Soviet railway project left unfinished

The Soviet transpolar mainline, a 1,300-kilometer railway project launched in 1949 through the Siberian tundra, was never completed. The port it was intended to supply never welcomed a single ship, and tens of thousands of prisoners from the Goulag lost their lives laying tracks that would lead nowhere.

Construction under extreme conditions

The project began under Stalin and involved up to 100,000 Goulag prisoners working under extreme conditions, with temperatures dropping to -50°C. Only 698 kilometers of track out of the 1,300 planned were completed before the project was abruptly halted upon Stalin's death in 1953.

Challenges of permafrost and rivers

The permafrost and the absence of bridges over the Ob and Yenisei prevented its completion. A 350-kilometer section remained in operation until 1990, but the project remains unfunded today. A new railway project exists, but it lacks funding.

Original purpose of the railway

The project aimed to unblock Siberian resources by building a deep-water port on the mouth of the Ob at Salekhard. The idea was to allow nickel from Norilsk and other mining riches to transit to the rest of the country without relying on impractical roads in winter.

Shift in the project’s goal

The transpolar mainline was to connect Tchoum, Salekhard, Nadym, Novy Ourengoï, and Igarka, covering about 1,300 kilometers of tracks through forests, rivers, and marshes. However, the mouth of the Ob proved too shallow to accommodate large ships, leading to the collapse of the initial port project.

Construction efforts and technical issues

Construction began in the summer of 1949 under Colonel V. A. Barabanov. Two construction sites progressed in parallel: Camp 501 advanced east from Salekhard, while Camp 503 moved west from Igarka. The permafrost posed significant challenges, with the permafrost giving way under loads and temperature variations.

Project halted after Stalin's death

The death of Stalin in 1953 brought an abrupt end to the project. Only 698 kilometers of track had been completed out of the 1,300 initially planned. At least 11 locomotives and 60,000 tons of metal were abandoned on site.

Legacy and modern efforts

A section of about 350 kilometers, between Salekhard and Nadym, continued to be used from the 1950s until the 1980s. The line finally closed definitively in 1990, and the first 92 kilometers from Salekhard were dismantled. The telephone network installed along the corridor remained in service until 1976.

Efforts to document the past

The Czech NGO Gulag.online has undertaken to map the memory of this forgotten site, inventorying fifteen abandoned camps along the route. An expedition was carried out on the 503 sector from Igarka in August 2009, and a journey along the 350 kilometers between Nadym and Salekhard was undertaken in March 2011.

Funding remains an obstacle

Today, the idea of a railway link in this region has not completely disappeared, with a project for the Northern Latitudinal Mainline planning more than 700 kilometers of tracks between Salekhard and Nadym, this time with a bridge over the Ob. However, in October 2025, Russian Minister of Far East Development, Alexei Tchekounkov, announced that no funding was planned in the budget for the following three years.