OREANDA-NEWS. November 10, 2009. In Khabarovsk, a ceremony was held to mark the completion of the second stage of the railway bridge across River Amur, reported the press-centre of Russian Railways.

In his speech,  Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways, said: "It is very important that we are, so to speak, filling in the gaps  at the last place on the Trans-Siberian Railway where we were having difficulties with through freight traffic. We have now increased the bridge’s capacity from 95 pairs of trains to 153, and this will change radically the way the Trans-Siberian operates."

At over 6 billion roubles, the bridge was very expensive to build, but the cost was justified in so far as the Trans-Siberian is the main artery linking Russia and the new structure will make for greater transit services in the future. "Despite the difficult financial and economic circumstances, the builders were able to complete the job on time and up to the high quality standards we expect," said Vladimir Yakunin.