PRESS: Russian Railways needs 261 bln rbl to relieve BAM bottleneck

MOSCOW, Nov 26 (PRIME) -- Russian Railways needs 261 billion rubles to build the second Severomuisky tunnel in order to unload a major bottleneck in the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM), business daily Kommersant reported on Monday, citing a technical feasibility study.

The first, 15-kilometer Severomuisky tunnel was built for 25 years and launched in 2003, the capacity is 16 pairs of trains. Before, trains made a dangerous bypass. Construction of a second tunnel can take at least 10 years, and a technical feasibility study envisages capacity extension by 34 pairs of trains per day.

The project can get a private investor, the newspaper reported.

(65.6664 rubles – U.S. $1)

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