OREANDA-NEWS. February 13, 2014. The Board of Directors of Russian Railways approved the establishment of a Directorate of Railway Development for Eastern Russia as a branch of the Company.

Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, made an announcement to that effect when speaking at a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council held in Moscow.

The new branch will take on the functions of a project office for coordinating the development of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian Main Lines.

A Programme for the Development of Railway Infrastructure in Eastern Russia has already been drawn up and provides for a project to implement measures during the first stage in the amount of 562 billion roubles, with Russian Railways investing 302 billion roubles and the state contributing 260 billion roubles.

The method of financing the project has been finalised and a technological and cost audit carried out. A timetable for implementing the design, research, construction and installation work is being drawn up.

Russian Railways is fulfilling all the work on the reconstruction and modernisation of the Trans-Siberian and Baikal-Amur Main Lines in strict accordance with the network plan and schedule as approved by the Russian Government.