Editing Strait of Tartary (section)

==Transportation==
[[File:Vanino port.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Vanino, here in early May 2008, is an important port on the Strait of Tartary]] 
[[File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 e-9c.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Map including the Tatar Strait]]
Since 1973, [[Vanino-Kholmsk train ferry]] operates across the strait, connecting the port of [[Vanino, Khabarovsk Krai]] on the mainland with [[Kholmsk]] on Sakhalin Island.<ref>[http://www.ceebd.co.uk/ceebd/vcsp7.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611173525/http://www.ceebd.co.uk/ceebd/vcsp7.htm|date=June 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sasco.ru/Vanino-Kholmsk-i37 |script-title=ru:Линия Ванино-Холмск |title=Liniya Vanino-Kholmsk |trans-title=Vanino-Kholmsk line |language=ru |publisher=Sasco.ru |access-date=2012-12-01 |archive-date=2012-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227200309/http://www.sasco.ru/Vanino-Kholmsk-i37 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Looking at the map, one could think that the Strait of Tartary would provide a convenient connection for boats sailing from the [[Sea of Japan]] to the [[Sea of Okhotsk]], e.g. from [[Vanino, Khabarovsk Krai|Vanino]] to [[Magadan]]. However, according to the [[Sakhalin Shipping Company|SASCO]] that operates that shipping line, their ships rarely travel that way. The usual winter route from Vanino to Magadan is via [[Tsugaru Strait]], and around [[Hokkaido]]; the usual summer route, is via [[La Pérouse Strait]] and around [[Sakhalin]]. Only when coming back from Magadan to Vanino with a low load and in good weather would the ships travel along the shortest route, i.e., via the [[Amur Liman]], [[Nevelskoy Strait]], and the Strait of Tartary proper (which SASCO calls the "Strait of Sakhalin" – ''Sakhalinsky Proliv'').<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sasco.ru/Vanino-Magadan-i36 |script-title=ru:Линия Ванино-Магадан |title=Liniya Vanino-Magadan |trans-title=Vanino-Magadan line |language=ru |publisher=Sasco.ru |date=2012-11-15 |access-date=2012-12-01 |archive-date=2012-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227200318/http://www.sasco.ru/Vanino-Magadan-i36 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A [[Sakhalin Tunnel|tunnel]] under the strait, to provide a road and/or rail connection between Sakhalin and the mainland, was begun under [[Joseph Stalin]], but abandoned incomplete after his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sakhalin.ru/Region/tunnel/build_506.htm|title=СТРОИТЕЛЬСТВО № 506|website=www.sakhalin.ru}}</ref> Renewed calls for either a tunnel or a bridge have been made by politicians in recent years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=13428 |title=Plan for Tunnel to Sakhalin Unveiled |newspaper=[[St Petersburg Times]] |date=28 November 2000 |access-date=15 August 2012 |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605053316/http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=13428 |url-status=dead}}</ref>