Sakhalin Railway (russian: Сахалинская железная дорога) is one of the railway division under

Far Eastern Railway Far Eastern Railway (russian: Дальневосточная железная дорога) is a railway in Russia that crosses Primorsky Krai, Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, and Yakutia. Information The railway admin ...

that primarily serves in

Sakhalin Island Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

. Due to its island location, the railway becomes the second isolated 1520mm gauge network in Russia, like the Norilsk railway. The only main connection to the mainland is the Vanino–Kholmsk train ferry. The management is located at Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

History

Japanese Government Railways Wartime Route Map

The

Treaty of Portsmouth A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

following the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

of 1904-05 placed the northern half of Sakhalin under the control of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

, whilst the southern half ( Karafuto) was under control of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. On the Japanese half of the island, a railway was built from Korsakov () to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (), with a gauge of . This section was later converted to the normal Japanese railway gauge of . In 1911, a branch was built from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Starodubskoye (''Sakaehama''). Between 1918 and 1921, the towns of

Nevelsk Nevelsk (russian: Не́вельск; ja, 本斗, ''Honto'') is a port town and the administrative center of Nevelsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia, located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, the ad ...

(), Kholmsk (),

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

() and Tomari () were also connected to the network. The Japanese railway network consisted of the Western Karafuto Railway from Naihoro (Gornozavodsk) to Tomarioru, and the Eastern Karafuto Railways from Otomari to Koton (Pobedino) until 1944. Its total length was over . After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, control of the whole of the island passed to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, including the island's complete rail network and rolling stock. Wagons from the Soviet railways were re-gauged for use on the island. The locomotive factory in

Lyudinovo Lyudinovo (russian: Люди́ново) is a town and the administrative center of Lyudinovsky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the shores of Lake Lompad formed by a dam on the Nepolot River, southwest of Kaluga, the administ ...

produced diesel locomotives of the models TG16 and TG21 specifically for use on the island's narrow gauge network. Additionally, trains were imported from Japan, such as the purpose-made A1 sets made by

Hitachi Rail () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

and Teikoku Sharyo (1958-1960), followed by the D2 sets made by Fuji Heavy Industries (1986) and ex- JNR KiHa 58 railcars, purchased second hand in the early 1990s. The Soviet era saw the network extend into the north of the island, with a total extent in 1992 of . By 2006, little-used sections such as Dachnoye– Aniva and

Dolinsk Dolinsk (russian: Долинск) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities * Dolinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, a town in Dolinsky District of Sakhalin Oblast ;Rural localities * Dolinsk, Orenburg Oblast, a settlement in ...

– Starodubskoye had been closed, but the network still had a total length of . In 1992, the Sakhalin Railway was split from the

and made its own administrative entity. It reverted to being part of the Far Eastern Railway in 2010. GaugeWidening

In order to allow regular Russian trains to run on the island, the island's rail network underwent conversion to

Russian broad gauge Railways with a railway track gauge of first appeared in the United Kingdom and the United States. This gauge became commonly known as Russian gauge because the government of the Russian Empire later chose it in 1843 — former areas of the Emp ...

starting from 2003. Russian Railways formally completed the regauging work in August 2019. Last scheduled train on 1067mm line Holmsk-77km pk9 was run at 30.09.2020.

Future prospects

Potential connection to the mainland

The

under

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

planned to construct a tunnel between Sakhalin and the Russian mainland, which would have linked Sakhalin to the rest of the Soviet rail network. The project was begun using

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

between 1950 and 1953 but was canceled after Stalin's death. Since 1973, a

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train ...

has connected Vanino (on the mainland near

Sovetskaya Gavan Sovetskaya Gavan (russian: Сове́тская Га́вань, lit. ''Soviet harbor'') is a town in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, and a port on the Strait of Tartary which connects the Sea of Okhotsk in the north with the Sea of Japan in the south. ...

) with the town of Kholmsk on Sakhalin. There have been some calls from politicians to revive the concept of building a bridge or tunnel between Sakhalin and the mainland, although there have been concerns that the costs of the project would outweigh the benefits. However, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev announced his support for the project in November 2008, suggesting the link could be completed by 2030, with bridge rather than a tunnel, and far more northerly route. In February 2013, the Russian government announced plans to build the link, including it in the 2012–2015 federal transport plan. It would connect the Sakhalin Railway to 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 ...

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐɐˈmurʲə) is a city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur River in the Russian Far East. It is located ...

. The link, estimated at 21 billion rubles, would require about of new construction on the mainland, a bridge across the northernmost part of the Strait of Nevelskoy, and an additional of new track to connect the line to the existing network.

Potential connection to Hokkaido

There have also been proposals to connect the southern tip of Sakhalin to the Japanese island of

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

via a bridge or tunnel. This link would allow a direct land transport link for container traffic from Japan to the Asian mainland and Europe.

Rolling stock

File:RZD RA3-024 2022-08 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk 2.jpg, File:Poljakowo.jpg, File:РЖД ТГ16-073 2020-16 Победино 3.jpg, File:РЖД ТГМ7-027 2016-06.jpg, File:РЖД ТГ16М-001 2016-06 Чехов-Сахалинский на Капской колее.jpg,

References

External links

Russian Railways Official Site
(Russian language)
Sakhalin Railway Official Site
(Russian language)
Photo - project «Steam Engine»
(Russian language)

(Russian language) {{Russian Railways Sakhalin Rail transport in the Russian Far East Railway lines in Russia History of rail transport in Japan 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Russia 1520 mm gauge railways in Russia