OREANDA-NEWS. November 20, 2014. A ceremony was held in Primorsky Krai in Russia's Far East to mark the commissioning the old Kiparisovsky tunnel, one of the major infrastructure projects on the Trans-Siberian Main Line on Far Eastern Railways.

The ceremony was attended by Michael Zaichenko, head of Far Eastern Railways, and by other executives from contractors, as well as by builders and railway employees.

During the course of a year, a continuous welded rail was laid, the approaches to the tunnel were modernised , drainage systems replaced and waterproofing and drainage, the contact network, power supply systems, signalling and communications installed.

During the reconstruction, the old Kiparisovsky tunnel was converted from a two-track to a single-track line. It is therefore now comparable to the new Kiparisovsky tunnel built in 2000 and will provide for the safe and secure passage of trains at a maximum set speeds without any restrictions on train size.

All the work was carried out in the framework of the project "Reconstruction of the Kiparisovsky Railway Tunnel at the 9,236th-kilometre on the section between Ussuriisk - Vladivostok on Far Eastern Railways."

"Thanks to the highly efficient and quality work of the construction company and construction and railway workers, we have been able to commission the Kiparisovsky Railway Tunnel two months ahead of schedule," said Mikhail Zaichenko when addressing the ceremony. "Today," he continued, "freight traffic to the coastal ports has increased significantly and continues to increase. The opening of the Kiparisovsky Tunnel means the carrying capacity of the railway section between Ussuriisk - Vladivostok has increased 1.5 times."

During the event, the best construction workers on the tunnel received awards for conscientious and high quality work.

The ceremony ended with the presentation of the tunnel's symbolic key to Far Eastern Railways' head Mikhail Zaichenko followed by the departure of the first freight train through the modernised tunnel.

Kiparisovsky Tunnel was originally built between 1914-1916 and consisted of a double-track before its reconstruction. The tunnel's length is 944.63 m.