OREANDA-NEWS. On April 04, 2008 Southern Ural Railways, a regional division of Russian Railways, already provided considerable transport services for the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMC), reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

In 2007, however, the proportion of ferrous metals from MMC carried by Southern Ural Railways rose from 50% to 70% of the total.

Southern Ural Railways and MMC are jointly developing infrastructure to handle the increasing volume of freight each year. Thus, for the reconstruction of the station Magnitogorsk-Cargo in 2008, Southern Ural Railways will invest more than 70 million roubles.

The project will be completed by 2009. Total investment by Southern Ural Railways in reconstruction will amount to 182 million roubles. The volume of shipments from MMC is expected to continue increasing due to the commissioning of a new rolling mill with a capacity of approximately 1.5 million tons a year in the second half of 2009.

MMC is one of the three largest steel producers in the Russian Federation and is a major supplier of products to Russian Railways.