Rail renovation behind schedule

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 17 Jul 2019 by Alex Teddy
On July 16 the vice minister of Russian Railroads Maksim Akimov told a private meeting that stage one of upgrading the Trans-Siberian Railroad will not be completed on time. It was supposed to be finished by 2020. Construction is particularly problematic around Lake Baikal and the Amur River. Akimov did not estimate how long the delay will be which in itself hints that it will be significant. The project was originally supposed to be finished by 2017! The aim was to double freight carrying capacity to 123.9 million tons. The national projects announced in 2018 raised the bar even higher to 180 million tons by 2024. This ludicrously ambitious given that the earlier target still has not been achieved. Russia needs to modernize rail there to connect to ports on the Pacific Coast with the rest of Siberia. It is imperative that industry be able to export goods efficiently via this route. Coal is an especially important export to China. The government wishes to build up Chelyabinsk as an industrial hub. However, this is contingent on superb rail links with China which is Russia's main market. Russia also wishes to be a Eurasian rail route enabling China to export goods to the EU via Russia. However, Russian Railroads cannot take more freight traffic at present. The scheme requires upgrading 5 000 km of line as well as building bypasses, building switches and improving signals. At least USD 3.9 billion was spent on the project by the end of 2018 with a further USD 2.9 billion pledged for 2019-2020. The project is not a disaster by any means. Significant improvements have been made, it is just that they are seriously behind schedule.

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