“Today we are attending a very important event for the Far East, the commissioning of the Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge crossing, its Russian part. We have already notified our Chinese colleagues that the Russian part of the bridge is complete. We will be preparing for the general handover of the bridge in the near future. On the Chinese side, a disinfection facility is being built now, and then we will be opening the whole bridge. The opening of the bridge crossing is not a single event; it is part of the Russian Government’s major efforts to develop transport corridors to the east. Today, Russia is turning to the East. Developing economic ties with China and other Asia-Pacific countries allows us to create a basis for stability and peace in this region, which is very important right now,” said Yury Trutnev.

An infrastructure project of international significance is being implemented on the territory of the Jewish Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province under an intergovernmental agreement between the Russian Federation and the PRC. The new crossing is for export cargo (coal, iron ore, timber, containers and other nomenclature).

Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Xi Jinping, Chinese President, outlined the project as one element of a new system of partnership and strategic interaction between the two countries.

The structures of the bridge, which is over 2.2 km long, are completed, including 309 on the Russian side. The total length of the constructed facility on the Russian side is 5,272 metres and the total length of the railways laid is 24,145 metres. The construction of the railway infrastructure was completed. In particular, Leninsk station was reconstructed and Mikhailo-Semenovskaya station (Leninsk-2) was built. The railway cargo-passenger permanent multilateral entry point Nizhneleninskoye has been opened. More than 850 people and 215 units of equipment were involved in the construction process.

“I would like to thank the builders. The bridge was indeed built under very difficult conditions. And now the bridge has been built. I would also like to say ‘thank you’ to all those who contributed to the construction of the bridge crossing. I would like to say that there is still a lot of work to be done in the Far East, so I hope that we still have a lot to put into operation: bridges, projects, companies working here,” Yury Trutnev noted.

The bridge is designed to allow alternating trains to pass over the railway track with two track gauges: 1,520 mm wide for Russian rolling stock and 1,435 mm wide for Chinese rolling stock. “The bridge linking Russia and China will change the economy of the entire Far East, giving a new, additional impetus to the development of Russian-Chinese cooperation. The cross-border railway crossing will ensure fast and reliable export-import deliveries of all kinds of cargo, from consumer goods to raw materials - which is especially important in the context of sanctions restrictions. Today, this is no longer just a commercial project, but an international one, reinforcing the priority eastern vector in the development of the Russian economy,” said Alexei Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic:

The capacity of the railway crossing will be 5.2 million tons of export cargo per year in the first phase, with the prospect of expansion to 20 million tons. “By order of the President of the Russian Federation, work is underway to expand the eastern range of the railways, which will multiply the carrying capacity of the BAM and Trans-Siberian Railway and allow more cargoes to be carried eastwards,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

The project is implemented by the Russian Direct Investment Fund through the Russian-Chinese Fund (CIC) (56.25% stake in the project company), JSC Russian Railways (25%) and VEB.DV (18.75%). The construction contractor is the Bamtonnelstroy-Most Group of Companies.

“Construction of the Russian part of the cross-border bridge in the most difficult natural and climatic conditions was a real challenge for the Bamtonnelstroy-Most Group of Companies, which our specialists coped with perfectly well thanks to their professionalism and the use of non-standard engineering solutions. As a result, we have gained invaluable experience in building a unique infrastructure facility that will serve the people of Russia and China for many years to come,” said Alexander Popov, General Director of JSC Bamtonnelstroy-Most.