RZD expects to attract nearly 300 bln rubles from NWF to finance stage 3 of Eastern Section Development

MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - Russian Railways expects to raise about 300 billion rubles from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) to finance stage 3 of the development of the network's Eastern Section, Andrei Makarov, RZD deputy general director for construction told reporters.

Today, stage 3 is divided into sub-stages, he said. Sub-stage 3.1. provides for the development of the Ulak to Vanino section, and an increase in the carrying capacity of the BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline) and Trans-Siberian Railway to 197 million tonnes by 2027, including for the export of additional coal from the Elga mine complex.

"This is purely a BAM-related project, which includes 84 sites that we have already started designing. Last year we received funding and started design work on these sites. In the first quarter of next year, we should receive approval from the State Expertise Department, and according to the original plans, we would have started doing preparatory work next year. But so far there are questions about the source of funding," Makarov said.

He noted that the Russian Railways investment program for 2023 did not provide funds for this, but that RZD plans to consider the investment program for 2024 soon. "Let's hope that the board of directors is ready to provide some funds for this," Makarov said.

"We are ready to start work and, in parallel with the completion of the second stage, we want to get going on the third," he said.

Sub-stage 3.2. involves increasing carrying capacity to 210 million tonnes and includes 45 sites. If we can start designing this sub-stage soon, then 210 million tonnes of capacity will be reached by 2030. "We made a proposal to start back-to-back design work, he said.

The fully-realized third stage assumes a carrying capacity of 255 million tonnes by 2032. "But this is tied to concessional loan initiatives," he said.

According to estimates made last year, the cost of sub-stage 3.1 would be approximately 450-460 billion rubles.

"So far we are designing sub-stage 3.1. using our own funds. Of course, the company has plans to apply for funding from the NWF," Makarov said, answering a question about plans to apply to the National Wealth Fund to finance the third stage of the Eastern Section. When the third stage and 197 million tonnes were being discussed, we immediately included it in the models and said it would cost about 300 billion rubles, expecting it would be financed from NWF funds. No decisions have been made yet. So, we are continuing our design work."

The cost of the stage 2 of the Eastern Section, which is now being implemented by Russian Railways, is estimated at about 1.1 trillion rubles. "This is what we have to spend by the end of 2025 in the current funding format in order to build and reconstruct 280 facilities as part of the second stage," he said, recalling that the result of the implementation of stage 2 will be a carrying capacity of 180 million tonnes in 2024.

In 2019, Russian Railways spent 40 billion rubles working on the Eastern Section. In 2020, it was 69 billion rubles, in 2021, 78 billion rubles, and in 2022, 138 billion rubles. In 2023, the plan is for 250 billion rubles and about 400 billion rubles in 2024, Makarov said.

As reported, traffic on the Eastern Section reached 148.8 million tonnes in 2022, with a carrying capacity of 158 million tonnes. At the end of 2023, Russian Railways plans to transport over 160 million tonnes through the Eastern Section, and increase carrying capacity to 173 million tonnes.

Ra ak

(Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@in