The tunnel around Baikal: why ten years after its construction it was demolished

  • Oct 26, 2021
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The tunnel around Baikal: why ten years after its construction it was demolished

Often, it is the national history of the Soviet period that is associated with grandiose projects, including construction projects. However, in pre-revolutionary times, large-scale ideas were also brought to life. So, at the beginning of the last century, the Circular Baikal Railway was built, which was a whole chain of bridges and tunnels. Only among the latter, the story of one of them, the ninth, was short-lived: a little more than a decade after its construction, it was dismantled.

You can still ride the Kruglobaikalskaya railway today. / Photo: livejournal.com
You can still ride the Kruglobaikalskaya railway today. / Photo: livejournal.com
You can still ride the Kruglobaikalskaya railway today. / Photo: livejournal.com

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a grandiose construction began on the Baikal coast: since 1902, the Circum-Baikal railway was built here. Its importance was that it was the last segment of the Great Siberian Route, which united the eastern and western regions of the Russian Empire. Today this route is known as the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Map of a grandiose logistics project in pre-revolutionary Russia. / Photo: pugachev-studio.ru
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Map of a grandiose logistics project in pre-revolutionary Russia. / Photo: pugachev-studio.ru

The planned section of the route was very difficult in terms of construction, for example, on the section from the port of Baikal to the village of Kultuk, the length of which is only 84 kilometers, a total of 40 tunnels, 16 detached galleries, about 400 bridges and retaining walls of various destination.

A map of the Circum-Baikal railway itself of the model of 1906 has also been preserved. / Photo: nemiga.info
A map of the Circum-Baikal railway itself of the model of 1906 has also been preserved. / Photo: nemiga.info

Technologically speaking, the work was also very difficult, especially considering that it was carried out more than a hundred years ago. And all because the builders had to lay a railway track not just along the narrow edge of the earth along the shore of Lake Baikal, but often through sheer cliffs. It was not an easy task to build bridges with tracks in such difficult conditions. Therefore, the builders had to make incredible efforts, and the entire construction period, divided into two stages, took a total of thirteen years.

Building a railroad under such conditions is not an easy task. / Photo: nemiga.info, Circum-Baikal-railway-road.rf
Building a railroad under such conditions is not an easy task. / Photo: nemiga.info, Circum-Baikal-railway-road.rf

But history has preserved information that not all elements of the original system of tunnels and bridges that were built for the laying of the railway line in the period from 1902 to 1905 - that is, in the first stage of construction - some time later there were dismantled. For example, this was the case for several bridges and retaining walls. However, there was also one tunnel in this list, which is mentioned in the documents as number 9.

Abandoned retaining wall, modern look. / Photo: fishki.net
Abandoned retaining wall, modern look. / Photo: fishki.net

Tunnel No. 9 was located at the 95th kilometer of the Circum-Baikal Railway near the Mokraya valley. Its construction took place in 1904. Sources retained information that he was a kind of record holder, as he was the shortest tunnel on the Circum-Baikal Railway: according to Novate.ru, its length was only 14 meters.

Even the construction of a short tunnel in the rock a hundred years ago is hard work. / Photo: baikaltrain.ru
Even the construction of a short tunnel in the rock a hundred years ago is hard work. / Photo: baikaltrain.ru

True, the history of this tunnel is only a few years old: already in the 1910s it was dismantled, which, according to according to some sources, made it the only tunnel that has not survived to our days. The reason for this decision was the change in the final route along which the railway was laid.

The construction plan for the second phase has been changed. / Photo: livejournal.com
The construction plan for the second phase has been changed. / Photo: livejournal.com

The thing is that at the second stage of the construction of the Circum-Baikal Railway - that is, in the period from 1911 to 1915 - mistakes made in the first period were taken into account: for example, in order to minimize the danger of a collapse and their consequences, if it does happen, then a number of sections of the future railway, if possible, tried to lay as close as possible to Baikal.

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During the second stage of construction, another tunnel received No. 9 and served until 1971, when it was partially destroyed by a mudflow. / Photo: wikipedia.org
During the second stage of construction, another tunnel received No. 9 and served until 1971, when it was partially destroyed by a mudflow. / Photo: wikipedia.org

Thus, some structures were simply unnecessary. However, they also decided to adapt them for new construction: they were dismantled for further use of the materials from which they were previously erected. That is why most of the "morally obsolete" structures, including tunnel No. 9, have left almost no traces behind them to this day.

Do you want to know more about modern domestic megastructures? Then read:
Highways and a bridge across the Volga: 8 large-scale construction projects in Russia
A source:
https://novate.ru/blogs/160521/59020/

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