanino, but according to the specialist, this will not give any effect.
There will be no optimization of the locomotive fleet and a significant reduction in operating costs. The effect will come only after the entire BAM is electrified. Today, this is a question not only of railway workers, but also of the federal grid company. It makes sense only polygon coverage of the entire path from Khabarovsk to Krasnoyarsk, - summed up Krapivny.
So it turns out that the mere construction of a railway track to Sakhalin and back, and the development of the Vanino-Sovgavan transport hub, which can be combined into a common complex, opens up a bunch of other problems - their solution costs a lot of money. It turns out that in order to make the most of the opportunities that open up and increase the traffic, you will have to spend even more money.
About money
As of the second quarter of 2017, the cost of construction of the railway bridge and all necessary infrastructure, including access roads, was tentatively estimated at 500 to 615 billion rubles. Although the authorities are doing their best to support the project, nothing has been heard about funding yet. In the wake of the “silence regime”, sensational news from the Bloomberg agency sounded like a bolt from the blue in November last year - the publication announced the signing of a contract for the construction of a bridge to Sakhalin.
According to insider information, the contract was concluded with the Stroygazmontazh company, owned by billionaire Arkady Rotenberg. The Russian businessman became especially famous thanks to another bridge - the Crimean one. True, Russian officials denied this news, as did the press service of Stroygazmontazh - after all, no one announced any competition, and the money for such a large project in Russian budget so far no one has foreseen. However, agency sources insist that the whole truth should become known as early as 2018.
According to many experts, the railway crossing does not make sense without the connection between Sakhalin and Hokkaido - it simply will not pay off in a reasonable time. But it turns out a strange story. When the head of state and responsible officials declare that a bridge will be built for the project, while the Japanese side is just considering the possibility of connecting its island with the Russian one.
So far, we have not seen a specific project, so we need to consider the economic viability. But if the project is good, and if it is beneficial to both peoples, then we will optimally consider the issue, - Masami Iijima, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Japanese corporation Mitsui & Co., Ltd., was quoted by the Russian edition of Izvestia in September 2017.
So it turns out that the issue with the construction of a new branch and a bridge across the Nevelskoy Strait is more likely not economic, but political. This is indirectly confirmed by the words of Vladimir Krapivny about considering several options for a transport scheme - one of which provides for exclusively domestic cargo turnover. In this case, it is possible that part of the implementation costs large-scale project transferred to business.
If they approve the third option for the transportation of goods in domestic traffic - the mainland-Sakhalin (9 million tons per year), then, accordingly, there will be very difficult financing. It is not necessary to count on the fact that the state will allocate money for the project in full. We clearly and clearly understand that Russian Railways will have to finance part of the junction station facilities and the development of the railway infrastructure on Sakhalin, and everything else will be assessed from the standpoint of state expertise, - said Vladimir Krapivny.
But what awaits ordinary residents of the Far East region, if the bridge is still built? On the one hand, the railway crossing is very convenient. Thanks to the implementation of the project, people will have an alternative to inadequately expensive air traffic, because now flying to Sakhalin is sometimes hardly cheaper than to Moscow. But if you look from the other side, the construction of a new bridge can hit hard on the already weak state budget. It's not just that at one time the project was criticized by the governor Ishaev and the heads of other Far Eastern regions.
If part of the costs is shifted to Russian Railways, this will inevitably affect the increase in tariffs for the transportation of goods, which are still not the lowest. What can this lead to? - For example, to the next increase in prices for some categories of consumer goods. Are you ready to make such sacrifices?
Sakhalin Island can be connected by transport tunnels with continental Russia and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. This was stated during the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi in an interview with TASS by the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for Environmental Protection, Ecology and Transport Sergey Ivanov. The idea was voiced against the background of the intensification of Russian-Japanese economic relations.
According to Ivanov, "first of all, it is necessary to connect Sakhalin with the mainland." After that, there will be a "pure economic question– will there be such a volume of cargo traffic that someday, in 30–40 years – it doesn’t happen faster in transport – will pay for the construction of either a tunnel or a bridge [between Sakhalin and Hokkaido].” At the same time, the ex-head of the presidential administration compared the situation with the Kerch bridge to the Crimea, where the cargo flow is provided by the intensively working economy of the peninsula.
Ivanov noted that analogues of such large-scale structures have long existed in the world. “A tunnel with a length of about 51 kilometers is comparable to the Eurotunnel (between France and Great Britain under the English Channel), of course, it is technologically possible to build, the only problem is in the economy, whether it will pay off or not,” he explained.
The special representative of the president recalled that the connection of Sakhalin with the continental part of the country is "a long-standing dream, Comrade (Joseph) Stalin planned to do this, but it did not work out." “In the Soviet Union, a lot of things didn’t work out, for example, the Chita-Khabarovsk road, but we did it!” Ivanov noted.
At present, the issue of building a bridge to Sakhalin and then to Hokkaido is being worked out by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. About this, the deputy head of the department Alexey Tsydenov said the very next day after the end of Putin's December visit to Japan. Then, following the results of his negotiations with the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced an unprecedented program of economic cooperation between the two countries. However, the final decision on the construction has not yet been made.
