Russian Railways says that traffic on the new bridge across the Volga-Don Canal near Volgograd has been kicked off by Oleg Belozerov, General Director – Chairman of the Management Board, Russian Railways, through a video conference also involving RF Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev and Volgograd Region Governor Andrey Bocharov. “We are opening the section of railways which will certainly play the key role in ensuring reliable and safe transportation of passengers and cargoes between the Volga region and the South of Russia”, said Oleg Belozerov. "A lot has been done to improve approaches to the ports of the Azov-Black Sea basin, that are of strategic importance for the country. I am sure that in the future, railway transport workers will effectively solve the tasks facing the industry within the established deadlines", emphasized Vitaly Savelyev. The 155-meter railway bridge across the Volga-Don Canal is located in the Svetloyarsky District of the Volgograd Region. Its opening lets increase the capacity of this section five times to 154 pairs of trains per day with a speed of up to 90 km/h. A unique technology involved for construction of the bridge allowed to decrease the construction time by almost a halve. The works began in 2020 as part of the comprehensive reconstruction of the Maxim Gorky − Kotelnikovo – Tikhoretskaya – Krymskaya section of the railway.