Far East Railway
Russia is engaged in the upgrade of its Trans-Siberian railway and other Far East rail network infrastructure, a strategic move that Russia has taken to strengthen ties with China against the background of the latter's souring relations with the US and Australia. The regional economic impact and significance of an improved Far East railway network will be enormous. Thus, a reading of the reported plan to remodel Russia's rail network simply from a political perspective seems far-fetched and misleading.
For starters, increased transportation capacity as a result of upgraded Far East railway infrastructure will directly promote the economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia. Ever since the deterioration of the China-Australia relationship, Russia has been widely seen as a potential supplier replacing Australia when it comes to exporting resource products to China. But the shortage of rail transportation capacity makes it hard for this potential to be fully released.
If the reported upgrade of Far East rail infrastructure could help Russia export more coal and agricultural products to China, the Russian economy will certainly receive a boost and China will also see a remarkable progress in its supply-chain diversification push. Moreover, from the broader level of Eurasia connectivity, Russia's improved rail network construction will also have positive impact on the neighboring economies, conducive to enhancing the appeal and competitiveness of railway transportation across the Eurasian.
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing a sharp decline in air cargo capacity, soaring shipping rates and port congestion, many have turned their attention to rail freight transportation between Asia and Europe. It is against such a background that the New Eurasian Land Bridge, an important infrastructure program promoted by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has been playing a growing role in connecting Asia and Europe. In this sense, Russia's rail infrastructure network has also become increasingly important in terms of the Eurasian connectivity.
Russia's reported upgrade of the Far East rail network is welcomed and China also has the willingness to further unleash the market potential of the Eurasian freight routes under the BRI framework. Given the strategic significance of the Eurasian railway network to the regional economies, China and many countries along the routes have been trying their best to improve the transportation capacity of the New Eurasian Land Bridge so as to make these railways truly the economic arteries traversing the Eurasian continent.
For years, China has offered help to the China Europe freight trains to support the normal operation of the railway lines, and this input has paid off with the cross-border train gradually becoming a pillar for trade along the routes. In the first six months of this year, 7,323 freight trains ran between China and Europe, up 43 percent year-on-year. The number of single-month freight train runs exceeded 1,300 in June, setting a streak of more than 1,000 freight train runs for the past 14 consecutive months, according to China's National Reform and Development Commission.
In this sense, Russia's railway upgrade will likely promote its own economic development, facilitate China's diversification strategy, and boost the Eurasian trade.
The Far Eastern Railway passes through the territory of 6 constituent entities of the Federation - Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, Amur, Sakhalin and Jewish Autonomous Regions, and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Its service area also includes the Magadan Region, the Kamchatka Territory & and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - over 40% of the territory of Russia. The Far Eastern Railway consists of latitudinal highways: South - part of the Trans-Siberian direction and North - part of the former Baikal-Amur Mainline. Also in the composition of the road is the only island section of the railway in Russia - on about. Sakhalin.
The road, realizing the mission "Ensuring the efficiency of the transportation process with unconditional observance of safety in order to fulfill the tasks set by the state for the development of the Far East", occupies one of the leading places in the transportation of export-import cargo, the share of which is more than 30% of the total volume of transportation of export cargo in Russia, and over 25% of transit traffic of goods from other states. The transport position of the Far Eastern region with a direct railway access to the large seaports of the Pacific coast - Vanino, Nakhodka, Nakhodka-Vostochny, Vladivostok, Posiet, as well as to the land border crossings - Grodekovo-Suifunhe, Hasan-Tumangan, Kamyshovaya - Hunchun, which creates favorable conditions for internal and external transportation.
Khabarovsk-2, the largest junction sorting railway station in the east of Russia, has received a powerful development - new buildings of the locomotive and carriage depot, equipped with modern equipment, have been built here. Dispatchers from Khabarovsk manage transportation along the entire road from the Unified Dispatching Transportation Control Center.
Heavy trains weighing 6,300 tons are now moving to the shores of the Pacific Ocean without processing along the electrified main railway of the country - the Transsib. Now on the agenda is a larger-scale use of the Northern Latitudinal Railway of the Far Eastern Railway with the processing of foreign trade goods through the Vaninsko-Sovgavan transport hub, there are great opportunities for processing coal, timber, oil products, ore, as well as import transportation of alumina and containers. To realize all the possibilities, the Komsomolsk - Sovetskaya Gavan section is being reconstructed, where in 2012 the new Kuznetsovsky tunnel was commissioned. On Sakhalin, the island highway continues to be converted to the all-Russian network standard for 1520 mm gauge.
The Grodekovo-Suifenhe and Makhalino-Hunchun border crossings in the Primorsky Territory are of great importance for mutually beneficial cooperation between Russian and Chinese railway workers. Geographically, the road is divided into service regions: Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Komsomolsky, Tyndinsky, Sakhalinsky The Far Eastern Railway Administration is located in the city of Khabarovsk.
The Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge will play an important role in further enhancing economic and trade exchanges between the two countries. The 7,194-meter bridge connects the two neighbors across the Heilongjiang River, also known as the Amur River in Russia, linking the city of Tongjiang in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Nizhneleninskoye in Russia.
It has been reported that the bridge will be open to traffic this year and become fully operational in 2022. The opening of the bridge will make Tongjiang the fourth border crossing between China and Russia, as it will connect China's rail system with the railway network in Russia's Far East. It will shorten the rail trip between Heilongjiang and Moscow by 809 kilometers and save 10 hours, compared with the trip through the Suifenhe border crossing.
Iron ore will be the main product carried across the span. The bridge will also serve as an important channel for bilateral energy cooperation. China will have greater security when importing oil and gas from Russia, compared with other shipping options.
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