OREANDA-NEWS. March 24, 2010. A meeting was held on 23 March in Moscow at the Russian Railways central office on developing the Baikalo-Amurskaya line, and increasing its carrying and throughput capacity. The meeting was attended by representatives of regional authorities, Russian Railways, and relevant ministries and departments, as well as members of the State Duma and the business community.

In his address to the meeting, Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin said: "Developing the Baikalo-Amurskaya line is one of Russian Railways’ priorities. The company has been actively promoting this theme for a long time on the government level and in the business community, and our initiatives are supported by lawmakers. Specific and progressive measures are needed to develop both the route itself, and the adjacent territory. Whereas in the 1990s the problem facing the Baikalo-Amurskaya line was under-use, the route is now frequently becoming a bottleneck for rail freight."

He said the volume of cargo transported on the Baikalo-Amurskaya line could rise to 100 million tons per year by 2050. Additional railway infrastructure will be needed to accommodate such a volume of freight.

"It is important to note that this region, due to its geography, terrain, and economic circumstances, has been developing with the active participation and financial support of the state for many decades", Vladimir Yakunin said, adding that around 400 billion rubles in 2008 prices will be needed to develop infrastructure on the Baikalo-Amurskaya line.

After the meeting, a decision was taken to draw up recommendations for the development of the Baikalo-Amurskaya line, to be submitted to the Russian government.
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The Baikalo-Amurskaya line is one of the largest rail lines in the world, passing through the Irkutsk, Chita, and Amur regions, as well as Buryatia, Yakutia, and the Khabarovsk Territory. Along with the Trans-Siberian route, the Baikalo-Amurskaya line serves as a second link to the Pacific Ocean.

The project will enable freight flows to the eastern parts of the Baikalo-Amurskaya route to be raised to 50 million tons per year by 2020. The total number of passengers using the route could reach 16.3 million by 2020 (an increase of more than 19% from the 2008 level).

In the future, in line with Strategy-2030, the Baikalo-Amurskaya line is to be specialized to carry heavy-tonnage trains, and the Trans-Siberian for specialized container trains and passenger transport.