The Treaty of Portsmouth following the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 placed the northern half of Sakhalin under the control of the Russian Empire, whilst the southern half was under control of Japan. On the Japanese half of the island, a railway was built from Korsakov to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, with a gauge of. This section was later converted to the normal Japanese railway gauge of. In 1911, a branch was built from Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to Starodubskoye. Between 1918 and 1921, the towns of Nevelsk, Kholmsk, Chekhov and Tomari were also connected to the network. The Japanese railway network consisted of the Western Karafuto Railway from Naihoro to Tomarioru, and the Eastern Karafuto Railways from Otomari to Koton until 1944. Its total length was over. After the Second World War, control of the whole of the island passed to the Soviet Union, including the island's complete rail network and rolling stock. Wagons from the Soviet railways were re-gauged for use on the island. The locomotive factory in Lyudinovo produced diesel locomotives of the models TG16 and TG21 specifically for use on the island's narrow gauge network. Additionally, trains were imported from Japan, such as the purpose-made A1 sets made by Hitachi Rail and Teikoku Sharyo, followed by the D2 sets made by Fuji Heavy Industries and ex-JNR KiHa 58 railcars, purchased second hand in the early 1990s. The Soviet era saw the network extended into the north of the island, with a total extent in 1992 of. By 2006, little-used sections such as Dachnoye-Aniva and Dolinsk-Starodubskoye had been closed, but the network still had a total length of. In 1992, the Sakhalin Railway was split from the Far Eastern Railway and made its own administrative entity. It reverted to being part of the Far Eastern Railway in 2010. In order to allow regular Russian trains to run on the island, the island's rail network underwent conversion to Russian broad gauge starting from 2003. Russian Railways formally completed the regauging work in August 2019.
Future prospects
Potential connection to the mainland
The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin planned to construct a tunnel between Sakhalin and the Russian mainland, which would have linked Sakhalin to the rest of the Soviet rail network. The project was begun using forced labour between 1950 and 1953, but was cancelled after Stalin's death. Since 1973, a train ferry has connected Vanino with the town of Kholmsk on Sakhalin. There have been some calls from politicians to revive the concept of building a bridge or tunnel between Sakhalin and the mainland, although there have been concerns that the costs of the project would outweigh the benefits. However, Russian PresidentDimitry Medvedev announced his support for the project in November 2008, suggesting the link could be completed by 2030. In February 2013, the Russian government announced plans to build this link, including it in the 2012-2015 federal transport plan. It would connect the Sakhalin Railway to the Baikal–Amur Mainline at Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The link, estimated at 21 billion Rubles, would require some of new construction on the mainland, a bridge across the Strait of Nevelskoy and an additional of new track to connect the line to the existing network.Once MainlandRussia gets connected to Sakhalin Island, the total length of Railway System will increase to approx.
There have also been proposals to connect the southern tip of Sakhalin to the Japanese island of Hokkaido via a bridge or tunnel. This link would allow a direct land transport link for container traffic from Japan to the Asian mainland and Europe.
