vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #595 / Business / Reading article...

13.7 trillion rubles ($560 billion) will be invested in the construction of new railways in four Russian regions through the year 2030, though two of the remotest Far Eastern territories – Chukotka and Kamchatka – will remain unreachable by train.

Strategy-2030, which reveals plans for the development of railway transportation in Russia, was presented at a Railway Cogress which took place in the end of October in Moscow

The two-day meeting, which gathered more than 4,000 participants, was headed by President of Russian Railways Company Vladimir Yakunin.

According to Yakunin, most of the construction is planned for the Eastern regions of Russia.

Six Russian regions – Altai Republic and Tyva Republic, Nenetsky Autonomous Region, Magadan, Chukotka and Kamchatka – do not have railroads. The last three are part of to the Russian Far East. However, according to the strategy, the rails will appear only in the Altai and Tyva Republics, the Nenetsky Autonomous Region and Magadan. Kamchatka and Chukotka will not see rails before 2030.

According to Strategy-2030, one fifth of the 13.7 trillion ruble investment will come from the federal budget. 5 percent will be given by the regions which will benefit from the project and 75 percent will be provided through private investment, of which Russian Railways Company plans to invest 42 percent.

The construction of new railroads will boost development in Siberia and the Far East of Russia and provide access to mineral resource sites, Yakunin said.

According to Yakunin, at the meeting the participants talked not only about the development of railways and railway transportation in Russia, but also about the creation of a railway infrastructure for the social and economic development of the country and about raising citizens’ standard of living.

Strategy-2030 is divided into two rail transport development stages with the first one scheduled to run between 2008 and 2015. It is planned remove all existing bottlenecks and ensure that the railways can meet the growing demand for cargo and passenger transportation, a press statement placed on the Russian railways official website said.
According to the statement, the implementation of the second stage from 2016 to 2030 envisages an increase in Russia’s transport security from an expansion of the rail network and will stimulate economic growth in new areas.
In case Russia fulfils the maximum version of the Strategy, it will build more than 20,000 kilometers of new lines by 2030 and purchase over 23,000 new locomotives, nearly 1 million freight rail cars, about 30,000 passenger coaches and over 24,000 suburban trains to handle the growing volumes of transportation. Freight traffic will increase by 70 percent and passenger turnover by 30 percent, the statement reported.


An English version of the press statement can be viewed at
http://www.eng.rzd.ru/news.html?action=news&nav_id=15&ti_id=2570