OREANDA-NEWS. April 04, 2014. The Federation Council has held parliamentary hearings on the reconstruction of the Baikal-Amur Main Line and the Trans-Siberian with regard to the development of various constituent parts of the Russian Federation.

The hearings were organised by the Federation Council's Committee on Economic Policy. The hearings were attended by senators and representatives from Russia's regions, the relevant ministries and departments, research institutes and Russian Railways.

As Vice President and Secretary of State at Russian Railways Anatoly Mescheryakov told the hearings, a whole series of preparatory measures have already been put in place to develop the infrastructure in Eastern Russia.

In particular, an independent audit of the technology and price of the project involving the world's leading auditors has been carried out. The results of this audit were discussed at the expert and public hearings and sent to the Government of the Russian Federation. They indicate that, given the current stage of the project as prepared by Russian Railways, the material has been studied in depth.

In view of comments and suggestions made during the discussions, Russian Railways has worked to improve project's efficiency.

Thus, comments of a technological nature have been taken into account and it has been decided to carry out a cost audit during the development and approval stage of the design specifications and estimates with a view to the terms of the cost parameters of a number of major measures.

An appropriate decision - the technical terms of reference and instructions on selecting the auditing firms - has been presented to the Board of Directors at Russian Railways.

In regions through which the Baikal-Amur and Trans-Siberian railways pass, the active phase of design is currently under way and a schedule for the design, exploration, construction and installation works has been prepared with the assistance of local design institutes.

The participants in the parliamentary hearings recognised that it was appropriate to endorse the progress of the first phase of the reconstruction and modernisation work on the BAM and Trans-Siberian railways.

It has been recommended to the Russian government to approve the volume of the cargo base for the project by taking into account the shipment of coal from Russia's Kuzbass region, and to consider funding for the second phase of the project.

It was also recommended to consider allocating funds from the National Welfare Fund to the project for developing electric power facilities in Russia's Far East and Trans-Baikal region, including to ensure adequate provision for the growing needs of Eastern Russia's main railway lines.