It is the 80th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Bessolov. We remember how the Moscow Metrostroy became the beginning of the path to great victories for an outstanding builder.
Vladimir Aslan-Bekovich Bessolov was born on May 28, 1939 in the village of Bolokhovo, Tula Region. He received the profession of a mining engineer at the Moscow Mining Institute. Came to Mosmetrostroy by assignment at the age of 22.
Bessolov followed in the footsteps of his parents. His father led the mining of brown coal in the mines of the Moscow coal basin. Mother worked at the Sokolniki construction department of the Tula region as an engineer.
The Bessolov family is the only one in Ossetia, where both father and son became Heroes of Socialist Labor. A street in the city of Klimovsk, Tula region, was named in honor of Aslan-Bek Bessolov and a memorial bust was erected.
Bessolov dedicated 15 years of his life to the tunnels and stations of the Moscow metro. He started as a shift supervisor in a caisson at Kaluzhskaya. In 1967, he was appointed to lead the construction site of Kashirskaya. Four years later he became the chief engineer of SMU-3.
Bessolov was also the author of a number of breakthrough engineering solutions and developments that are used in tunnel construction to this day. It was he who was the first to use a square shield in the construction of railway tracks using the open method, supervised the excavation under an existing railway without stopping trains, and was the first in the USSR to construct tunnels using the puncture method. In 1971, he received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his success in fulfilling the Five-Year Plan tasks for transport construction.
Comrades remember Bessolov as a true professional and a fair leader.
– A rare phenomenon: it would seem that people are summoned to see Bessolov, the boss, “on the carpet,” but they go to him willingly—an opportunity to resolve some issues with an intelligent boss, who is also approachable and not a stranger to humor,” wrote friend and colleague, SMU-3 veteran Sergei Preobrazhensky.
Having mastered construction of the capital's metro, the talented engineer was transferred to the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) in 1976. First as chief engineer, and since 1980 as head of the Bamtonnelstroy Construction Department, he organizes the construction of the Baikal, Kodar, Nagorny, Severomuysky, four Mysovy and two bypass (on the Severomuysky ridge) tunnels.
Severomuysky tunnel named after V.A. Bessolova is located in the Republic of Buryatia on the BAM. This is the longest railway tunnel in Russia. Its length is 14,343 meters. It got its name from the North-Muys-Kom ridge through which it passes. Construction took 26 years, with interruptions from 1977 to March 30, 2001. At different times, six tunnel teams numbering over 8,000 people worked here. The service life is designed for 100 years.
Here Bessolov faced new challenges. Old methods and conventional techniques did not produce results when building in solid rocks with waterlogged areas, where hydrostatic pressure sometimes reached 55 atmospheres. We mastered the most advanced technology in the world and new methods of excavation, conquered complex geology in difficult climatic conditions.
Thanks to Bessolov, many young activists were able to contribute to the construction of BAM. He changed the requirements for personnel selection, deciding to hire not only metro workers and miners, as was customary, but also newcomers, training them from scratch.
The team during his work increased from 500 to 7000 people. On Bessolov’s initiative, they created the training center of the US “Bamtonnelstroy”, and later a branch of the Moscow Technical School. More than ten thousand people were able to acquire a profession without leaving the workplace.
– Getting into Bessolov’s team, receiving the status of his student is a lifelong certificate of professionalism, no more “crusts” or honorary diplomas were needed,” noted journalist Vladimir Medvedev, who worked at BAM, in his essay “Man and the Tunnel.”
It was under the leadership of Vladimir Aslan-Bekovich, most of the Severomuisky tunnel, the most complex in engineering and geological terms, was built. In June 2012, the object was named after V. A. Bessolov.
In 1990, Bessolov headed the Glavtonnelmetrostroy. With his participation, such complex engineering projects as the Vnukovo Airport underground railway station and the Lefortovo tunnel were built. Participated in the construction of the Moscow Ring Road and the Third Transport Ring, the synchrophasotron in Protvino, as well as the Meghradzor tunnel in Armenia.