Agency, companies sign concession on Northern Latitudinal Railway

SOCHI, Oct 3 (PRIME) -- The Federal Railroad Agency has signed a concession agreement to build the Northern Latitudinal Railway with several companies, including Russian Railways and gas giant Gazprom, the Transport Ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The length of the Northern Latitudinal Railway will reach 2,353 kilometers including approaches to railroads, and investment only in the railroad part of the project may reach 236.7 billion rubles.

The project’s structure implies Russian Railways, Gazprom, and the government of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District financing facilities of their existing infrastructure, while new facilities will be financed by private investors and state support funds through the concession deal. Money of the federal budget accounts for about 5.4% of total financing.

The project will ensure an additional 23.9 million tonnes of cargo transportation per year by 2025.

The Northern Latitudinal Railway is to cut cargo transportation from the fields in Western Siberia to ports of the Baltic, White, Barents, and Kara seas by up to 1,000 kilometers and divert some excessive cargoes from the Trans-Siberian Railway. Major potential cargo senders of the new railway include Novatek, Geotransgaz, Novy Urengoi Gas Chemical Complex, Gazpromtrans, Rosneftegaz, and Rospan International.

(65.2221 rubles – U.S. $1)

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