Russia’s transport system overextends itself – RF Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov

Russia’s transport system needs high quality development as it overextends itself in terms of capacity, RF Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said at the plenary session of the Economic Forum in Krasnoyarsk.

According to him, investments into the industry are as high as almost RUB 2 trillion (per year – Ed.). However, this has little force amid the GDP. In Russia, investments in this sphere account for slightly more than one percent of GDP while in China and in Europe they are several times as much. 

The Minister emphasized that this share should be increased to 2.5% by 2024 and to 3.5% by 2035. That will let increase the export potential of Transsib and BAM. Besides, the federal programmes are aimed at reduction of minimum time needed for container trains to run from the western borders of Russia to its eastern borders to one week.

Maxim Sokolov also emphasized the significance of the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the development of the railway and port infrastructure having mentioned the project on debottlenecking of the Mezhdurechinsk-Taishet branch. The Krasnoyarsk Territory also plays a central role in increasing the potential of the Northern Sea Route. According to the official, annual cargo traffic on the Northern Sea Route is supposed to increase to 80 million tonnes in the nearest years (as of today, it is as high as 10 million tonnes).