OREANDA-NEWS. On September 11, 2008 Vladimir Yakunin, the President of Russian Railways, gave a talk on “The Role of Siberia and the Far East in Global Development” at the plenary session of the V Baikal Economic Forum, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

In his statement, the Company’s President also outlined the main sections of Russia’s “Strategy for the Development of Rail Transport until 2030,” which has a direct bearing on the development of regions in Siberia and the Far East.

He said that around 1.25 billion roubles had been spent on investment projects in the Siberian Federal District under the Strategy and 1.59 billion roubles in Russia’s Far East. These two regions are promising in terms of the development of new mineral deposits and of the East - West International Transport Corridor, which utilises the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The Strategy provides for the construction of strategic lines in Russia’s Far East Federal District, such as Tommot - Kerdem - Yakutsk, Selikhin - Sergeevka, Sukpay - Samarga, the line to Magadan and the socially important lines Tygda - Zeya, Selikhin - Nysh and Pravaya Lena - Yakutsk.

With regard to freight lines lines, Vladimir Yakunin stressed the branch lines to the Garinsk iron deposit and to the Kangalassky and Elgin coal deposits. In addition, a suburban high-speed line will be built between Ussuriysk and Vladivostok and a long-distance high-speed line between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. As a result, the density of the railway network in the Far East will increase by 84%.

In Siberia, it is planned to increase the density of the rail network by 39%. In particular, the construction of a number freight lines is planned in order to facilitate the development of natural resources in the region: Kyzyl - Kuragino, Chadobets - Koda and Chara - Apsatskaya, as well as laying the socially important line between Biysk and Gorno-Altaisk.

Also planned in Siberia is the construction of alternative trunk lines around the Chita, Irkuts and, Novosibirsk railway hubs and the development of stations on the Trans-Siberian, especially Altai and Taishet Stations.

In addition, high-speed lines in Siberia will be built between the cities of Omsk, Tomsk, Kemerovo, Barnaul, Novokuznetsk.