RZD might build 140-bln-ruble detour around mountain pass on Trans-Siberian Railway in future
IRKUTSK. Oct 16 (Interfax) - Investments in a potential project to construct a detour around the mountain pass of the Bolshoi Lug - Slyudyanka (Irkutsk region) section of the Trans-Siberian Railway are estimated at 140 billion rubles, Director of the East Siberian Railway (a branch of OJSC Russian Railways (RZD)) Vasily Frolov said at a press conference on Tuesday.
This project will serve to minimize operating costs by changing the organization of how the 87-kilometer-long section works. At present, technology is used to push trains up the mountain with the use of extra locomotives, Frolov said.
"This will mean organizing a detour along the bed of the Irkut River. It would be a 110-km-long detour in order to circumvent this section of mountain pass. The estimated amount of investment is 140 billion rubles. Of course, right now it's very difficult to find such funds, and I won't say that we will start implementing this project today or the day after tomorrow, but we won't drop it from our accounts," he said.
The East Siberian Railway might return to the idea of this detour during discussions about expanding the Trans-Siberian Railway, certain sections of which have already exhausted their throughput capacity, he said.
"This [construction of a detour] is a prospect," Frolov said.
The East Siberian Railway was planning to make a decision on whether to prepare design documentation for the construction of a detour on the complicated Bolshoi Lug - Slyudyanka portion of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the first half of this year. Anatoly Krasnoshchek, the East Siberian Railway's former director, said that there are three options for implementing this project: the first is with a 20-year return on investment, the second - 18 years, and the third - 12 years.
The East Siberian Railway passes through the Irkutsk region, the Transbaikal territory and the republics of Buryatia and Yakutia.
