The Dusse-Alin Tunnel () is a two-kilometre-long railway tunnel on the

Baikal–Amur Mainline The Baikal–Amur Mainline (russian: Байкало-Амурская магистраль, , , ) is a broad-gauge railway line in Russia. Traversing Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the -long BAM runs about 610 to 770 km (380 to 4 ...

(BAM) in Siberia, 88 kilometres east of

Novy Urgal Novy Urgal (russian: Но́вый Урга́л) is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Verkhnebureinsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located in the valley of the Bureya River, close to its confluence with the Urgal River, about ...

. Although it is named after the

Dusse-Alin The Dusse-Alin (russian: Дуссе-Алинь) is a mountain range in Khabarovsk Krai, Russian Far East.Google Earth Although it is named after this range, the Dusse-Alin Tunnel of the Baikal–Amur Mainline is located about to the southwest. ...

located about further northeast, here the line crosses the

Bureya Range , photo = Korbohon.jpg , photo_alt = , photo_caption = View of Korbokhon lake at the northern end of the range , country_type = , country = Russia , country1 = , count ...

to enter the

Amgun River The Amgun () is a river in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia that flows northeast and joins the river Amur from the left, 146 km upstream from its outflow into sea. The length of the river is . The area of its basin is . The Amgun is formed by the c ...

valley just north of the

Badzhal Range The Badzhal Range (russian: Баджальский хребет, ''Badzhalskiy Khrebet'') is a mountain range in Khabarovsk Krai, Russian Far East.Хабаровский край. Путеводитель. — Приамурские ведомо� ...

Google Earth Google Earth is a computer program that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and geog ...

Construction

Work started in 1939.

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

prisoners arrived on foot, provided only with hand tools, one horse and a single motorized cart. In 1940 the guard commander shot the chief engineer in the back, an act that was ruled an accident (the engineer, Konserov, had previously received an

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

for his work on the

White Sea–Baltic Canal The White Sea–Baltic Canal (russian: Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л, , ), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal () is a ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. It connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with ...

). Work stopped in 1942 and resumed in 1947. The tunnel was officially opened in 1950, but was never used because the rest of the BAM was incomplete. Work on the BAM stopped after

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's death in 1953. Water leaked into the abandoned tunnel and it eventually became filled with ice. Work was resumed in 1974 using

railway troops Railway troops are soldiers who are also railway engineers. They build, repair, operate or destroy militarily relevant railway lines and their associated infrastructure. History The establishment of railway troops by the great powers followed th ...

, a group comparable to the

US Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. They moved into the former gulag barracks, but the barbed wire and watch towers left no doubt as to where they were. When work started more reminders were found, including frozen corpses and a candlestick holder made from a skull. Letters home caused a scandal and a commission was sent out from Moscow. The commission concluded that the political education of the soldiers was poor and that it was inappropriate to house them in former prisoners' barracks. In just ten days, the entire camp was leveled, including the cemetery, and all signs of the previous workers were destroyed. The troops used the backblast from jet engines to melt the 32,000 cubic meters of ice. The tunnel was cleared by 1974, but was not officially opened until November 1982 when the first train traveled from

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐɐˈmurʲə) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur Rive ...

References

* {{refend Buildings and structures in Khabarovsk Krai Railway tunnels in Russia Rail transport in Siberia Tunnels completed in 1950

Construction

See also

References