Mertvaya Doroga – a railroad as the backbone of Soviet defence in the Arctic, 1943–54

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Mildenberger, Florian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2001
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Salekhard; Nadym; Amderma; Igarka; Polar Record; Vorkuta; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400026747; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400026747

Abstract During World War II, the threat of a German invasion along the north coast of Siberia led to the Soviet High Command developing a plan to build a railroad through the Urals to the port of Salekhard and beyond. Following the War, these plans were reworked to defend against the threat of American aggression. The ‘Mertvaya Doroga’ or great Stalin railroad or polarmagistral was intended to run from Chum, a small station on the Vorkuta railway, through the northern Urals to Salekhard and from there through Nadym to Igarka and Noril'sk. A second railway was to go from Vorkuta to the port of Amderma, while a third included a great net of railroads around Arkhangel'sk. Slave labour was used to construct these railroads, but despite massive programmes run by the Soviet secret police, the railroads were never completed or efficiently constructed. The death of Stalin in 1953 signaled the end of the construction of the Arctic railroads.