RZD expands capacity of the Baikal-Amur Mainline haul to the Strait of Tartary ports

The double-track section is located on the Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Vanino line

Russian Railways (RZD) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony opening traffic on the second track on the Gurskoye - Pochepta railway haul in the Khabarovsk Krai. It is located on the Komsomolsk-on-Amur - Vanino line used for freight delivery to the ports of the Strait of Tartary, the state-owned rail operator said on its Telegram Messenger channel.

The scope of work to create new infrastructure included building a 9-km track with 6 railroad swithes, and 127,000 cbm used for roadbed and installation of 153 km of various cable lines.

“In order to double the railway throughput capacity up to 82 million tonnes of the Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Vanino line, we need to build second tracks and double-track sections on the 31st station-to-station haul by the beginning of 2025. Work on nine of them has already been completed,” RZD said.

IAA PortNews has earlier reported that the rehabilitation of the Eastern operating domain is being carried out on behalf of the country's President Vladimir Putin. The capacity of the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways (BAM and TransSib) should increase by 1.5 times up to 180 million tonnes per year by 2024.

East bound rail freight transport is expected to reach at least 219 million tonnes per year by 2030, taking into account the Ministry of Eastern Development outlook.

The Baikal-Amur Mainline is the 4234km long railway running through Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. The BAM is almost 500 km shorter than the Trans-Siberian Railway on the section from Taishet to the Port of Vanino.