The La Perouse Strait between Sakhalin and Japan has a minimum width of 43 kilometers and an average depth of tens of meters. The Nevelskoy Strait between the mainland and Sakhalin is much narrower - 8 kilometers. As SP explained Leading Researcher of TsNIIP of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation Alexander Strelnikov, there are no problems with the technical implementation of such projects. “Our institute would be happy to carry out such a development,” he assured.
According to Mikhail Barashnikov, head of the design of the bridge across the Golden Horn Bay in Vladivostok, there are three ways to connect Sakhalin with the mainland: by building a bridge, a tunnel or a dam with a shipping channel. Moreover, in each of these cases, it is possible to simultaneously build both an iron and a motor road. If it is a bridge, it can be made two-level or simply strengthen the base. Costs also depend on the choice of construction option.
According to the calculations of the Ministry of Transport, the approximate cost of the work is 400 billion rubles. This is almost twice the estimate for the construction of the Kerch Bridge - 230 billion rubles. Taking into account the design and survey work, the implementation of the project may take from 3 to 5 years. In addition to professionals, it is supported by enthusiasts. On Sakhalin, there is even a social movement advocating the speedy construction of a bridge to the continent. Among the ideas he discusses are some very exotic ones.
Movement coordinator Ivan Voronin reminded of difficult climatic conditions region: severe winters and frequent storms, and proposed to use the current in the Nevelskoy Strait to generate electricity during the construction of the bridge.
- If you just build a bridge, it can be destroyed by ice. Their thickness here is up to two meters, and the fields reach a length of 25 kilometers. It's better to build a dam. But not “deaf”, but with supports, inside of which there are hydrogenerators. This will make it possible to use the energy of the current in the strait, the speed of which reaches 4 meters per second. In fact, it will work like a tidal power plant. According to the calculations of the Moscow Research Institute "Mosstroy", the bridge will pay off up to 40 years. If it is connected to a power plant, this period will be drastically reduced.
Due to this, it will be possible to electrify our Sakhalin railway. And on the continent too. As you know, from Khabarovsk to Sovetskaya Gavan ( on the coast of the Pacific Ocean - ed.) also run on diesel engines. Because of this, there are fires, the environment suffers. We are very isolated here. Over the past quarter century, many people have left here. All these measures will reduce the outflow of people from Sakhalin. They found money for the construction of the Kerch bridge, they found money for the bridge to Russky Island, so we need to find our bridge. And in the future, a bridge to Hokkaido is needed. Although there is a great distance.
A fierce supporter of the construction of a bridge crossing to Sakhalin is futurist writer, member of the Federal Council of the "Party of Dela" Maxim Kalashnikov.
I am very supportive of this project. Yuri Krupnov worked on it. Building such a bridge is a much more important task than hosting the Sochi Olympics or even building a bridge to Russky Island in Vladivostok. The laying of a transport crossing will solve the problem of Sakhalin being cut off. Everything hangs on the ferry crossing.
Sakhalin should be the most advanced development cluster. There, in addition to petrochemicals, there should be biotechnological production. It's an island of giant plants! And this is not Dunno on the Moon, but reality. All this requires a bridge. In addition to the bridge, it is required to create a communication system for Sakhalin with Kuril Islands. And with the northern and southern parts of them.
"SP": - And what is better - a tunnel or a bridge?
- It is necessary, of course, to think, to calculate. I hope a competition will be announced, and not everything will be given to Rotenberg ... This should have been done a long time ago. We raised this question more than ten years ago, when the country was flooded with money from oil. Why did they start only now, when the flow of petrodollars has dried up? Although, better late than never.
Viktor Kuzminkov, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences believes that in order to implement the idea of connecting Sakhalin with the mainland and Japan, a convincing economic justification.
- This topic is now quite actively discussed. For example, half a year ago, the idea caused a shock among the Koreans, as they considered themselves as a transport hub. There is even a project to build a tunnel between South Korea and Japan. Russia was also mentioned there.
The idea is far from fresh. Even in Stalin's times they talked about it. But if then it looked quite utopian, now everything is more than real. And it is certainly more realistic than the Korean-Japanese project. Another thing is that it is still unclear how Russian-Japanese relations will develop. Contacts on economic topics have become more active, but so far everything remains at the level of memorandums.
In general, this is not a stupid idea - to use our territory, provide transport routes, and not just trade in oil and gas. True, these are high-cost things and therefore you cannot quickly implement them.
"SP": - But there is oil production on the shelf of the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk ...
- Yes, but there were bad stories with Sakhalin-2 when the Japanese were forced out of the project. But business is business, and if it will be profitable, it will be indisputably proven economically, of course, they will join. True, this requires decisions at the level of top officials. Forum discussion is not enough.
Sakhalin journalist Ilya Shamazov I am sure that the residents of Sakhalin are lucky that a major official raised the topic of building a tunnel.
- In the words of Ivanov about the role of Stalin in the project for the construction of a tunnel to Sakhalin, one senses some cunning. Under Stalin, they began to build a tunnel, and the construction was abandoned only in connection with his death and the subsequent debunking of the personality cult of the leader of the peoples. But if it is pleasant for the authorities to talk about the projects they completed for Comrade Stalin, then this only plays into the hands of all of us. If Stalin started any kind of construction, then certainly not for personal gain.
The economic feasibility of building both tunnels is still in question. But when such a high-ranking official, close to the president, begins to think about it aloud, it's a sin not to take advantage of the opportunity. This is a good opportunity to attract people to the Far East. A more serious move than with a hectare of land ...
