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Alberto Caspani
More than 60 years ago, inside the Arctic Circle, construction began of a railroad that was to become of the grandest projects of the Soviet Union. It was intended to be a trans-Polar route to connect the town of Salekhard and the future port of Igarka on the Yenisei River.
Alberto Caspani
Construction began in 1947 as a result of the need to develop the rich minerals of Russia's Far North and to facilitate their transportation abroad.
Alberto Caspani
The government spared neither money nor labor on the railroad: around 100,000 prisoners were dispatched to the region.
Alberto Caspani
Yet the mortality rate of the prisoners here was not one of the highest — 2.2% of all arrivals in the period 1947-1953.
Alberto Caspani
Need it be said that the work was hard. At times, whole truckloads of sand were swallowed up by the swamp, and unexpected flash floods would spoil the work in progress. Only the persistence and utter self-sacrifice of the workers kept the project moving.
Alberto Caspani
Despite the horrendous environment, the pace of construction picked up. By 1957, 800 km of the planned 1500 km of road bed was laid.
Alberto Caspani
The work was mostly carried out using pre-revolutionary locomotives, which lacked power. Eleven built in 1904-1907 were on hand, plus around 80 railcars.
Alberto Caspani
But construction of the railroad had to be terminated prematurely. In 1953, two weeks after the death of Stalin, the government took the decision to abandon the now hopeless project. This northern line turned into the "dead road."
Alberto Caspani
Overturned locomotives, decaying barracks housing the ghosts of thousands of inmates, washed out embankments — today this Stalinist road looks like something out of a horror film.
Alberto Caspani
Unique and interesting, the route is not well-trodden. The place is wild and god-forsaken, nature in its primordial form. The rivers teem with fish, and the forests are full of wild animals, berries, and mushrooms.
