A possibility is being considered for building a branch line towards port Sabetta from Belkomur project, IAA PortNews journalist cites Komi Republic Governor Vyacheslav Gaizer, as saying at the III International Forum «Arctic: present and future» being held in Saint-Petersburg.
According to him, the project can be implemented as early as by 2019-20. The implementation is to commence in 2014-15.
The Governor says Belkomur is a self-financing project supported at all levels of the government.
The Belkomur project is included into Russia’s Transport Strategy through 2030 and the Strategy for the development of the North West federal district. It implies the construction of a 1,155-km long trunk railway Arkhangelsk– Syktyvkar-Perm linking Urals with ice-free ports of Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and the North Europe. In the future the new line will ensure the shortest way to the North Europe, Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia providing adequate conditions for cargo transit via Russia.
The line will include 715 kilometers of newly built railway with the reconstructed and reinforced railway accounting for the rest of the line. Belkomur consists of 2 sectors: the northern one across the Arkhangelsk region and Komi, and the southern one – from Syktyvkar across Komi and Perm region.
The project is being implemented by JSC Interregional Company Belkomur encorporated by the governments of the Republic of Komi, Arkhangelsk and Perm regions and the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, RF Transport Ministry recommended that the project should be specifically focused on the Murmansk region.