Трансполярная магистраль в освоении северо-западной части Западной Сибири (к 75-летию с начала строительства)

Abstract

The article is based on the materials identified in seven collections of archives of Tyumen Oblast, the use of a number of published documents, the memoirs of the prospector Aleksandr Pobozhiy. The aim of the work is to show the extremely important significance of the Transpolar Railway in various areas of territory development. In connection with this aim, the main research attention is focused on the influence of the railway, which had different names in different periods of time (Vorkuta-Salekhard, Polar Railway, Chum-Salekhard-Igarka), on the economic development of the region. The influence was manifested both during the construction period and after its completion. The author used historical genetic and historical comparative research methods. The historical genetic method was used for the analysis of the causes of the phenomena that developed during the construction period, including the reasons for the termination of the railway's construction. The historical comparative method was used for the general analysis of the processes that developed in the north of Tyumen Oblast. These processes were considered in the context of the territory's economic development. The phenomena in the Arctic zones of the region in the conditions of modern and previous stages of development were compared. The author's main conclusions are the following. The Transpolar Railway entailed a large-scale scientific study of the vast territory of Yamalo-Nenets National Okrug, caused the development of railway, aviation, sea, river transport and transport communications with the center of the country; influenced the growth of the population and its qualitative characteristics. The built telephone and telegraph line provided stable communication with different regions of the country. Regarding the reasons for the termination of the construction of the road, the author came to the conclusion that they were related to the geological features of the section connecting the right and left wings of the railway - the Nadym-Pur-Taz interfluve. The features of this site led to the need for construction conservation. Due to the peculiar political processes in the country (the consequences of Stalin's death, Beria's execution, the liquidation of the GULAG system), the construction was transferred from the conservation stage to the completion stage. The launched study of the features of the territory of the Nadym-Pur-Taz interfluve prepared the main result of the design and survey work on the railway, which consisted in the transition to its geological study. The author also came to the conclusion that, without making it public, the road was used in the geological, gas, transport, urban development of the territory of Yamalo-Nenets Okrug.