The Salekhard-Igarka Railway, Siberia, Russia

As the project progressed, it became clear that there was actually little demand for this railway. In 1952 officials permitted a reduced tempo of work on the project. Construction was stopped in 1953 after Stalin's death. A total of 434 miles (699 km) of railway were completed at an official cost of 260 million rubles, later estimated to be near 42 billion 1953 rubles (2.5% of total Soviet capital investment at the time, or about $10 billion in 1950 dollars). The project was quickly destroyed by frost heaves and structural failures arising from underconstruction. At least 11 locomotives and 60,000 tons of metal were abandoned, and bridges have decayed or burned down. However, the corridor's telephone network remained in service until 1976.